Jeff Holton to Transfer; Also, AU Hoops Bracket Standings

At long last, here are the standings from the AU Hoops bracket challenge. Blogspot doesn't do so well with this kind of things, but you should be able to get the gist. Thanks to all of you for participating! Check below for more news.

Rank Team Name Score Correct Champion
1 Lisa Arakaki 103 34 Duke (165)
2 Robert Ruszczyk 78 33 Kansas (137)
3 Bill DeBaun 77 39 Kansas (143)
4 Joshua Kaplan 75 40 Kansas (143)
5 Josh Rothman 66 35 Kansas (102)
6 T Schad 63 38 63 Kentucky (134)
7 roy Lopata 63 34 Kansas (143)
8 Dan Cusimano 60 36 Kansas (148)
9 Ethan Meick 59 35 Baylor (137)
10 Steven Haber 59 36 Kansas (156)
11 Jordan Wells 57 34 Kansas (147)
12 Joe Viddy 56 33 Syracuse (136)
13 Brian Katz 56 33 Kansas (140)
14 larry Lumpkins 56 36 Kansas (149)
15 peter brusoe 54 34 Syracuse (125)
16 Eric Goldstein 54 36 Syracuse (127)
17 Carl Seip 51 34 Kansas (151)

According to Fox Sports' Jeff Goodman, AU freshman forward Jeff Holton will transfer at the end of the season. Holton appeared in four games for the Eagles this season for a grand total of four minutes. He did get a point this season, from the free throw line, and also notched an assist and a rebound to go with two turnovers.

Shame to see Holton leave, as he had a lot of potential it seemed. He had an excellent high school career. I'll be interested to see where he goes. This marks the second year in a row that a freshman forward has transferred. Last year, Mike Technow transferred to the University of South Carolina-Aiken where he played in 27 games, starting 7, and averaged 4.6 points and 3.5 rebounds a game.

All the best, Jeff.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Basketball Season Is Over, But AU Pride Never Ends

Fellow Eagles Fanatics,

I'd like to take this opportunity to promote an initiative recently undertaken by some friends in AU Student Government. This applies most to anyone who will be around campus often, but for those alumni and friends who tune in from distant lands, keep this in mind next time you come to visit!

From now on every single Friday (during the regular academic year), is AU Pride Friday. What does this mean? Well, it means members of the student government (as well as, I hear, Clawed himself and a few other special guests) will be roaming campus on Fridays, and giving away awesome AU Eagles prizes from the bookstore, completely free, to anyone they see wearing AU gear. That's it. Just straight up sweet rewards for showing some Eagles love. Thanks from us here at AUHoops to former AU Men's Soccer star Zack Solomon for starting this program.

So, if you're on campus tomorrow, make sure to wear something AU. Man, I love being rewarded for things I usually do anyway.

Also, stay tuned as we have our full basketball season recap (this will be truly our greatest work yet) coming soon.

Until then, Pro Deo Et Patria and GO EAGLES,
Josh

Results of the AUHoops Tourney Challenge!

That's right. I'm back. It's the off-season and I'm STILL giving you two entries tonight. How's THAT for dedication?

I'm here tonight to let you know the results of the AU Hoops tourney challenge!

Longtime reader and supporter Lisa, the only person who correctly picked Duke as the tourney champion, came from midway down the standings to claim first place with an impressive 103 points on 34 correct picks! Lisa, your bold pick of America's least favorite team has earned you a regulation sized basketball signed by one of your favorite AU Eagles!

See? I told you there would be a fabulous prize for winning this thing, but nooooo everyone thought I was going to give you a Z Burger token and a high five. This ain't no two-bit circus blog, kids, we're the real deal. Sometimes.

Also a longtime reader and supporter, SquirrelBoy picked up second place. Now, I have to say, SB, I'm a little pissed because you edged me out of second place by one point, but I had six, COUNT THEM, six more correct picks than you did. Damn. In any event, you will also get a prize. I don't know what it will be yet, but I'll find you something nice and AU basketball related. Like a hug from Jeff Jones or the chance to mix up the team's Gatorade for a pre-season game. Mm, lemon lime!

To the other 14 of you who participated, maybe seeing the excellent prizes that those who finished above you were awarded will prompt you to PICK MORE GAMES CORRECTLY NEXT YEAR. If that's not a motivator, I don't know what it is. The early bird gets the hug from Jeff Jones, that's what my RA always told me.

Oh, Carl, since you finished last, I'm going to find you something especially nice. Like a Holy Cross t-shirt or something.

Seriously though, thanks everyone for participating, this was a lot of fun, and I hope we'll be able to do it again next year. I can't see any reason we couldn't, except that we'll have to pick for a 96 team tourney. Can't wait!

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

New Poll of the Week...err...Month...just vote it's a new poll

Gooooood evening AU Hoops fans! Hope you all won money in your respective NCAA tourney office pools. I know I didn't. Damn you, Duke. More on that in a minute.

As you can see, our progress here has slowed a little bit since the Eagles are now in the off-season. Still, we'll update from time to time with some new content for you all to chew on.

Coach K Guesses It's Okay if the PL Gets Two Teams in a 96-Team Tournament...If They HAVE To

Just a quick hit this morning, from this article about expanding the NCAA tournament field and getting rid of the NIT:

"Keeping conference tournaments intact was a concern for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

'What you do with conference tournaments is important,' he said. 'You might have to have them end [earlier]. I think you should still have them. If we do go that far, the people who should be rewarded are the regular-season champs. I think you should still have them in there. Then you should have your conference tournaments and the winners of those should go in, too. If the Patriot League gets two teams in, so be it. That’s good. I would still like to have the conference tournaments. They make a lot of money and it’s a way of each conference celebrating their conference, and I think that’s a good thing.'"

Because it would really be so. freaking. terrible. for some more smaller conferences to be in the tourney? Normally I like Coach K, but today, you can die in a Cameron Indoor Arena fire, pal. Oh, and lose to WVU so I win my office pool please. Thanks.

EDIT: Per usual, Steve has corrected me. His categorization of my post as a gross misunderstanding of Coach K's quote is correct, he wants to reward the regular season champions, which would help smaller conferences like the PL. What I would really like to see under this system is for there to be a stipulation that if the regular season winner also wins the conference championship that they are guaranteed to be in the top 32 teams (so they get a first round bye). That'd be nice, because otherwise you could put both teams from the PL (regular season and tourney champ) in the bottom 64. Don't like that so much. I do owe Coach K an apology. Sorry, Coach K, but I still want you to lose to WVU so I win my office pool. Daddy needs some homebrewing equipment.

Also, thanks to Steve. Commenter of the week award goes to you my friend.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!