ORONO, Maine — The hiring of head coach Bob Walsh in May marked a new beginning for the University of Maine men’s basketball program.
Coming off a dismal 6-22 season during which the Black Bears finished seventh in the America East Conference, Walsh and his staff are trying to instill a new attitude.
“It’s really all about our approach, it’s the way we compete every day,” said Walsh, who guided Rhode Island College to eight straight berths in the NCAA Division III tournament. “Everything is new to everybody and that’s what I have to understand as a coach.”
There are obvious outward signs of UMaine’s collective commitment to retooling from the ground up. The players wear practice jerseys with a “0” on the back and also have T-shirts that read, “Entitled to Nothing.”
It denotes that the Black Bears are starting from scratch and serves as a reminder of the program’s futility in trying to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.
“That’s not something we want to hide from, that’s a challenge that we’re looking to attack,” Walsh said.
There likely will be some growing pains moving forward as UMaine opens Saturday afternoon at Butler in Indianapolis.
As he did at RIC, Walsh plans to make hard-nosed defense the foundation of his program.
“Hopefully, we’re going to be a great half-court defensive team. We want to be really hard to score on,” Walsh said.
“The whole approach from the beginning is, you give me the defensive end and I’ll give you the offensive end,” he added.
UMaine was by far the worst defensive team in the league last season, giving up 82.9 points per game on 47 percent shooting.
“I think the biggest change for the team this year is definitely the defense,” said sophomore Garet Beal of Beals Island. “We’ve made plenty of mistakes with it, but I think we’re really willing to learn and work hard with it.”
The Bears, who lost guards Xavier Pollard and Dimitry Akanda-Coronel to transfer, are building around six of their top nine players from last season.
The squad is led by its only senior, shooting guard Zarko Valjarevic, who ranked second on the team in points (11.3 ppg) and minutes played (31.4 mpg) last season and led UMaine with a .438 3-point percentage.
Walsh called Valjarevic “a talented scorer, leader; he’s more than just a shooter. He’s aggressive offensively, is capable of defending both guard spots and he can create for his teammates.”
Valjarevic has been sidelined by a foot injury, but has been practicing this week.
Other seasoned veterans include junior guard Shaun Lawton (8.1 ppg, 4.2 assists per game, 2.0 steals per game), junior forward Till Gloger (7.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg), and junior forward Ethan Mackey (5.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg).
Lawton’s backcourt experience will be pivotal.
“He’s one of our most athletic and quickest players, can really spearhead our defense, can be great defensively and is a creator on offense who can make his teammates better,” Walsh said.
Gloger should provide a “strong interior presence down low on offense. We also need him to be a big-time rebounder for us,” Walsh said of Lawton.
The left-handed Mackey is “a workhorse, physical, rebounder, post defender,” according to Walsh.
Aaron Calixte, who played at Lee Academy, will have an immediate impact at point guard.
“He’s talented, tough, a natural leader,” Walsh said.
His role could be magnified early as sophomore Troy Reid-Knight (6.5 ppg, 2.3 apg) tries to overcome the effects of a preseason head injury.
“He’s a really solid, reliable, tough point guard who gets everything he has out of his ability,” Walsh said.
Freshman Kevin Little will add the elements of speed, quickness and creativity at guard.
Beal (4.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg) looks to expand his role as do sophomore forwards Christian Ejiga, Erik Nissen and Marko Pirovic, along with junior Stefan Micovic.
“He’s versatile, tough, can score a little bit inside and out and play a number of positions for us,” Walsh said of Beal.
The Bears also must be stronger and more tenacious on the boards after being outrebounded by an average of 7.1 per game last season.
Freshman Garvey Melmed of Greenbush heads a group of three nonscholarship guards along with sophomore C.J. Ward and senior Peter Westra.
“[Melmed’s] tough, smart, solid,” Walsh said. “He’s one of those guys who’s always in the right place at the right time.”
Mackey said there is a different attitude among the players this season in their daily preparation.
“I think this year we do a better job working really hard in practice and that carries over to the games,” said Mackey, who also sees a difference in the defensive approach.
“It’s more of a team defense than one-on-one defense, so that really puts less pressure on you,” he added.