Bears have their work cut out for them

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Across Maine, the talk of UMaine and the Blodgett – oops, make that Black – Bears has centered on losses lately.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way.

This was supposed to be the swan song for the state’s basketball princess. According to local legend, the Bears were supposed to vault off their victory over Western Kentucky, beat Connecticut, waltz into the NCAA tourney, and win a game or four.

But somewhere along the way, something bad happened.

Maine started losing to, gulp, America East teams.

First it was Drexel. Then New Hampshire and Vermont, back-to-back. At home.

And Boston University. BU? Last year, the Terriers scored 91 points against Maine – all season. On Feb. 12, they tossed a 94-point omen at the Black Bears.

On Thursday, it was Hartford’s turn to play Beat the Bears.

Still, all along, fans and coaches and players have mouthed the party line: Wait until the playoffs. We’ll be OK.

Well, sports fans, the playoffs are here, and it’s time to be very, very concerned about YOUUUUR University of Maine Black Bears.

The Black Bears are not OK. And they’ll be very lucky to provide their fans a fourth straight junket to NCAA-ville.

Let’s be serious here. UMaine should win the America East playoffs. They have two of the three most dominant players in the league in Cindy Blodgett and sophomore Jamie Cassidy.

The core of last year’s juggernaut is intact.

The problem is, the Black Bears have completely forgotten their roots.

In a blue collar state, UMaine was always a crowd favorite because the Bears outscrapped, outworked, and outfought everyone. Not just the Drexels of the world. The Alabamas, too.

And now, that’s not true.

Last year, UMaine ranked eighth in the nation in field goal percentage defense. Now the Bears are fifth in their own league and off the national map.

The No. 1 scoring defense in the conference has slumped to No. 9, out of 10. Instead of 61.9 ppg, the Bears allow 69.0.

Plain and simple, the Black Bears can’t stop anyone. Just as alarming, nearly everyone outrebounds them.

The Bears have proven unable to play anything but zone defense – white collar defense, in many people’s books – and this year, it’s not working.

A patient team willing to swing the ball twice can get an open 3-pointer. Three or four crisp passes and the ball gets to a post player who generally isn’t fronted.

With the exception of athletic Sandi Carver, there are no prototypical man-to-man defenders on the Black Bear roster who don’t have some offensive liability that keeps them on the bench.

So game after game, the Bears welcome teams to the Zone Zone.

And more and more often, the opponent shoots itself into a zone of its own. Swish. Swish. Swish.

All along, we’ve believed that the Bears will be able to flip a magic postseason switch.

The porous defense will be patched. Rebounds will bounce the right way.

Nope. There is no switch. There is no miracle cure.

But here’s a start: Defense and hard work and floorburns.

Outworking, not outscoring.

Really, truly getting ready to rumble.

That’s the way it’s supposed to be. We’ll see how it ends up.

John Holyoke is a NEWS sportswriter.