Team preview: Louisiana-Monroe

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email

(Information in this team report is as of October 1.)

It didn't take Louisiana-Monroe guard Cecil Hood long to realize how demanding his team's new head coach, Orlando Early, can be.

In fact, it was less than 48 hours.

Hood (9.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.1 apg), a 6-3 senior and the team's leading scorer last season, slipped into his management class just one minute late on the second day of the fall semester, figuring, as most would, those 60 seconds wouldn't really matter.

They did to Early.

The punishment for Hood's transgression?

A five-mile run early the next morning.

Message sent.

"He made it known that things were going to be totally different around here," Hood said. "He demands a lot, and I'm excited about playing for him. "But I won't be late for class anymore."

Early, who comes to UL-M after serving the last four seasons as an assistant at the University of Alabama, expects change. He knows of some past success in Monroe's program, including a 20-win season just four years ago, and expects to get that back. The Indians' win total of nine last season is unacceptable, and drastically improving the number of victories, he said, starts with discipline.

To continue reading this article you must be an Insider

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email
• Subscribe