Seawolves Fans

MAINE
Record: 3-16 (1-3 America East)
Last 10: 2-8
Last Game: Hartford 77, Maine 76 on 1/15/19
Last Game with SBU: Stony Brook 64, Maine 61 on 2/11/18; 9-2 run to end the game
Checkmate Unofficial Line: Stony Brook -9.5
Net Ranking: Stony Brook 127, Maine 328
KenPom RPI: Stony Brook 147, Maine 332
KenPom Prediction: Stony Brook 68, Maine 60
Yeboah Point Watch: 1,088
Division I: Currently 7th. Next up: Dave Coley (2010-14) 1,222
All-time: Currently 19th. Next up: Dave Burda (1983-86) 1,100
Listen/Watch:
TV: http://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=b18909fd-c8e1-44d0-93ce-61ea8e206bbd (ESPN+)
Stony Brook radio: http://bit.ly/WUSBSports_FM
Notables:
6-5/195 rjr G Isaiah White 14.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.3 spg
6-7/220 jr F Andrew Fleming 13.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.1 spg, .467 FG%
6-4/205 jr G Sergio El Darwich 11.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.1 spg, .551 FG%
6-8/215 so F Vilgot Larsson 7.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg

Maine's been a laughingstock for years and rightfully so. And this year, their record doesn’t suggest that they’re a player in the America East. Yet we don’t want to stub our toe here, and Maine has been a nuisance to us in the recent past.

Last year’s squad had a troublesome time in both games with Maine – Iroegbu beat them with a buzzer-beating three at the Fed, and we held on to win by three in Bangor (our website says Orono, which is wrong). And two years ago at our place, Nyama drew a bogus foul and knocked down a go-ahead free throw with one second left to win it. While they were all SBU wins, we’re still talking about a miniscule eight-point aggregate spread.

Take another step back and you’ll see the one-sidedness of this series. We’ve won 15 straight, dating back to the 2010-11 season when Leonard Hayes’ career-high 22 wasn’t enough in a 70-59 road loss. It’s as much an indictment on the Maine program as it is a feather in our cap. Maine has finished with single-digit wins in each of the last five years, going an abominable 30-123 over that stretch.

BUT … there’s reason to believe that the arrow’s pointing in the right direction up there.

First, the coach. Richard Barron had been wildly successful as UMaine’s women’s coach before a health scare caused him to leave the team – something horrible called superior semicircular canal dehiscence to be specific. He was given the men’s job when Bob Walsh stepped down, and, well, if you examine the numbers a little closer, Maine may be on to something.

Yes, they’re 3-15, but they’ve played some teams very tough. They’ve lost three games in overtime and have a nice win over Fordham to their credit. They played Brown close, played with Rutgers for a half, and all this is with a new coach and a roster that had to adjust to a new system, never mind the fact that Aaron Calixte (whose game I loved) graduated and bolted for the big stage – Oklahoma – where he's started all 16 of their games.

So presumably they are rounding into shape for the conference season. They notched their first conference win on Saturday when they handled Albany pretty easily. UA hit some cosmetic threes late in a game that the Black Bears led by 16 in the second half. The story was El Darwich, a juco transfer who continued his recent outbreak with a season-high 26 that included five triples. From what I saw in the UA game, he's pretty smooth – nifty with the bounce, good mid-range game, and range beyond 19'9". Granted, I watched him on his best day, but he looks like a nice combo guard and a good get for Maine (note he's a native Lebanese who played postgrad ball in Maine for a now-UMaine assistant; should have stayed home from the start).

His emergence gives Maine a third scorer alongside White – a three-point artist – and Fleming, who has a nice jumper to go with a polished post game (he had 29 in the win over Fordham). According to ESPN, he was the #1 recruit from the state of Maine in 2016. El Darwich was #2.

Back to Barron – I'm rooting for him because of his health setback and because it's a tall task that he's taken on. I also love what he's done with his coaching staff. One, he hired a Maine all-timer, Kevin Reed, as an assistant. Two, he brought in Edniesha Curry, a former assistant for his women's teams, as the only full-time female assistant on a Division I men's staff. And three, Igor Vrzina, the longtime Lee Academy coach who undoubtedly has a network in New England and internationally (I count TWELVE different countries on Maine's current roster). Five current Maine players came out of Lee. Nobody's being held hostage in the cold up there – I'd imagine they're committed to helping their alma mater get out of this hole.

As for this game, hey, I like our chances against just about anybody right now. We're very well balanced offensively, defend the heck out of it, and play from the opening tip to the buzzer. That's a good formula at whatever level we're talking about. I like our wings shadowing their wings, and think we just have more firepower and athleticism than they do. But ... Fordham, another team from New York, might have made this same trip and thought the same thing. So let's take care of business.

Thanks Checkmate - I love the analysis as always - really prepares us for the game.  Keep up the great works!

Hammer, I hope your assessment is incorrect.  No question that Akwasi is a step slower and less quick since the injury (and the brace).  He's still effective though, and is still logging some heavy minutes.  Don't think the coaching staff would risk further injury by throwing him out there the way they have, unless the risk was minimal.  We have enough depth on this team, so that Akwasi at 80% is still OK.

 

Days like today I wish AE had even number of teams. Everyone is playing today and we are resting. I want more basketball.

I'm going to be watching the UVM @ UNH matchup, and coaching UNH from my armchair.  Go UNH!

Oof. Rotten loss for Maine tonight. Threes got them back into the game, White makes 1 of 2 at the line to give them a one-point lead with three seconds left. Hartford then throws the long ball, it's tipped, Carroll collects it, drives, gets fouled and knocks down both free throws to win it.

Crummy way to lose, but you get the sense that Maine's starting to jell. On the other hand, Hartford sooooo close to 0-3 in conference, which I would have enjoyed. I hate Jason Dunne.

And conversely, we'll be a tough out for them. 

I was under the impression that UVM was just Anthony Lamb and everyone else though. Shut him down, and you shut their entire team down.

Vegas has us as a 7.5 to 8 point favorite today.

I think we cover.


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I don't even think there are 100 people in the stands there today.