Campbell fills void for depleted Bears Former Bangor star to play as freshman

ORONO – Halfway through preseason, John Giannini talked about the kind of player former Bangor star Joe Campbell would become at the University of Maine … some day.

Giannini, you see, had hoped Campbell wouldn’t see any action this year, and would practice with the Bears as a “redshirt” who would retain four years of eligibility and spend five years at the school.

Campbell can officially trade in his red shirt for a blue one: He played in the Black Bears’ second exhibition contest, as well as in their season opener against Arkansas.

Giannini’s hand was forced by the preseason dismissal of star guard Huggy Dye, who was arrested and pleaded guilty to assault, and by the actions of Ricky Green, another guard who left the team.

“I wish we had a deep backcourt full of people who could play different positions and who were very skilled and made us a good shooting team and gave us more versatility at the point guard position,” Giannini said.

“And we used to have that kind of team. Right now, we need Joe to play because he gives us a very solid player off the bench.”

Campbell played forward in high school and is best known for tipping in a shot at the buzzer to give the Rams the state Class A championship in March.

At Maine, the 6-foot-6, 185-pounder will play on the perimeter, while Giannini had hoped to give him a year to adjust to the college game, improving his shooting touch and get stronger.

“There are some games he might play a couple minutes, but we’re a turned ankle away from him having to play 20 minutes a game,” Giannini said.

“So I don’t want to be in the position where we try to redshirt him and then all of a sudden halfway through the season he’s got to play 20 minutes a game. That would not be good for him or for us.”

And after Giannini lost the services of Dye and Green, he decided that Campbell was the obvious choice to step up the depth chart.

“I just think we need at least eight players who are ready to play, and right now I think that after our starting five and Todd [Tibbetts] and Freddy [Petkus], Joe is the next player who can give us sound play,” Giannini said.

Bears busy chasing recruits

While the signing period for high school basketball recruits opened on Wednesday, Giannini did not expect any National Letters of Intent to be faxed back to his office immediately.

But that doesn’t mean he’s not optimistic about his upcoming recruiting class.

“We may have three commitments by the end of the week or we may have zero, or we may have one or two. We’ll just have to wait and see,” Giannini said.

Giannini said teams tend to be quite selective during their early recruiting.

“In the early signing period you usually want to reach pretty high, because you feel that you could get a solid player later in the year,” Giannini said.

Giannini said one player had given a verbal commitment and another has indicated that he will likely come to Orono. Both of those players – along with another recruit – may opt to sign during the “late” signing period, which runs from April 10-May 15, instead of during the early period, which began Wednesday and ends Nov. 21.

The Black Bears will lose seniors Jamar Croom, Errick Greene and Todd Tibbetts to graduation, and have four available scholarships for next year.