Bears at home to BU tonight in NAC semi

For one team it is a chance to make history, to put itself on Division I college basketball’s national stage for the first time.

For the other team, it is a chance to maintain its status as one of the two best programs in the North Atlantic Conference and as a yearly contender for the NCAA tournament.

There you have the motivational crux of Thursday night’s NAC semifinal between the University of Maine and Boston University. Now it’s just a question of how the two teams respond to the motivation when they tap off at the Memorial Gym in Orono (7:30).

Maine, 12-15 and seeded second after a 7-3 NAC campaign, can advance to a conference championship for the first time in its 72-season history if it can repeat its two regular-season wins against the Terriers.

What’s more, a win means the Black Bears will make their first appearance on national television Saturday in the NAC final, scheduled to be broadcast by ESPN at 11:30 a.m. At that point, Maine would be one game away from its first NCAA tournament.

“It can take us to a point where Maine has never been,” summed up third-year Black Bear coach Rudy Keeling.

Boston University, conversely, has been where Maine aspires to be. The Terriers were on ESPN and advanced to the NCAAs two of the last three seasons.

A new coach in former University of Southern Maine boss Bob Brown and a team featuring 5 new starters has resulted in an 11-17 record (5-5 NAC) and a No. 3 seeding this year.

But here the Terriers are again in the semis after thumping New Hampshire 88-57 Tuesday night.

“Most people judge a season by the number of wins and losses, but with what we had to start with, we feel we’ve accomplished a lot coming in third in the league,” said BU’s Brown. “Right now, we feel we have as good a shot to win this thing as anybody. We don’t look at it as redemption. We’ve got pride in our tradition.”

Nerves, understandably, will be a factor.

With five freshmen expected to play a role in the game for Maine, senior center and captain Curtis Robertson knows the young Black Bears must focus on the task at hand and not get caught up in the hoopla of what might lie ahead.

“We think about it,” said Robertson Wednesday. “But we don’t want to think about it to the point it makes us nervous.

“I think we’re going in kind of confident,” continued Maine’s 6-10 pivotman. “We’re skeptical about the old saying `it’s tough to beat a team three times.’ Coach is trying to keep us level-headed. He wants us to go in confident, but not overconfident.”

Maine’s confidence stems from a pair of grind-it-out wins over the Terriers this season which featured Robertson, 6-8 redshirt freshman forward Francois Bouchard, 6-8 backup center Dan Hillman, and 6-6 forward Ken Barnes wearing down a less physical and attrited BU frontcourt. Bouchard erupted for 55 combined points in the two games. And Maine outrebounded the Terriers by a combined 89-52 margin (37-16 on the offensive glass).

“They’re bigger than we are,” conceded Brown. “Somehow we have to try and negate that. That’s not going to be an easy chore.”

The Terriers have been a finesse team, relying on the perimeter game and foul shooting of guards Reggie Stewart and Mark Daly and the short baseline jumpers of 6-7 Jason Scott. When the perimeter stuff is falling, BU has been tough.

Maine guard Derrick Hodge has been particularly effective defending the 6-3 Stewart, who shot 10-for-31 (32 percent) from the floor, averaging 15.5 points in the two losses.

“I think we’ve done a great job on Stewart, but he’s too good to hold in check indefinitely,” Keeling warned.

In addition to keeping Stewart in check, the Maine coach said keys for his team will be hitting the perimter shot to free up the inside game against BU’s matchup zone, and staying cool.

“We just have to play our game,” Keeling said.

According to Brown, BU wants to hold Bouchard in check in the paint and hope it catches a break from the officials when things get rough.

“If they’re allowed to push and shove we’ll be taken out of the ballgame. If the officials call those fouls, it will be a major factor,” Brown said.