Growing pains… That’s what University of Maine men’s basketball coach Ted Woodward said his team would likely have to go through this season to realize its potential.

That was apparent as the Maine men lost three straight and then won four of the next five in the first month of the 2006-07 season. Then came three losses over the next four games against traditionally strong Division I programs. The average margin of defeat in those losses was 22.7 points, but they came against established upper-echelon teams, such as Providence, Penn State and Nevada, from solid conferences.

After starting the America East conference portion of their schedule with four straight losses, the 8-11 (3-4 in AE play) Black Bears are now riding a three-game win streak and coming off a huge win on the road against Vermont.

Is this a continuation of a streaky season by an inconsistent Maine squad, or are the Bears finally getting over those “growing pains” and maturing?

“I do think we’re a team that is clearly maturing. You can see it in various degrees each game,” said Woodward. “Not only did I see it in the Vermont game, but I saw it in the UMBC and Binghamton games. We’ve been in position to win each of our conference games.

“I give our guys a lot of credit for coming out of the gate with a lot of fire despite our close losses. Our guys know not only how close we were to winning those games, but how we were a game or two away from winning all those games.”

Ironically, the win over the Catamounts, their first conference loss, was almost the reverse of how things went statistically in Maine’s first three AE games. Maine held a clear advantage in most major categories those first three games, but still lost. Vermont won handily the battle of the boards (41-30), points in the paint (32-22), second-chance points (14-6) and bench points (27-14).

The one the Cats didn’t win is the same one most of Maine’s opponents haven’t either: shooting percentage. Maine continued its hot shooting at 48.1 percent from the floor overall to Vermont’s 36.7.

“We’re shooting 44 percent as a team right now,” Woodward said. “I think offensively, almost every game this year, we have not shot in the 30’s in a conference game yet.”

Maine’s lowest shooting percentage in a conference game this season is 45.2 percent.

With shooting pretty much a constant, Woodward’s Bears have concentrated on ramping up their defensive pressure, rebounding and inside scoring.

“More than anything, I like the attitude and energy we’ve been getting from the post position,” said Woodward. “We’ve certainly been looking for consistent production out of our post, but we feel we have guys who can be like that and make that a strength of ours, not a weakness we have to cover up.

“That’s something where if we can have a little bit of dominance in that area, it can give us a tremendous advantage.”

Not coincidentally, as the Bears’ post play improved, those close game losses have turned to wins.

Senior forward Chris Bruff, senior center and co-captain Olli Ahvenniemi, and sophomore forward Philippe Tchekane Bofia – particularly Ahvenniemi and Bofia – have drastically elevated their post play. Bruff has been a solid inside-outside scorer all season.

The continued post improvement makes the Bears deeper. Combined with four playmakers off the dribble – senior captain and guard Kevin Reed, freshman guards Junior Bernal and Mark Socoby, and senior guard Jon Sheets – Maine is as offensively multi-faceted as it’s been in years.

Now that the Bears are gelling and finding their offensive and defensive rhythms, they must guard against complacency and any atrophy associated with a week between games after playing seven games in 15 days.

“Certainly, we’d rather be playing after getting hot,” Woodward said. “It’s just how the schedule goes. We’re concerned by it because Vermont lost at home coming off a bye, but we really haven’t had a chance to practice practice since Christmas, so we’re just going to have to keep working at it, like we have all season.”

And keep growing… The next measuring for the growth chart comes tonight as Stony Brook hosts Maine at 7 p.m.