Bears to shift emphasis vs. Brown> Maine Coach Giannini looking for more controlled pace and precision

For a month and a half – through practices, two exhbition games, and last week’s Pepsi Marist Classic – John Giannini has directed his University of Maine men’s basketball team like a jockey riding a thoroughbred.

Run, run, run, he has urged.

But after a lackluster performance in the Marist tourney, Giannini has decided to rein in the Black Bears … kind of.

Not that Giannini’s actually hollering “Whoa!”

It’s just that he thinks his team may fare better with a more controlled game plan. And when the Black Bears face Brown University in their home opener at 1 p.m. Sunday in Alfond Arena, there will be some changes.

“We had good players taking bad shots while they were in a big hurry,” Giannini said of the Bears’ performances in a loss to Bucknell and a win over Delaware State in the Pepsi Marist Classic.

That formula wasn’t working for the Bears, so Giannini and assistants Ted Woodward, Mike Mennenga, and Ed Jones began preaching a new magic word this week instead of speed: precision.

“We’re bigger and more solid than [last year] and I just think that we could really end up being a better half-court team,” Giannini said. “The bottom line is we need our good players taking good shots without having to rush ’em.”

And while UMaine won’t likely repeat last year’s offensive performance, during which the Bears were ranked 14th in the nation in scoring offense and led America East in nearly every offensive category, that doesn’t mean the Bears will operate at a pedestrian pace, either, Giannini cautions.

“With the guards we have, it’s not very difficult [to make the change] because what we’ve told ’em is, we still want to push the ball in transition,” Giannini said. “It’s just that now we want to look for layups in transition as opposed to forcing the tempo [by taking the first available shot].”

Those guards, senior Andy Bedard and sophomore Huggy Dye, are two of four Black Bears scoring in double figures after two games.

Bedard averages 19.5 points and seven assists a contest, while Dye has scored 14.0 ppg.

Ironically, while the Black Bears rushed past Brown last year and won 91-72 on the road, it may be the Ivy Leaguers who try to push the pace this time around.

“This year they’re playing far more aggressively, especially in transition,” Giannini said. “What we’re seeing is that a lot of the young perimeter players from last year’s team are better when they’re aggressive, and of course, they have the benefit of an extra year’s experience.”