The America East tournament has been a forgettable experience in recent years for the University of Maine’s basketball teams.
Coach Ted Woodward’s UMaine men take a 12-16 record into the Newman’s Own America East Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championship at West Hartford, Conn.
The seventh-seeded Black Bears take on No. 2 Vermont (20-11) in Saturday’s 6:05 p.m. quarterfinal at the University of Hartford’s Chase Family Arena. The Catamounts won both regular-season meetings, earning a 79-65 victory Jan. 16 in Burlington, then winning 73-63 on Feb. 6 at Memorial Gym in Orono.
UMaine has lost its last six postseason contests, including last season’s 66-63 quarterfinal setback against host Hartford. The Bears’ last tournament win came in 2005, a quarterfinal victory over Boston University.
UMaine had gone into the America East tournament as the No. 3 seed each of the last two seasons.
The Bears are coming off Sunday’s 55-48 road loss to regular-season champion Stony Brook. UMaine spotted the Seawolves a 15-point lead, then fought back but never could get the game tied.
UMaine, which is a much less experienced group than last season, has lost six of its last seven contests. The Bears ended the 2010-11 campaign by dropping eight of their last nine games.
Should UMaine advance, it would face the winner of Saturday’s 8:15 p.m. semifinal between No. 3 Boston University and No. 6 Hartford.
The Bears’ six America East victories came against teams in the bottom half of the standings. Dating back to last season, they have lost their last 11 games against league teams that finished with a conference record above .500.
Coach Richard Barron’s UMaine women closed out the regular season Saturday with a 45-40 home win over Stony Brook.
The Bears (7-22) will assume a familiar role in the AE tourney as they compete in Thursday’s 6:05 p.m. first-round game — commonly but mistakenly referred to as the play-in game — as the No. 8 seed against No. 9 Stony Brook (4-15).
UMaine makes its fifth consecutive appearance — and sixth in seven seasons — in the first-round game, having lost the previous four. The Bears were quarterfinalists in 2007.
The last UMaine postseason victory came in 2004, when Heather Ernest earned Most Outstanding Player honors and the Bears won the America East title under coach Sharon Versyp.
UMaine’s seniors are motivated to make a good showing in the tournament.
“You don’t want it to end,” said guard Brittany Williams. “We love our team and we want it to last. We definitely want it to last in this tournament. For once, let’s get out of the play-in game.”
The Bears own two wins this season over Stony Brook.
“It’s going to be a challenge because they’re hungry for a win,” Williams said.
Stony Brook coach Beth O’Boyle said both coaching staffs will review the films from the two games and try to find something to exploit.
“I think it’s a little unusual,” she said. “I don’t think you ever want to play a team back to back so close.”
Barron said the approach is simple. That is, play the best you can.
“It really just matters how you play,” he said. “Our kids will be excited to play again. They’ll be ready.”
Bowdoin, USM, UNE earn NCAA berths
Bowdoin College of Brunswick, the University of Southern Maine of Gorham and the University of New England of Biddeford have earned at-large bids to the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship.
The 21-6 Huskies, runners-up in the Little East Conference, and the 19-7 Polar Bears, semifinalists in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, will play each other Friday at Ithaca, N.Y.
The 22-5 Nor’easters, regular-season champs and tourney semifinalists in the Commonwealth Coast Conference, take on John Hopkins at Medford, Mass., in their first-round contest.
North Atlantic Conference winner Castleton State drew Juniata, a first- and second-round host, for their pairing.
please don’t confuse the ‘futility’ of the women (2004 NCAA appearance) with the Men (never in program history circa 1904) C’mon Man! ;)
Heard through the old “UMaine Grapevine” that Barron lost another player……Amber Dillon. Sadly to say it’s HIS recruit folks!! Let’s wake up here…….this year was never about “winning” but just getting by and doing a little better than Blodgett and making every one of her recruits miserable in the meantime. The guy is brutal to the players! Best of luck to Ms. Dillon.
She was admitted on “conditions” academically, and obviously she did not meet the requirements
NOPE!! Sorry, this was HER choice……..Why is it so easy for everyone to blame the players? Come on! He’s a good salesman that’s what he is.
then why wouldn’t she wait until fri to leave the team after the season is over????
The regular season is over!! Maybe it’s that un”bear”able!!
Having seen every game this year, I saw improvement with this Women’s team. It takes more than Box Scores and Records to see that improvement but it’s there. It will take a couple more years but they will get there.
There WAS improvement on the team this year, with Blodgett’s recruits! She would have had a better season/record than Barron because the players would have been playing the positions they were recruited for and all the right people would have been on the floor. Barron had them all over the place, on the bench, off the bench, starting, not starting, not playing at all…then starting a walk on, really?…these girls are and were just as confused as we are in Maine! Head games don’t work with 18-22 year old women….hence his recruit started first six games or more then didn’t see the light of day….she probably doesn’t even know why. No wonder she’s leaving.
I attended several of the early season games and thought Amber Dillon added a lot of quickness to a slow back court. I also thought she might be a coaches dream as a 1st year player with tremendous upside potential in the upcoming seasons. I would not be shocked to see at least one more player depart. I also note that Ashleigh Roberts was an all league selection (rookie team) last year and never really got any consistent playing time. Also 5 of their 7 wins came against teams that won a total of just 7 D-1 games all season. Their RPI is marginally better then 2010-2011 and I would not be shocked to see SB beat them in the play-in. All that said…GO Black Bears.
I agree Chris…..I attended early season also and Ms. Dillon changed the tempo of the game. Maine has no transition game and that is much needed to win. As for Ashleigh I think coach has killed her confidence at this point. She should have been starting right along and let the freshman earn their spots as they aren’t doing much out there. Ashleigh earned her spot last year and this year she was lucky to see much time on the court. Obviously Barron has a plan in mind but the inconsistency that he’s showing these girls can’t be one of them! The starting line-up right now is not a winning one. I don’t know if SB will beat them – let’s hope not! All that being said with Dillon leaving, Manner gone and Mattice asking for an early release it doesn’t seem as though there’s much love for coach Barron – just saying’….I think you may see more than 1 player leaving this year.
TY Moose, I have been a fan for 15 years…have been on bus trips (TY Evie ) and followed AE WBB regularly. I saw young ladies play during Sharon V’s years who were friggin’ warriors (Heather, Julie,Monica, Kim, Mel, Missy, Bracey, Ashley, Abbey et.al ) … It would be great to see something close to that again.( Ooops ,LOL… almost forgot Tracy and Kissy)
Another stellar collapse of a Season by Ted Woodward. Abbott, what were you thinking?