Handicapping the 2007-08 season for the University of Maine men’s basketball team is a paradox of sorts.

Consider head coach Ted Woodward’s answer when asked which players will make up his starting five to open the season:

“I don’t have one, but I do believe right now we have 10 guys who will play a lot of regular minutes,” he said.

Hmmm…. So there’s depth and talent, but the distribution and arrangement of that talent is an ongoing project?

“We have six guys who haven’t played a single minute of college ball before and we’re trying to replace an incredible amount of production and an awful lot of experience with three guys having four or five years of experience in our program,” Woodward explained. “We have talent and a lot of versatility, but a lot of that stuff will have to work its way out eventually.”

The Bears return just one regular starter and five lettermen from last season, have just one senior player, and feature the youngest lineup in Woodward’s four-year tenure as head coach and one of the youngest in recent program history.

The Bears and Richmond will be the first Division I teams to open the regular season with a 4 p.m. game Monday in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic tournament in Memphis, Tenn.

Despite the prevalent youth of this team, it’s not like Woodward is babysitting a youth league team. Sophomore point guard Junior Bernal started all 30 games last year and will be counted on to fill the leadership void left by four-year starter and star guard Kevin Reed as well as fellow graduated starters Olli Ahvenniemi, Chris Bruff and Jon Sheets.

“I know leadership will be a key role for me this year and being more vocal, being positive and keeping everyone together,” said Bernal, who averaged 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game last season. “Sometimes you have to step aside from the friendship role and become a leader.”

Bernal won’t have the entire leadership load on his shoulders, however, as the team isn’t as lacking in experience as it seems.

Junior forward Philippe Tchekane-Bofia played in all 30 games last year, starting 11, and had 21 starts in 2005-06; sophomore guard Mark Socoby of Houlton saw action in all 30 games and started one last season; senior center Brian Andre of Bingham started five of the 11 games he played last year; and junior guard Jason Hight, who redshirted last season, played in 27 games with eight starts in 2004-05.

“I need to be a leader because I’m one of the oldest guys on this team,” said the 22-year-old Hight, who added 10 pounds to his 6-foot-4 frame to become stronger at 182 pounds. “And I’ve been here the longest.”

Talk about your non-senior senior statesman.

The 6-5 Bernal should be a lot more comfortable running the point this season, and the backcourt – even with the absence of multiple all-conference pick Reed – should remain a strength for Maine as he will team with the multi-dimensional Socoby.

“I think at this level you have to be more than one-dimensional, so I worked on different moves in the post this offseason,” said the 6-5 Socoby, who averaged 6.9 points and 2.2 rebounds a game. “Along with that, if you’re in the post, you have to be stronger, so I worked on my strength and quickness.

“I played multiple positions in high school, so that makes it easier for me to play a more versatile role and adapt to playing the post more.”

Socoby’s approach to preparing for this season is another reason most players and coaches feel the Bears will be a much better rebounding team this season.

The other reason is the abundance of size and height on the squad. The shortest player is 6-3 (freshman guard Robby Hanzlik) and the tallest is 6-10 (sophomore forward-center Jordan Cook of Hampden).

“We’re really putting emphasis on our size,” said the 300-pound Andre. “Just holding our arms out and standing in a line, we stretch across the whole court and take up lots of space.”

Starting out

Bernal and Socoby are obvious starters and will likely be joined by Bofia, perhaps along with Andre and Cook or, if Woodward prefers a more guard-dominated lineup, Andre or Cook and Hight – provided Woodward hasn’t been wowed by any of the new kids enough to throw a freshman into the starting five.

“I think depth is one of the reasons we may be better this year with a lot of guys fighting for playing time,” Socoby said. “I think we had more leadership last year, but this year we’re going to be looking for some guys to step up that way.”

The newcomers are no exception. Forwards Sean McNally of Gardiner and Sean Costigan of South Portland figure to see some regular playing time along with guards Hanzlik, Troy Barnies of Auburn, and J Uhrin of Winterport.

“Right now we’re very even in certain spots in terms of competition and talent,” said Woodward. “We feel like most of our guys can step in and contribute.”

The Maine men

In addition to their youth, the Black Bears’ other striking feature is the wealth of Maine-bred players on the roster.

Eight of the 12 players – Andre, Barnies, Cook, Costigan, Hight, McNally, Socoby and Uhrin – are from Maine while another (Bernal) played high school ball at Hyde School in Bath and prep school ball at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield.

Whether it’s that combination of youth and local roots or something else, this squad has already become close-knit.

“I haven’t been on a team this close in a long time, maybe since high school,” Andre said. “We all hang out all the time. There are no cliques and everyone gets along. I think our chemistry will really help us come around.”

The Bears’ youthful Maine flavor has created a preseason buzz about this team not noticed in previous years.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm about this team and I don’t think we take it as pressure,” Socoby said. “I think we take it as an opportunity to prove that we can play even though we’re from Maine.

“These guys weren’t recruited just because they’re from Maine, they were recruited because they can play at this level, so we have a lot to prove.”

UMAINE SCHEDULE

NOVEMBER

5 – vs. Richmond at Memphis, Tenn. (Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament)

6 – vs. Memphis or Tennessee-Martin at Memphis, Tenn. (Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament)

13 – Fisher, 7:30 p.m.

17 – St. Francis, 7 p.m.

20 – at Quinnipiac, 7 p.m.

24 – Northeastern, noon

27 – at Providence, 7:30 p.m.

DECEMBER

1 – New Jersey Tech., noon

8 – at Florida State, 2 p.m.

15 – Mount St. Mary’s, 2 p.m.

22 – at Connecticut, 1 p.m.

28 – UMaine-Augusta, 6 p.m. (exhibition)

31 – at Canisius College, 2 p.m.

JANUARY

2 – at Colgate, 7 p.m.

6 – at Stony Brook, 2 p.m.

12 – at UMBC, 7 p.m.

16 – Vermont, 7:30 p.m.

19 – New Hampshire, noon

21 – Hartford, 7:30 p.m.

23 – at Albany, 7 p.m.

27 – Binghamton, noon

30 – Boston University, 7:30 p.m.

FEBRUARY

6 – at Hartford, 7 p.m.

9 – at New Hampshire, 1 p.m.

14 – Albany, 7 p.m.

17 – at Binghamton, 2 p.m.

20 – at Boston University, 7 p.m.

23 – Stony Brook, noon

28 – UMBC, 7 p.m.

MARCH

2 – at Vermont, 1 p.m.