With apologies to current University of Louisville and former Boston Celtics head coach Rick Pitino, Vin Baker is not going to be walking through that door anytime soon at the University of Hartford.

For the last two seasons, the Hawks have been flying below the radar. They went 12-17 last season and flap their way into a Wednesday night home game against Maine at Reich Family Pavilion in West Hartford, Conn., with a record of 5-10 overall and 1-5 in America East.

Other than a 10-6 AE campaign two seasons ago, the Hawks have been in a downward spiral since the glory days of Baker, a former Hawk and NBA All-Star forward.

Life hasn’t exactly been a non-stop party for the Maine Black Bears either, however, as the Bears are still trying to find some offensive rhythm and continuity in the wake of the loss of starting point guard Chris Markwood.

The Bears are 8-7, 3-3 in conference play, and frustrated by a big win that wasn’t at Vermont, a breakdown at Binghamton, and an offensive drought against Albany at home.

Walk-on Jason Hight, a former star guard at Westbrook High, has been a pleasant surprise since taking over the point guard position, but the Bears are still struggling establishing the transition game and finding offensive consistency in the paint with a three-man rotation in the pivot.

“You know, the freshman I was really surprised with,” said Albany guard Jamar Wilson. “I think Hight did a good job running the team.”

Still, the Bears committed 22 turnovers Sunday in their 58-49 loss to the Great Danes.

“I don’t think we passed the ball [last game] as well as we have lately, but they [Albany] didn’t give us many good, clean looks,” said Maine coach Ted Woodward. “We need some consistent post play. It’s a key for us and we really need to eliminate some turnovers out of that position.

“Olli [sophomore center Olli Ahvenniemi] gave us some good minutes and David [Dubois] got off to a good start, but that’s still an area we need more consistency and rhythm.”

At this point in the season last year, Maine was averaging 68.3 points per game while giving up 61.1. This year, the Bears are averaging 65.0 points for and 64.0 points against, ranking them fifth offensively in the 10-team America East in scoring offense and third in scoring defense.

Last year, Maine was 10-6 overall and 4-2 in AE play at this time. Last year’s schedule had one more Division III opponent and one fewer Division I than this year’s.

As tough as it was to lose at home against a much-improved Albany team, it was the back-to-back road losses vs. Binghamton and Vermont which have really hurt the Bears’ momentum.

“You know, you just have to go with the calls and go with the flow. You can’t get frustrated over things you can’t control,” said senior forward Joe Campbell of Bangor. “We just have to remember this feeling and go back to practice and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It comes down to the little things you do in practice.”