UM football star Byrd may fill basketball void Black Bears lacking depth in backcourt

The University of Maine men’s basketball team may add a familiar name to its roster in the second semester in an effort to increase its depth in the backcourt.

Lennard Byrd, a 5-foot-7 senior defensive back and return specialist for the Black Bears’ football team, practiced with the team on Monday and Tuesday, coach John Giannini said.

Byrd has not been added to the roster and will not travel to Amherst, Mass., this weekend for the Bears’ Sunday game against the University of Massachusetts.

But he will likely continue to practice with the Bears when he returns from a holiday break.

“He has practiced with us to help us out and he’s going to spend time with his family because he hasn’t been home since July,” said Giannini, who isn’t sure how much Byrd will contribute to his team.

“We’ll see how things look when he gets back,” Giannini said.

Byrd is a well-rounded athlete: He was a high school All-American in baseball at Kingston (N.Y.) High and an all-star football player.

The Black Bears have been dealing with its lack of backcourt depth over the first two months of practice.

First, Huggy Dye was suspended. Then Ricky Green left school. And finally, Derrick Jackson was injured in a car accident on Thanksgiving weekend and hasn’t played since. All three players were expected to be among UMaine’ six-man rotation.

The Bears return home to Alfond Arena for home games on Dec. 30 (Brown) and Jan. 2 (Albany).

Despite his team’s 2-7 start, Giannini said he’s optimistic about what the Bears could accomplish when they get into their America East schedule.

“Now that we’ve slipped, frankly, the rest of the league has slipped with us,” said Giannini, who pointed out that the preseason defection of four teams hasn’t been the reason the league’s winning percentage is low.

None of the four (Hofstra, Delaware, Towson and Drexel) are playing very well, either. They’re a combined 14-19 thus far.

More important, Giannini said, is the fact of the star players during last year’s America East season, most graduated, leaving a crop of young teams trying to learn on the fly.

“Ironically, this team may match up against [league] competition as well as some of our other contending teams have,” Giannini said.

Hayes wins another honor

The awards keep rolling in for University of Maine tight end Chad Hayes. On Wednesday, he was named an American Football Coaches Association All-American.

The AFCA honors 11 offensive players, 11 defensive players and three specialists.

Hayes, a senior from Old Town, helped lead the Bears into the second round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

The 6-foot-6, 254-pounder made 28 catches for 382 yards – each of those totals is a UMaine record for tight ends.

The only other Atlantic 10 athlete to make the list was Villanova star running back Brian Westbrook.