Quenching the Collective Thirst of Eagles Nation

Boy, September just seemed to fly right by. Although it's been a bit of a slow month here on AUHoops, things will be picking up in a big way shortly as basketball season tantalizingly inches closer and closer. Just think, in only one month, eight days, and approximately two hours we will be in Sections 114 and 115 again, relishing sweet revenge as we hand Randolph-Macon's asses back to them on a big Red, White, and Blue platter. Of course, if you can't be in Bender that day we'll be live-tweeting the whole shebang for you, because we care.

Speaking of caring, let's catch up on what's been going on in Eagles Nation recently. First, I want to announce that our power of prediction here on AUHoops continues to improve. If you remember, on September 2nd Bill graced us with an impassioned rant about how Coach Jones should embrace some of this newfangled social networking technology in order to better connect with fans. A week later, on September 10th AU Athletics revealed that of the fall sports teams (men's and women's soccer, field hockey, volleyball, and swimming and diving) now has its own twitter and facebook page, complete with smiling pictures of each head coach, and a promise that the winter sports (read: basketball) are to come shortly. Well, there it is, JJ is going to be on twitter...sort of. The chances that he's the one to actually update this thing are pretty slim, but we'll take what we can get. Fact is, someone close to the program is going to be updating these things, and that's good enough for us. Is it good enough for you? That brings us to (the week before last's) Poll of the Week - "Should Coach Jones have an online presence (twitter, website, etc.)?" You said:

Yes: 17 (62%)

No: 5 (18%)

Computers fear Coach Jones' power: 5 (18%)

Total Votes: 27

It seems that the majority of our readers (80%) agree that this is a good thing, or at least that this will strike fear into the motherboards of computers everywhere. About 1 in 5 disagree however, and think that Coach Jones should keep it to the sidelines. Well, for those folks, we're sorry - we don't make the future, we just predict it semi-accurately some of the time.

Of course, for those who've been to AUHoops recently, you'll notice that I've fallen behind and this isn't the latest Poll of the Week. Here's this past week's - "Which nonconference game is AU most likely to win?" You said:

West Virginia: 2 (6%)

Florida: 5 (17%)

Pittsburgh: 0 (0%)

Northwestern: 22 (75%)

Total Votes: 29

I tend to agree with three quarters of voters that our best shot (although by no means guaranteed) is against Northwestern, which remains the only power conference school to have never been to the NCAA Tournament. Surprisingly, a few voters think we also have a shot against Florida, likely because the game is in our city and we will without a doubt have an incredible fan presence there (hail to the Blue Crew). However it looks like popular opinion is that we will not prevail over the Big East again this season: only 6% of voters think we have any shot at all against the Mountaineers of West Virginia, and no one thinks we'll top the Pittsburgh Panthers. That's OK, as I think we'll be too busy gloating over Northwestern and Florida (yeah, I'm optimistic) to notice. This week's poll is, "Which Patriot League opponents is AU most likely to sweep this season?" You can again select multiple answers (including all seven), so let us know what you think!

Finally, I want to congratulate all AU sports teams on two absolutely dominant weekends. How dominant are we talking about? First, Men's Soccer went and knocked off Syracuse of the Big East, and although they lost against #5/#7 and defending national champions Virginia, rebounded and defeated Bucknell in a rematch of last year's Patriot League Championship 3-1. Women's Soccer, after losing their first 8 games of the season, has won three straight against UMBC, Radford, and Vermont. Volleyball is enjoying a seven game win streak, and is 13-2 on the season (5-0 since a week from last Friday). #15 Field Hockey is also 4-0 the last two weekends, knocking off two top-20 opponents and finishing off both Temple and St. Joe's of the A10 this weekend in Philadelphia. While I'm undoubtedly anxious for basketball season, this is definitely something for all Eagles to be proud of.

We'll be back soon with a breakdown of our 2010-11 schedule. Until then, keep yourself occupied with our first Guess that Game! competition, or if you're an alum, consider joining the Blue Crew 2. Otherwise stay classy, Eagles Nation!

Pro Deo Et Patria,

Josh