The arrival of several new players and a new coaching staff appear to have injected an expectation of improvement this season for the struggling University of Maine men’s basketball program.
Coming off a 6-26 season that included a 3-13 league record and an eighth-place finish in the nine-team America East Conference, the Black Bears have been picked to finish in a tie for seventh in the preseason coaches poll released Wednesday.
UMaine picked up 19 points to tie with New Hampshire, while UMass Lowell brings up the rear with 12 points. It was the highest placement for the Black Bears since they were picked to finish fifth prior to the 2012-2013 season.
Former UMaine women’s coach Richard Barron has taken over the men’s team and faces the challenge of trying to resurrect a program that posted a dismal 24-100 overall mark (12-52 AE) under former coach Bob Walsh.
Vermont, the reigning America East regular-season champion, received six-first place votes and topped the poll with 62 points while Hartford matched its best-ever predicted finish coming in second after earning the other three first-place tallies and 59 points. They were followed by Maryland Baltimore County (44 points), Albany (40), Stony Brook (40) and Binghamton (29).
UMaine’s top returnees include junior forward Andrew Fleming of Bangor (9.7 points, 5.3 rebounds per game), junior guard Isaiah White (11.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg), senior guard Ilija Stojiljkovic (4.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and junior post player Vincent Eze (6.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg during 2016-2017) who sat out last season after surgeries on both hips.
Five former all-conference players comprise the preseason all-conference team that features three seniors and two juniors. The team is led by Vermont junior Anthony Lamb, who missed the majority of last season due to injury, but was an all-conference honoree as a freshman.
Also selected were Hartford senior forward John Carroll, Vermont senior guard Ernie Duncan, Hartford senior guard Jason Dunne and Stony Brook junior forward Akwasi Yeboah.
Defending AE tournament champion UMBC last season became the first No. 16 seed ever to beat a No. 1 in the NCAA tournament when the Retrievers knocked off Virginia.
The poll and all-conference team were voted on by the league’s nine head coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own them.
Follow BDN Maine Sports on Facebook for the latest in Maine high school and college sports.