A Letter to AUHoops

For all those who tuned in to the Wrestling Championships last night, you saw AU heavyweight Ryan Flores give it his all, but fall by a slim 2-1 decision to Lehigh's Zach Rey for the title. Fortunately, Flores is only a junior and will be gunning for another title run next season, along with 4th place finisher Ganbayar Sanjaa. Coach Mark Cody was named the NWCA National Coach of the Year, and AU as a team finished in 5th place of more than 70 participants in the NCAA Tournament. That's a solid finish for any AU squad, no question about it. Now, we can bring our focus back to basketball and keep on hoping for a big run on the hardwood next season.

On this note, we recently received a great Letter to the Editor-style submission from reader RRuszczyk about exactly this kind of AU team. I'll let his words say the rest:

I started at American four years ago. For those who weren’t around, there was no buzz going into the season at all, but it would turn into a magical season. This was the year Garrison Carr, Derrick Mercer, and Brian Gilmore led us to our first NCAA tournament berth ever. We would lose to Tennessee in the first round, but it gave the school a sense of pride. This was the rebirth of spirit at AU.


Ever since that season, there has been a sense of spirit on campus. The run towards the Big Dance and March Madness brought back something that had been severely lacking at American. This feeling and excitement only grew with our run at Villanova, where it came down to the wire. The addition of Vlad and Troy, as well as the continued great play of Lump and Hendra after the loss of Carr and Mercer helped keep us interested in fostering school spirit.


The team's success also brought about this blog. Two passionate followers of the Eagles, Bill and Josh [Ed. Note: And Bobby!] have brought personal insight and rabid fandom to the interwebs. It brought dialogue and discussion to the fans. It has given us fans an outlet to talk about our favorite team.


But all of this wouldn’t have been possible without the Eagles we support. The basketball team has brought back a sense of spirit. They’ve unified the University and given us all a central purpose: to root and pull for the best basketball team in the the area.


So to you, the AU Men’s Basketball team, thank you. Thank you for giving AU its school spirit back.

-RRuszczyk