Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Twenty-one days, five games, one goal – America East champions.
The University of Maine men’s basketball team set three goals at the beginning of the season. Winning 20 games and becoming the America East regular season champions were two of those targets. But one goal stands alone, on a plateau above all the rest. The objective is clear, win the America East Tournament and receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Head coach John Giannini feels his Black Bear team can reach their ultimate goal.
“The most important goal, which is the NCAA tournament, is extremely realistic for us,” Giannini said.
The America East championship is just three weeks away, March 2-4, and every game the rest of the way will be very important. The Black Bears have five games remaining and how they fair in those conference match-ups will determine their seed for the tournament. Three of the Black Bears’ remaining five games are on the road. Sunday the team travels to the Whittemore Center on the campus of the University of New Hampshire.
The Wildcats head into the weekend at 5-8, good for seventh in the America East standings. UNH likes to run and will put points on the board.
“The New Hampshire game will be almost all based on effort and passing,” Giannini said.
One key for Maine will be keeping the Wildcats off the offensive glass. New Hampshire leads the league in offensive rebounding, averaging nearly 14 per game. Coach Giannini knows his team will have to compete against fresh legs.
“They only play people for three to five minutes at a time, so you are always going up against someone very fresh and ready to run and rebound with a lot of effort,” said Giannini.
New Hampshire has lost five of six after beginning conference play 4-2. Maine will look to exploit the Wildcats defense, which allowed 108 points in their last match up and is currently ranked last in the conference.
Maine will face a challenge the following week when No. 1 Hofstra and No. 2 Drexel roll into Orono. Both teams collected wins over the Black Bears earlier in the season, with a scoring margin of five points in each contest. A pair of wins in front of the loyal Alfond crowd would be a big boost of confidence for this team. Maine is alone in fourth place in the conference standings at 8-5. Hofstra has lost just twice at 11-2, followed by the Drexel Dragons at10-3.
Achieving all three of the goals the team set at the beginning of the season will be tough to accomplish. The Black Bears will need all the right bounces down the stretch to win the regular season title, plus help from a number of teams. Winning 20 games will only be accomplished by finishing the season on a five-game win streak, including upsets against the top two teams in America East.
It will take extraordinary focus and effort to accomplish those goals, but the one goal the team wants most is well within reach.
The sign in the team’s locker room says “America East Champions.” One team, with exceptionally drive and effort will be able crowned conference champions March 10. Coach Giannini thinks it can be his team.
“We just have to apply the lessons about being focused on the team and valuing improvement,” Giannini said. “The tournament championship is very realistic.”
Bangor Daily News