UMaine poised for title run in ’05 Experience, roster additions spark optimism in men’s basketball program

A little over a year ago, the University of Maine men’s basketball season ended in frustration, disappointment and uncertainty.

This year, the Black Bears again were disappointed by the end of their season, but frustration has given way to resiliency and uncertainty has been replaced by optimism.

Sure, it was painful to watch Vermont forward Taylor Coppenrath practically leap out of the training room and onto the Patrick Gymnasium court to ring up 43 points and almost single-handedly bring the curtain down on Maine’s season, but there are worse ways to lose … like last year.

A 3-point buzzer-beating loss to a lower-seeded team at a neutral site in the conference quarterfinals is much tougher to stomach than a flat-out defeat to a higher-seeded team featuring the two-time reigning conference player of the year on the higher seed’s home court in the league championship game. And when four of your five starters and six of your top eight players will return next season, that’s all the more reason for optimism.

“I just thank God for this team and these players. They’ve been a real blessing to me,” said Maine coach John Giannini. “We had a great season and just ran up against a great player in the first half and a great defensive team in a hostile environment.”

Maine is in much better shape this offseason than last. A year ago, Giannini had to worry about how best to deal with the graduation of his entire frontcourt. His only concern this March is how best to fill the hole at point guard left by All-America East second-team pick Eric Dobson, who was also Maine’s lone AE all-tournament pick.

Notre Dame transfer Chris Markwood, a former NEWS All-State selection from South Portland, is the leading candidate to replace Dobson at the point. Markwood started in 22 of the 23 games he played and was the second-leading assist man on the team this year. He spelled Dobson at the point regularly and is already the team’s best defensive player.

Also gone will be guard Ludmil “Udo” Hadjisotirov and popular senior leader Jon Wallingford, guards who provided presence and production. But even with their losses, Maine could be even deeper.

The Black Bears not only retain most of their offensive firepower, they should gain more. In fact, next season’s Maine team should be even better than this season’s 20-10 squad in terms of talent, experience and depth.

With the return of a healthy Jermaine Jackson, who suffered an undisclosed foot-ankle injury in the first game of the season that knocked him out for the rest of the season, and the debut of 6-foot-2 guard Ernest Turner, a transfer from Nevada-Las Vegas, the Bears should have plenty of scoring threats to complement the inside attack of fifth-year senior Mark Flavin and outside scoring of junior guard Kevin Reed – both All-AE second-team selections.

Some Bear fans and observers think Turner could be the best player – talent-wise – to come to Maine in a decade or more. Giannini says he is one of the most highly rated recruits that has ever come to the program.

If Turner is as advertised and the 6-4 Jackson develops his explosive game, the biggest problem for the Bears will be how to best utilize all the offensive potential and weapons.

Throw in the intangibles and big-time playing ability of versatile forward-guard Joe Campbell of Bangor, the post presence and defense of 6-9 forward David Dubois, and the shooting-rebounding ability of 6-7 guard Freddy Petkus and the Bears are set to make another AE title-game run.

That doesn’t even take into account the potential contributions of soon-to-be sophomores Olli Ahvenniemi, a 6-10 forward, and 6-3 guard Chris Bruff.

“Our freshmen are very talented players,” Giannini said. “Olli can be the next Clayton Brown, Justin Rowe, Carvell Ammons, Nate Fox, Rickey White, Julian Dunkley. Chris Bruff can be a very explosive player for us. These are guys who are potential all-conference players.”

Next year’s squad will be even more experienced, more mature and more driven – all qualities that helped the Bears improve enough this year to make their second conference finals appearance in three years.

That maturity was evident in the postgame press conference comments made by Campbell and Reed.

“You’ve got to learn from your losses. You’ve got to keep them in the back of your mind,” Campbell said. “The losses drive you and that’s what’s going to drive us next year … this memory.”

“You’ve got to take what you can from it,” Reed added. “We wanted this game and we wanted it bad. You’ve just got to remember how it feels and come back hungry next season.”