The 2017–18 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team represented the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

during the

2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2017. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season ended with the Final Four in San Antonio on April 2, 2018. Practices officially began on September 2 ...

. The Ragin' Cajuns were led by eighth-year head coach

Bob Marlin Robert Lee Marlin (born March 5, 1959) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head men's basketball coach for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team. Previously, he was the head coach at Sam Houston State from ...

and played their home games at the

Cajundome The Cajundome is a 13,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in Lafayette, Louisiana on the South Campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. It is home to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's and women's basketball programs in addition to h ...

as members in the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

. They finished the season 27–7, 16–2 in Sun Belt play to win the Sun Belt regular season championship. The conference championship was the school's first since first regular-season title since sharing the 2000 title and its first outright title since joining the conference in 1991. They defeated

Texas State Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt tournament before losing in the semifinals to Texas–Arlington. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament, they received an automatic bid to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

where they lost in the first round to

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. Head coach Bob Marlin sparked controversy after it was announced that the Cajuns would play in-state rival LSU in the NIT, believing the Cajuns were the better team and should have been given home-court advantage. He also said of LSU, "Sometimes, a team that tied for ninth in their league isn’t interested in playing. But they haven’t been very good for a couple of years, so the NIT is a big step for them." Late in the game, which LSU won, Marlin and LSU head coach

Will Wade Frank William Wade (born November 26, 1982) is an American college basketball coach. He has served as the head coach at three institutions: Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball, Chattanooga from 2013 to 2015, VCU Rams men's basketball, VCU from 20 ...

had to be restrained while yelling at each other.

Previous season

The Ragin' Cajuns finished the 2016–17 season 21–12, 10–8 in Sun Belt play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place. They defeated

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

in the first round of the Sun Belt tournament before losing to

Georgia State Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to: Primarily * Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university * Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America Sports * sports teams of Georgia St ...

in the quarterfinals. They did not participate in a postseason tournament.

Offseason

Departures

Incoming recruits

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=12 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Sun Belt regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Sun Belt tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NIT

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball seasons

Louisiana-Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...