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“Home sweet home” isn’t a phrase the University of Maine men’s basketball team gets to utter very often. For a variety of reasons, the Black Bears play the majority of their fall-semester contests on the road. This year, the squad has only one home game left before Christmas, and only three of 12 non-conference games will be hosted at Alfond Arena.
“I’ve been here four years, and that’s just always how it’s been. We seem to play a lot on the road first semester,” said senior Chris Bruff.
Take last week, for example. The Black Bears left Orono early Tuesday morning and didn’t return until Saturday. In the meantime, UMaine toured the beltway, visiting Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland Wednesday and the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Friday.
Senior Jon Sheets helped reward the Black Bears for their travels, pouring in 19 points both nights to lead UMaine to wins. The sweep extends the team’s record to 4-1 since Bruff became a starter, and 4-4 overall.
Friday night, the Black Bears took down the Highlanders thanks to a 9-3 run to start the second half, which broke open the close contest. UMaine led by a point at halftime, 29-28, but within the first six minutes of the second half had pushed the advantage to 10. NJIT couldn’t close the gap as stingy defense held them to 21 percent shooting in the second half.
Sheets made four three-pointers to lead UMaine with 19 points, 14 of them in the first half. Freshmen Mark Socoby and Junior Bernal each added 11 points, while senior Kevin Reed and sophomore Philippe Tchekane Bofia rounded out the scoring with nine apiece. Reed added eight rebounds and Bruff pulled down seven as the Black Bears held a 35-33 edge in that department.
UMaine is on the road again next weekend, and has been singing that tune enough to make Willie Nelson envious. The squad’s home scheduling woes come from a number of factors that include location, money and prestige.
Typically, two teams will sign a home-and-home deal for a two-year series with one game on each school’s home floor. This season, UMaine’s troubles were compounded by the fact that they only had one returning deal: Robert Morris, which the Black Bears hosted on Nov. 26 and visited in 2005.
“Every year it’s a challenge, but we knew this would be one of those years where it’s even harder because we only had that one contract coming back,” said UMaine coach Ted Woodward.
The silver lining is that the Black Bears already have five home games set for next year as a result of playing a number of squads on the road this fall. The second swing of the home-and-home deals will bring those teams to Orono in 2007.
“No one wants to start these home-and-homes on the road. That made it hard for us to get games this year, but that also means we’ll have a more friendly schedule next year,” Woodward said.
As a member of America East, UMaine already has its share of problems with non-conference scheduling. The conference doesn’t have a ton of prestige and major foes have no reason to make the trip. Next year, the conference has mandated a more difficult out-of-league schedule in an attempt to raise RPI and reputation. Seemingly, that makes it even harder for teams to find home games since those upper level squads will want to play at home. But America East’s coaches voted on the plan because that kind of scheduling is simply a part of college basketball.
“That’s something you see with every mid-major,” said Woodward. “The first couple months of the season, the majors are at home a lot and we’re not. I don’t think the new scheduling rules will change much for us [in terms of home games].”
America East’s entire schedule will be played in the spring semester this year, a departure from past years where UMaine might have been able to host a conference game before Christmas.
“That’s something the conference decided on this year and I’m in complete agreement with,” said Woodward, adding that the extra time before conference play gives UMaine more time to gel and improve as a team.
UMaine’s location doesn’t help matters, as the Black Bears’ closest non-conference Division I rival is nearly 300 miles away at Harvard University. For many teams, such as Atlantic-10 foes Massachusetts and Rhode Island and former AEast member Northeastern, it’s simply not worth the bus ride to come play the Black Bears. Money is a factor since UMaine can’t afford to pay teams large guarantees, as is attendance. Low gate numbers reduce what UMaine can pay and small crowds are less enticing for road teams looking to challenge themselves. That leaves the Black Bears with sub D-I teams such as UMaine Farmington and St. Francis College of N.Y., not exactly clubs fans are lining up in droves to see.
This year, however, attendance has looked a bit better for the Black Bears, who’ve garnered over 1,000 fans in both home games and played in front of an average of only 553 in four road games. Attendance figures are not available from the CBE Classic, which UMaine played on a neutral floor.
In spite of being on the road, the Black Bears have a respectable 4-4 mark and are 3-1 on the road.
“Any good team has to learn how to win on the road because half your conference games and probably the conference tournament are going to be on the road regardless,” said Woodward.
Being out on the road in hotels and on buses wears on the team, but also gives them a chance to bond and get to know each other, possibly improving team chemistry down the line.
“We all have our roommates and everyone gets together and hangs out. It gets fun [sometimes],” said Bruff.
The Black Bears can rest at home for most of this week, as they are without a mid-week contest. The squad is back on the road next weekend, heading to Providence, R.I., for a match-up against the Big East Friars Saturday. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
