ORONO-Over the past four months, John Giannini has watched his team reach impressive peaks in wins over Big East upstart Providence and America East heavyweights Drexel and Delaware (twice).

His University of Maine men’s basketball team has also confounded him in losses against Vermont, Northeastern, Boston University, and Towson – four teams residing among the bottom six in America East.

With the league playoffs looming, that Jekyll-and-Hyde tendency has Giannini both intrigued and concerned.

“I think we’re a team that can be extremely good or very average on any given night,” Giannini said two days before his team proved the second part of his equation with a 91-85 loss at Northeastern.

The Bears are headed to Newark, Del., for the conference tourney in fourth place, trailing Hofstra, Delaware, and Drexel. That means they’ll sit out Friday’s play-in games and play a quarterfinal game Saturday.

Giannini said that this year, the seeding doesn’t really make much difference.

“As far as the seedings, one through four, I think the only advantage is that a higher seed gives you a better chance to host the championship game,” he said. “I think that whether you play BU or Towson [in the quarterfinals], it’s going to be a very similar, tough opening game. If you’re fortunate enough to win that, whether we play Hofstra, Drexel, or Delaware, those are all equally tough matchups.”

Senior forward Carvell Ammons recognizes the challenge.

“We haven’t exactly blown anybody in this league out. From the top to the bottom, it’s gonna be tough for us,” Ammons said. “It’s just non-stop. You’re gonna have to play your [three] best games of the year.”

Giannini said the Bears have succeeded in their quest to be mentioned among the league’s elite teams.

“The mark of a good program is to be in position to play for a championship at this time of year,” Giannini said.

On that count, the Bears are a clear success: Opposing coaches routinely describe the offensive capabilities of his team glowingly.

But for the past two years UMaine has been in that position. And the Bears have to clear another hurdle to make the transition from contender to champ.

“The mark of a very good or great program is one who’s in position and actually gets to the NCAA tournament more than their share,” Giannini said. “That’s the level we’re trying to get to right now.”

Standing in the way of the Bears is history – a UMaine men’s team has never received America East’s automatic NCAA bid, which goes to the league tournament champion – as well as his team’s quirky regular-season success record.

If the Bears are to reverse that trend and win the three postseason games necessary to earn a bid, the burden rests largely on three players.

Senior Ammons, classmate Julian Dunkley, and junior Huggy Dye are each skilled offensive players who can carry a team at times. Giannini’s problem is that the trio doesn’t always play together as well as he’d like.

“I think sometimes that chemistry has affected us not all playing well on the same night, but sometimes you don’t need your three best players to play well on the same night,” Giannini said.

More important than a high-scoring game each night, Giannini said, is doing whatever it takes to pave the way for a UMaine win.

“Sometimes a good offensive player has to be very happy to win the game doing a little bit less but doing a lot of other things well,” Giannini said. “Those are all lessons that I think we understand. We don’t always put them into practice.”

Dunkley has heard that analysis often enough to take it to heart, as have the other Bears. But knowing and executing are two different things.

“If you can get Carvell, me, Huggy, and Errick [Greene] … on the same page on one night, nobody can play with us,” Dunkley said. “But it seems like one piece of the wheel’s always missing, and that hurts us.”

Greene, a 6-foot-3 walking matchup nightmare, has proved difficult on teams all year. He is especially effective against teams such as Hofstra and Delaware that rely on three-guard sets. Derrick Jackson is the team’s defensive stopper and usually draws the toughest perimeter assignment.

Freshman Tory Cavalieri and senior Colin Haynes see the most action off the bench, as Giannini prefers to keep his rotation light: Seven or eight players will get the bulk of the minutes. Rickey White has contributed valuable minutes at times during the season.

Giannini said this year’s tourney is a bit different than those in past years in that there’s been so many close games, several teams think they have the talent to ride a string of upsets into the NCAA tourney.

“I definitely think that BU, Towson, Northeastern, Vermont are teams that are capable of beating the top teams, and New Hampshire is completely unpredictable because of their style of play,” Giannini said.

“I think Hartford is definitely down right now between a lack of depth and some injuries, but they’re the only one I think will have a hard time winning right now.”

The reason for his coach’s assessment – and the opposition’s confidence – isn’t lost on Ammons.

It’s losses like the Bears’ road defeat at the hands of Northeastern that have infused every team in the league with enthusiasm.

“We feel good about our chances no matter if we won that game or not,” Ammons said. “But the thing about it is, it gives them confidence going into the tournament, and we may have to face up against them again.”