Women's Basketball Hosts Phil Bender Tomorrow vs. Lehigh

Though the men's game is on Sunday, the women will be playing at Bender tomorrow against two-time defending PL champion the Lehigh Hill Pigeons. The women's team is having a great season. They're 15-6 and 5-2 in the PL. Be sure to show up tomorrow for free food, a great atmosphere, and the faculty and staff appreciation BBQ on the mezzanine! The game is at 2pm. Be there! Be blue! Be AU!

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Hoop Time Analyzes the Eagles

Hoop Time Online is a tremendous resource for Patriot League basketball. We're working on previews of all 8 Patriot League teams for you, as well as analysis of the Eagles' non-conference schedule. In the meantime, check out this preview from Hoop Time that analyzes our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Overall I think this is a very fair analysis. HT cites Vlad and Lumpkins as our main strengths and the point guard position and our bench as potential weaknesses. That's fair. We'll flesh out our thoughts here over the coming weeks!

What do you think of his preview?

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Are you STILL in?

In case you missed our post introducing the Blue Crew 2, be sure to check out the below video which introduces AU Athletics' newest support group...err...FAN COLLECTIVE! LET'S GO EAGLES!

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!

For Old Time Sake

I don't have time to write a full entry tonight, getting killed at work again right now. So I'll offer up a little nostalgia:




Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Your Morning Dose of Jeff Jones

Just some quick links this morning:

Jeff Jones on the Kojo Nnamdi show from Monday

Requires Facebook, but JJ on the teleconference call Monday with all of the league coaches

A little dated since they take place before the Navy game, but still valuable.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

PL Awards Announced-UPDATED

Well, I finally got home from work, so now I can post about this. Join me after the jump for my thoughts on the PL awards

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY AU EAGLES!

WHERE THERE'S A FIGHT WE'LL SEE IT THROUGH!
YOU CAN BE SURE WE'LL BE TRIUMPHANT,
WHEN WE WEAR RED, WHITE, AND BLUE!

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY AU EAGLES!
WE'LL CONQUER ALL ADVERSITY!
SO LET'S ALL JOIN IN AND GIVE A YELL FOR AU AND VICTORY!

Good, Bad, and Ugly might take a while to get up. I've got some other stuff to take care of and wasn't planning on the game going to double OT. Feel free to get a head start on it in the comments!

AU Eagles vs. Navy Midshipmen LIVEBLOG!

Chris Harris Has a Terrible Game, Navy Loses

Fresh off a Speculation Tuesday that all but served as the coronation of Navy's Chris Harris as the Patriot League Player of the Year, Harris has a Vlad-versus-Bucknell performance and drops this hideous line against the Black Knights:

2-17 from the field, 0-7 from 3, 0-1 from the line, 2 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls.

Yeccch.

The Black Knights drop the Mids 69-50, which is fine news for us.

Just keeping you all in the loop.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

The Eagle (for once!) Provides Sports Analysis

Be sure to check out this sports column in the Eagle today. Well-researched and cohesively written, and I think the message is one that Lord Baltimore will find particularly satisfying!

We'll be back later with PL Check-In.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Athletics is Giving Away Pizza, But Our Boys Are Making Bison Burgers

So we should've gotten this up a lot earlier, so I'm going to be quick and dirty about it. Here's the preview for tonight:

Pretty Sweet Alumni Event for AU Hoops Fans

I wanted to pass this along to all of you because it seems like a pretty sweet deal for alums.

"Exclusive Eagles Club Access at AU Men's Basketball Vs. Army."

$15 gets you a ticket and Eagles Club access. Additionally, if you're already an alum with season tickets, e-mail Heather Buckner and let her know you'd like to attend. Once she verifies that you are a season ticket holder (don't get sneaky, people!) you'll get Eagles Club access for free!

Act now if you're interested, folks, because the event is limited to 20 people!

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

BREAKING: Nick Hendra Suspended Indefinitely

As if today's loss wasn't fun enough, Jeff Jones revealed at the post-game press conference today that Nick Hendra, who did not dress for today's game, is "suspended indefinitely" for violations of team rules. Actual journalists/bloggers (people other than me) are looking into the situation, and I'll be sure to pass on whatever they turn up.

Given Joe Hill's performance today filling in for Hendra, I'd say this is really terrible news for the Eagles. We'll wait and see how it goes pending more information I guess.

Thanks to Bobby Oler (www.auexaminer.com) and Tom Schad (www.theeagleonline.com) for keeping us informed about this.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Updated: AU vs. Lehigh Game NOT Postponed, Will Go On Tomorrow, Unless We Hear Otherwise

Here is Athletics' announcement about the game tomorrow. Game on, indeed.

Can't say I agree with the decision given that, you know, there's a historic snowstorm and all occurring and it may be dangerous for students, staff, and fans to get to Bender. But I understand that logistics being what they are, a reschedule may be difficult. Lehigh is also already in town, so I guess that was a contributing factor, too. Anyway, I'll be there, and I hope you will too!

Be safe out there in the snow!

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Speculation Tuesday Has News About Tony Wroblicky and Wonders About PL Finish

Evening everyone! If you're in the DC area, hope you're careful on the roads tonight as we're due to get 3-4 inches of the white stuff tonight. I've got some news to share and some speculating to do, so be sure to join me after the jump!

PL Check-In Reveals that the League Has Been IMPALED...Two Weeks Running

Goooood evening AU hoops fans! Hope you're all enjoying this week. Should be niiice and quiet until Saturday, when we have a HUGE game against the Lehigh Hill Pigeons. Some news to discuss today about the Patriot League. Join me after the jump as I show you what for.

Save Sean Kearney!

Sean Kearney needs some support, and it's good to see that Facebook is giving him that support. I encourage everyone to join. Solidarity for Sean is what's needed right now.

See you tomorrow for the PL Check-In!

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!

Speculation Tuesday Doesn't Have Much to Speculate About

To be perfectly honest, I don't have entirely too much to speculate about. Let's look at it this way:

- We've got all the recruits we're going to get for next year
- Blake Jolivette is benched for the foreseeable future; we know why he's benched, and the only way we'll know when he's out of the doghouse is when he actually gets called up in a game.
- Mike Bersch's benching has also been widely confirmed as a lack of physicality in play
- The lineup isn't going to shift anytime soon with Lumpkins back to his dominant earlier season self and Riley becoming a shadow of the player he was earlier this season
- Hendra and Vlad have been consistent recently
- No other bench player has really made a push recently to make it into the starting five

So, wow. I guess I could speculate about whether or not we'll win against Navy tomorrow, but that's what the Navy preview will be for.

Still Waiting for Post-Game from Phil Bender

Still waiting for the post-game Jeff Jones press conference audio/video to come up. We'll post it as soon as it goes up on the AUEagles site.

For HC audio, check out Hoop Time's recording. (Thanks Hoop Time!)

See you soon, I hope.

Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!