UMaine men enjoy weekend at the ‘Pit’ Giannini, officials to consider making Memorial Gym games annual event

Judging from reactions of players, coaches and school officials, last weekend’s return to Memorial Gymnasium was anything but the pits.

The Maine Invitational Tournament marked the return of basketball game action to the “Pit” at the University of Maine after a 12-year absence.

Although the crowd sizes for Friday night’s games were a bit disappointing, Saturday’s were a vast improvement. More than 1,000 fans made the arena – cited by Sports Illustrated more than two decades ago as one of the toughest places to play – a tough place to play again.

“That’s what I expected. I thought we would play well in the Pit,” said Maine coach John Giannini, whose team is 3-1 after winning both tournament games. “I thought it would be loud, our band sounded great, the fans were great, and it is what we hoped for. It was a nice feeling to play in there and play well with the place really supporting us.”

Giannini and other school officials hope to make playing at Memorial Gym an annual tradition.

“I’d like to go in there for a weekend a year or a game a year because I think it’s a nice thing,” Giannini said. “It all depends mostly on logistics and scheduling.”

Pit has Miller in the mood

The last time Brown University coach Glen Miller was on the sidelines at the University of Maine’s Memorial Gym, he was wearing a tank top, shorts and sneakers, not a suit and tie.

The Maine Invitational Tournament games offered the former Northeastern University player and University of Connecticut assistant coach a drive down memory lane, although Miller didn’t pull off to the side to admire the view.

“My recollection of playing here, it was so long ago, that it didn’t make me nostalgic, but I’m sure it was good for them [Maine’s players and coaches] and their alums,” Miller said. “It’s hard to remember back that far, but I think I played fairly well here myself. I think we won when I was here.”

Almost 12 years after the last game was played in the Pit, Miller likely had the most on-court experience at this venue of anyone there.

“This is a tough place to play. It’s usually packed in there and it’s a good college atmosphere. It was a good environment for us to play in,” Miller said. “If the students were in school, this place rocks. It’s a great home-court situation.”

Miller played at Northeastern and led the 27-5 Huskies to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1984 as a senior. He also coached under UConn’s Jim Calhoun for seven seasons. He visited the Pit at least once during each of his stints with the NU and UConn Huskies.

“I like this atmosphere here. Coach Giannini was looking to have this tournament here and he gave us three dates,” Miller said. “This was the one that was good for us and since the women’s tournament was going on, they asked if I minded playing here and I thought it was a great idea.”

Although it ended on a down note with a 79-69 loss to Maine, Miller looked at the overall experience as a good one.

“It’s loud and it’s just a great environment,” he said.

I thought you brought them…

It was a different look for the University of Maine-Fort Kent men’s basketball team as it took the court for Saturday’s Maine Invitational Tournament game against the University of New England.

Instead of their regular home white uniforms, the Bengals were wearing their white practice jerseys.

No, it wasn’t a deliberate fashion statement.

“You can say it was just a casual look for us,” head coach Eric Werntgen said with a chuckle. “Actually, we lost our uniforms on the van. One of our players got lost with the van and we couldn’t get them here in time.

“Our home uniforms got to our locker room about three seconds before the game, but I didn’t want to hold up the whole tournament.”

The fashion disaster didn’t seem to bother the Bengals players as UMFK came from behind to defeat UNE 72-66.

The Bengals went 1-1 in the tourney and Werntgen was very pleased with his 3-7 team’s play.

“We played very well against Brown. We had a couple of scoreless stretches and they started the second half with a 12-0 run, but we held our own against a Division I program,” he said. “Just today alone, you have to take some positives. I’m happy.”