Im just sayin - August 4th 2011

We are trying something new out here at BleedTechBlue.com. This is not a story about the Bulldogs nor is it a recruiting story about any potential Bulldogs. It is an opinion column, pure and simple. I welcome feedback good and bad. Feel free to comment on our message board. Let's get the discussion going.

Okay . . . here we go.

THE GREAT STATE OF LOUISIANA DOESN'T CARE ABOUT BASKETBALL . . .

I'm just sayin'.

Go with me on this, college football in the State of Louisiana is one of the best in the country. There is no question about it. One of if not the top reasons is because whether it is Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, Tulane, LSU, whomever, they keep their best prospects in state and there are plenty of players to go around to help all of the Bayou State's programs contend for conference championships.

You can also look at the prep football programs around the state as well. Whether it is West Monroe, Hahnville, South Plaquemines, Evangel, Notre Dame of Crowley and Haynesville to name a few, Friday nights are packed with passion and with rabid fans that support their schools and their teams to the fullest. It's one of the things that makes Louisiana an absolutely awesome place to live.

For as great as Louisiana fans are in prep football, can you really name any big-time prep basketball programs that have cult followings? I can't.

I'm just sayin'.

Yes we've got the Riverside Academy's of the world and the Peabody's too. They win their state championships, but there is no football-like cult following.

So what is my main point? THIS IS WHY NONE OF THE STATE'S TOP PLAYERS ARE STAYING IN STATE TO PLAY COLLEGE BASKETBALL.

All the schools in state struggle mightily with their attendance. That will be Michael White's top priority. He has to win games to fill the arena. Otherwise he will be gone. The same holds true for really every coach in the state. College Football runs at least through January, and then we have National Signing Day that will run through at least mid-February. Most college basketball fans in Louisiana don't even realize the college basketball season has started until conference tournament time and by then it is just too late.

I'm just sayin' . . .

If you think about it, can your really blame the state's top prep basketball players for leaving the State of Louisiana and going to programs that actually care about the sport? I can't.

Think about this for a second.

Greg Monroe, Dwight Lewis, Ricardo Gathers, Tweety Carter, LaceDarius Dunn and D.J. Augustine. That's a pretty good rotation of six players and guess what they all have in common - they all left the State of Louisiana.

And before you start saying if programs start winning games fans will come and they will then start keeping their top players in the state from leaving all I have to say is you're wrong. The perfect example is that team down in Baton Rouge won the SEC not too long ago and even when they made it to the Final Four they didn't sell out that many games.

I'm just sayin' . . .

The thing that makes me mad is I really don't know the real solution to the problem. It is just sad. All the college basketball programs in the State of Louisiana should be ashamed that they can't keep the top talent from fleeing Louisiana like they are trying to get out of the way of the next hurricane. Something must and should be done.

The question is what?

I'm just sayin' . . .