Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse, Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium, UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, AU's Bender Arena. These are the arenas that make college basketball fans across America salivate to think about, the hoops temples where legends are born.
OK, so maybe I am exaggerating a little bit with that last one. However, nobody would know based on last weekend's "Phil Bender" event against the Holy Cross Crusaders.
While I am only a freshman and this was my first-ever "Phil Bender" event, it was finally nice to see the students support this team like they deserve. AU's Student Government and Residence Hall Association handed out thousands of free T-shirts with the phrase "I did Phil Bender" at a pregame pep rally and throughout the game. Pretzels, hotdogs and water were also provided for the fans.
Led by the Screaming Eagles, AU fans proudly wore their red, white and blue attire and waved their "terrible towels" in support of the Eagle men. The student section stomped and cheered the entire game, giving support to the home team while relentlessly taunting the visitors from Massachusetts.
Even though the Eagles fell at the end by seven, fans stayed to the very end, cheering as if it were an NCAA Tournament game instead of a Patriot League regular season tilt.
As nice as it was so see such a great outpouring of support, my main question is what took so long? Was it really necessary to have free handouts in order for students to show up to the game? Although it was the highest-attended game of the year, with over 3,500 in attendance (compared with an average of around 1,500), this type of support should be seen at every game.
While I recognize that the Eagles have had a subpar season record-wise, the team has rallied to post a 9-16 record (5-7 in the PL) after starting the season with a six-game losing streak. This places them in the middle of the pack in the conference, a fact often lost on the student population.
Another point to make is that AU is classified as a NCAA Division I school, meaning that it plays against some of the best basketball talent in the nation, including players that could possibly be playing professionally in the NBA.
With home games scheduled against PL rival and nationally ranked Bucknell (currently No. 24 in the country), along with already-mentioned Holy Cross (an NCAA Tournament team in 2003 and National Invitational Tournament team last year), fans are given the opportunity to see teams that will be playing the big boys during March Madness. Why students do not take advantage of seeing these stars in the making is beyond me.
AU has never been a basketball powerhouse in the past and it is unlikely to challenge for an NCAA championship in the near future. We may not have a student group as passionate as Duke's "Cameron Crazies" or a chant like Kansas' "Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk."
However, if every game were as well-attended by the students as the Phil Bender game, this support will help the team improve to the point where instead of T-shirts reading, "I Did Phil Bender," they will say, "We are going to the Big Dance"
