Anyone who follows the University of Maine women’s basketball program knows of the work ethic and the integrity of that program. The recent decision by the North Atlantic Conference to ban Maine from the post-season tournament is at best shocking, and at worst unconscionable. The severity of the consequence far exceeds the level of the infraction and that discrepancy is dramatic.

I can only hope that UM women’s basketball fans will rally around the coaching staff and the players who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much to be No. 1 in the NAC, and let there be no doubt about that, they are No. 1! Maria Baeza, president Friends of Maine Women’s Basketball Orono