According to a story in Sunday's Washington Moonie, Jeff Jones and the basketball team caused the demise of American's tennis program:

The department was told it could not exceed its budget as in recent years. The cuts are partly a result of the lack of income generated from men's basketball, the school's only revenue sport and one that is expected to bring in money to help non-revenue sports like tennis.

However, sparse attendance (1,358 per game) at basketball games and a lack of income from postseason games have hurt the department.

The basketball team's budget is in excess of $1 million with 13 scholarships.

Fifth-year coach Jeff Jones hasn't been able to generate much interest in the team, which has not made an NCAA appearance during his tenure but has been to three conference tournament finals. Jones earns $225,000 a year, according to sources close to the program.

Jones' contract, which runs through 2008-09, is particularly rich for a low mid-major program.

In fairness to Jones and his team, they can hardly be blamed for the poor attendance.

Although they have not won the Patriot League title since joining the conference a few years ago, the Eagles have been consistently competitive and in the league's top division.

Selling Patriot League hoops in a city that also has NBA, ACC, Big East, A-10 and CAA ball to choose from can't be easy.