Congrats again Rambler team and fans. The rest of the Valley is appreciative. As far as the game or games in Monroe..........nobody and I do mean nobody will show up for the game. Hopefully the Ramblers will be prepared for and be able to play in an empty facility. Indiana State played down there last year in the regular season and there may have been 200 fans, even though one of their local high school players played for the Sycamores & it was homecoming of sorts for him. There will be even less for a post-season game this far into the Spring. Good Luck and bring home the bacon!

According to their website, attendance at the Vermont game was 3368, a little less than half of capacity.

Are Duck Dynasty style beards required or encouraged, or is that just in West Monroe?

Hello from an Alumni and fan of ULM. I come in peace! As for attendance, I can assure you there will be a nice crowd that will be into the game. ULM has hosted two games in the CBI and both of those games were the top two as far as attendance in the entire tournament, topping 3000 for each game. We were disappointed in the numbers we had against Vermont but not bad with just a two day turn around to sell. Over 1000 have been sold today, students get in for free with their ID so they will be walk ups and we have a week to keep selling. Look for a good showing.

While the Indiana St fan was correct that there was little attendance for their visit, that was also right after the team had been hammered by APR restrictions which limited scholarships, games, post season, and practice. We may have had 3-4 players on those teams that really even deserved a scholarship and probably wouldn't have seen much playing time on any team. The head coach who took us to those depths jumped ship as quickly as he could and is now an assistant at NC State so we Warhawk fans cheer when they lose. Coach Richard has righted the ship, got all the sanctions lifted, has finally been able to get true scholarship players and has really started to turn the program around. For three straight years ULM has captured the SBC academic award for best overall GPA and posted a perfect 1000 APR last year. If you ever sniff that happening with your school, take if from me, get on the phone and demand your AD take action.

I look forward to coming back and talking with y'all a bit about both teams and the upcoming games. I have a lot of respect for the caliber of ball played in the MVC and think this should be a good match up. For those of you planning the trip to Monroe I will be happy to answer what questions I can about lodging, food, etc.

injunjohn. Thanks for the info on your program. Sounds like you guys did a nice job of turning things around athletically and academically. The word I would use to describe the Ramblers is scrappy. We have learned t win in a variety of ways and survived ourseason without arguably our best player Milton Doyle for a good portion of the season. And we have a player, Montel James from Kenner LA. Hoping for a good series.

Injun seems like a nice guy ! Do any of us act is goodwill in Basinger's on other people's message boards throughout the season? I hope so. For some reason it always makes me respect the other teams program a little more when someone takes the time to register, closed, and be cordial.

It sounds like Monroe went through a bit of a rough patch and some dark years as well, so I'm glad that they got the opportunity in the CBI to help turn things around. It really sucks when a team is played with academic problems, or other nonsense like DUIs, assaults, theft, etc. I think I would hate having that problem in our program way more then losing a lot. When things like that are constant in a program it makes them hard to root for.

I'm glad Louisiana Monroe seems to have righted the ship with the eligibility and compliance problems. I'm very excited to watch some of these games. I did a Google image of their arena, and it is very unique. A true "O"-Rena. I live in Houston now and didn't know where Monroe was in Louisiana but was hoping it was close.... Alas -- it's a bit too far for me to make the drive. Regardless I'll still be watching on TV.

Does anyone know how OUR ticket sales are going ? It's a championship game. Can we really not get 3,000 people???

We are long and pretty athletic. Not the best shooting team and a small rotation of players due to losing our center with about a third of the season left. While we aren't suffocating on the defensive end, we make just about everyone shoot below their season average in points and FG % and usually have a rebounding edge. The players don't panic when behind and just find ways to get back into the game. Also everyone will shot the 3....may not have a good average but they will put it up.

Injunjohn:
Thanks for commenting on the board. How far are you from Ft.Polk. I spent some time there. I loved New Orleans and somehow told me you are about 100 miles from Jackson MS and 100 miles from Shreveport. It is also about an 800 mile drive from Chicago.
Thanks for your comments and being a class act. Happy for your program. I just we are able to end your winning streak. You had a nice comeback against Mercer and then beat Vermont so you are on a roll.

About 145 miles to Ft Polk, 120 to Jackson, MS and about 90 to Shreveport. Those of you who are coming and flying in will either go through Dallas or Atlanta, depending on whether you fly Delta or American but probably Dallas. I doubt you can get a direct flight to Shreveport from Chicago and don't think it would make much of a difference price wise. If any of you are coming or know of anyone coming I will help as I can with places to stay/eat/drink. Concessions at the game are pretty standard but we do serve beer.

And while I do respect MVC basketball I am very happy that we open in Chicago so that we can win the CBI Championship on our home court!!

Selfishly I was hoping we would get get a chance to win on our home court. It would have been cool to win 2 championships on our home floor in 2 years. (For injunjohn: we won the national championship on our home floor in men's volleyball last year).