From the Valley to Division I Small-school roots motivate Andre, Baker

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Plastered all over the wall, just to the right of the cafeteria entrance where the lunch line forms each weekday at Upper Kennebec Valley Memorial High School in Bingham, is proof positive of the influence exerted there by Brian Andre and Kristin Baker.

Photos by the dozens, usually accompanied by columns and columns of print clipped from newspapers publicizing the collegiate exploits of the Cavaliers’ alumni duo, nearly cover the wall, begging to be read by the captive – and hungry – audience.

It’s just about the only place Baker can be of equal or greater stature to her 6-foot-9 fellow University of Maine student-athlete, but don’t tell her that.

Her height – officially listed as 5-5 in the UMaine women’s basketball media guide – has become a bit of a running joke.

“Well, I say 5-6 … Coach tells me every day I’m 5-4,” Baker said with a laugh. “I hate to say I’m 5-4. I think I’m 5-5. It kind of comes up all the time and that motivates me.”

And when she’s hanging out with her older, 296-pound fellow Valley graduate?

“I feel like I’m 5-4,” she says in a hushed voice with a smile.

Regardless of their size, Andre and Baker are both casting huge shadows back at their old stomping grounds in Bingham and the upper Kennebec Valley.

“Kristin is quite an inspiration for a lot of the young players around here, even now, and Brian has been one even longer,” said Gordon Hartwell, who’s now in his 11th season as head coach of Valley’s varsity girls basketball team.

Hartwell is one of a select few who can say they’ve had a direct influence on both players, who have a unique distinction themselves as a male-female duo from the same Class D Maine high school program now playing NCAA Division I basketball at the same college.

“Well, I obviously coached Kristin in high school, and I dragged Brian all over New England for AAU games with my sons Jason and Luke, who are all still great friends,” he explained.

In fact, it was twin sons Jason and Luke who convinced the then 6-3 Andre, an avid baseball player, to try hoops after he moved with his family from Leeds to Bingham when he was 12 to buy and run the Bingham Motor Inn.

It wasn’t a hard sell.

“Growing up in Bingham, there’s not much to do,” Andre said with a chuckle. “We had one outdoor basketball court and that’s where all the kids flocked to.”

That was about 11 years ago, but the court is still where these two kids flock.

Orono’s Big and Little Valley

Although their collegiate destinations wound up being the same in the end, Andre and Baker took very divergent routes to Orono.

Andre decided to go out of state and signed on with the State University of New York at Buffalo. After averaging 1.2 points and 0.7 rebounds per game in 16 games as a freshman, then 1.5 ppg and 1.0 rpg in 19 games as a sophomore, he decided it was time to transfer and head back home.

“I wouldn’t ever want to take anything back because I don’t know if I’d be in the same place,” Andre said when asked if he regretted attending Buffalo. “We had a really good team at Buffalo. We were 23-10 and ranked in the top 30 in the country for awhile. I also had a good role model in Mark Bortz, who was a teammate and is now playing overseas.”

So why the transfer?

Call it philosophical differences with head coach Reggie Witherspoon.

“Even though coach Witherspoon and I bumped heads, he’s a smart coach who I learned a lot from,” said the senior center. “I still have a lot of hard feelings toward coach Witherspoon, but I use that as a factor in my drive wanting to be successful.”

Baker signed on with the Black Bears soon after leading her Valley team to the 2006 West Class D crown, but her transition to college ball was no less challenging.

“I think the hardest lesson for me was sitting on the bench all year and watching,” said Baker. “It just made me want to work even harder so I could play.”

The motivation appears to have paid off already as one season after appearing in 12 games for a total of 17 minutes, the 19-year-old sophomore guard started eight of the first 10 games this year, averaging 24.3 minutes, 4.1 points, 2.7 assists and 1.8 rebounds per game.

The turnaround isn’t surprising to the daughter of Francine and Chuck Baker. She’s used to stiff competition.

“I grew up playing against guys. That was normal for me,” said Baker, whose older brother Nate became Andre’s first friend in Bingham. “When I went to the courts, there were barely any other girls there.

“I like playing pickup with the guys because they get mad when you beat them.”

Competitive fire. Yet another trait this Valley duo shares.

“I really don’t want to be that kid everyone says could have been great. I just want to be successful,” said Andre, who was determined to drastically improve on an injury-plagued junior season at Maine in which he appeared in just 11 games, started five and averaged 14.9 minutes, 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds a game.

After an offseason dedicated to conditioning, weight work and drills, the difference between this season and last is like day and night.

“It’s a lot easier this year. I feel like a totally different person now,” said Andre, who credited “cleaning his life up” for his drastic turnaround. “My body’s been able to take the beatings, I haven’t gotten tired, and I feel really good. ”

Through Maine’s first 10 games, Andre doubled his minutes played (26.7 a game) and led the Bears with 13.4 points and 1.0 blocks per game. He was second with 6.0 rebounds.

Andre, who has shed 20 pounds since the offseason, said this is the real him.

“It definitely does not surprise me at all,” said the son of Anita and Gregory Andre. “I know what I’m capable of. Last year was more surprising to me than this year is.”

That’s not to say Andre is without surprises.

“A lot of people think I’m just big, but there are a lot of things I can do on the court. I feel I bring a lot to the table,” he said. “I have one of the highest verticals [leaps] on the team and people don’t realize that. I can jump and run fast for my size.”

“He seems so much more dominant this season,” Baker said. “He has a nice touch, makes great passes, and at the courts, he’d drain 3’s all day. I love watching him.”

Examples aren’t Cavalier

It has been four years since Valley’s streak of six straight Class D boys basketball state titles came to an end, but don’t be surprised by a roundball resurgence.

If it happens, the influence and inspiration provided by Baker and Andre certainly will be one of the factors behind it.

The Valley girls won their first regional title in 2006 and the boys won regionals in 2004 and 2005.

“We have 42 girls and 39 boys in our school enrollment and we still have both JV and varsity teams,” said Hartwell. “And just watch our ninth-grade girls.”

Having two players from the same small school playing Division I basketball may not be the only reason for Valley student-athletes to aspire to rediscovering that title magic, but it won’t hurt.

“It’s definitely a shot in the arm,” Hartwell said. “Every time there’s a pic in the paper of Brian or her, you see them all over the school and everywhere else.

“I use Kristin as an example almost daily in my practices.”

Neither Andre nor Baker seems self-conscious or shy about their stature in the Bingham area. In fact, they seem to appreciate it.

“I think they must know to a point there’s a certain group of people, especially little kids, who look up to them and they don’t walk away from that,” Hartwell said. “One thing I can say about them both, regardless of their physical ability, is they worked their tails off to get where they are and that’s why they’re such great role models for younger players.”

They’ll see many of those younger players as they spend Christmas break back home.

“It’s going to be a fun time for me,” Andre said. “It’ll be great to see a lot my friends and family again.”

“I didn’t know I’d appreciate Bingham so much,” Baker said. “When you go home, it’s just so great.”

aneff@bangordailynews.net

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