What will solve the woes for the Maine men's basketball team

[Blind Zebra]

Good coaching will help make Maine competitive again. In the end, that’s what we want. Like football, be competitive in their conference and every 3 to 5 years have a chance to win the league. Resident conference doormat is the new normal for the last 10 years. It’s not acceptable. Finally we have a coach who runs an actual offensive system and is a competent in-game strategist.
Great win at Albany!
I’m going to continue to support this program and the players, whether from Serbia, Canada or the coal mines of West Virginia. Give me some competitive, winning basketball and I’m happy.

[UMaineSuperfan]

Precisely this, BZ.

Maine is fighting severely up hill in terms of resources, whether that be coaching salary, recruiting budget, travel accommodations, location, fanbase, etc. It's simply not reasonable, at least right now, for us to be consistent title contenders considering Stony Brook and UVM are in our conference.

With that being said, why can't we be at least competent? It's been so long since Maine has put consistent lineups of all d1 bodies on the floor. Let's get to the point where the floor is 5 conference wins, with most seasons being between 7-9, and we are a top 3 seed every 4 years or so when we line up two strong classes as juniors and seniors?

Football does it in a conference with much more competition from southern schools, why can't hoops?

[bcbc55]

As someone else mentioned on the women’s thread, this discussion is all wasted words on a page and has absolutely nothing to do with UMaine Men’s Basketball. Coach Barron has already signed the next incoming recruiting class. Unless some kids transfer, there are no remaining available scholarships. The discussion of Maine high school seniors and D3 players belongs on another board.

"BZ": You certainly got your post above right. I agree. They have done their recruiting for next year and no real true BIG either. Haven't had one at Maine since Ali Fraser who transferred out.

Also only graduate 2 seniors Araujo and Ilija S, So where did that extra scholarship come from to get 3 new players for next season?

I know where it came from. 16 players on roster, 12 on scholarship and 4 walk ons. I believe many think that there are only 3 walk ons. Begic, Ashley and Wang. However, if you go to one of the popular recruiting sites website it will show that Maine has only 12 basketball scholarship players 2 seniors. 4 juniors, 4 sophs and 2 freshmen by class and 4 walk ons listed. It also reveals who that player is. Very interesting.

Who do you think this player is??

[Linguist]

Coach Barron has to revamp the roster, the cupboard was pretty bare when the previous staff left, no many ingredients there to make a meal.

Could a couple of other players from this team to consider playing elsewhere next year? Barron's guys will stay, but what about the Walsh recruits? I put an * beside the Barron players.

Fleming - returns
*Yagodin - returns
Araujo - graduates
*Larsson - returns
*Moss - returns
*Pirjovic - returns
*Ingo - returns
Stojiljkovic - graduates
Wang - walk on, no idea what he does
Antoms - Transfer potential
White - returns
Begic - walk on, no idea what he does
*Iluyomade - retruns
*El Darwich - returns
Ashley - walk on, I can see him leaving
Eze - returns

[mainejeff]

Are you talking about guys transferring down? I don't think that anyone is going to play elsewhere next season unless they are going D2/D3. Maybe Moss?

Time for everyone to chill out regarding this program and Barron. It is what it is right now but anyone that doesn't see the improvement is blind.

The Yagodin injury really hurt the progression of this team in terms of wins IMO. They may have had 4 or 5 more if he had played. I think that Maine could be decent next season if everyone is healthy....seems like that is a big IF at Maine.

[Linguist]

My point is, UMaine fans should be ecstatic with the direction of the program. In his 1st off season, Barron cleaned out some bad players, and brought in some good ones. We all expect Yagodin to be a player, I think Iluyomade will be solid and I have high hopes for Ingo too. Moss is better than I hoped. I think Larsson has moments where he looks like a player and others where he looks lost. El Darwich will not shy away from the spotlight and seems to have big shot making ability and can get to the glass and finish in traffic.

All of the guys Barron brought in are improvements over what left and previous recruits (other than White). And none of these are 1st or 2nd team all conference level players. Maine needs that one top tier kid to be an all conference player to be there when they need it, and maybe this next class has that guy.

So I think for those wondering how to solve the woe's of the UMaine Men's basketball team, the answer is right in front of you. It's talent and coaching. The coaching is in place, the talent is coming.

[Linguist]

I thought I would look up the early AE conference stats to see where some of the Maine players ranked in the league.

I am a bit surprised to see Andrew Fleming so high in so many categories, he might end up on an all conference team if these numbers hold up.

Scoring 13th in the league. 13.5ppg
Rebounding 7th in the league. 6.5rpg
Field Goal Percentage 6th in the league. .473 FG%
Assists 5th in the league. 3.5apg
Assists to Turnover ration, 4th in league. 1.3 ratio
Blocks 5th in the league. 0.9 bpg
Steals 13th in the league 1.1 spg
Minutes, 2nd in League. 37.0mpg

[CoachA]

Totally agree with Lindquist on both posts. Glad to see some reasoning on here.

[Justabasketballfan]

Agreement with Lindquist here, too.

Good coaches make players better, and that's what we're seeing with this year's team.
My guess is that there's individual skill development being done, both in the preseason and during the season.

The other side of the coin, though, is players can only improve so much.
Can any of the current players develop into all-league caliber performers?

There's hope. At this level, it is extremely rare that a player comes in as a finished product, ready to contribute immediately. They have to be developed. Almost universally, the best teams in leagues like A.East are populated mostly by seniors and juniors.

Maine is a fairly young team, so there is room for improvement in subsequent years.

But, the current freshman group ... and, correct me if I'm wrong on this ... isn't real strong. The only contributor is an undersized guard who doesn't look like he's going to be the answer.

[dunbar]

But, the current freshman group ... and, correct me if I'm wrong on this ... isn't real strong. The only contributor is an undersized guard who doesn't look like he's going to be the answer.

*cue Moss defenders in 3, 2, 1...*