The University of Maine-Machias men’s basketball team braved last winter as an NAIA Division III independent.

As a result, Coach Sean Casey and the Clippers were left out in the proverbial cold with no league affiliation and no guarantee of earning a postseason berth.

The UMM basketball team and the school’s other three varsity programs should feel more warm and comfortable during 1994-95 because the Clippers have joined the Maine Athletic Conference.

The league also includes Husson College of Bangor, St. Joseph’s College of Standish, the University of Maine-Presque Isle, Thomas College of Waterville, UMaine-Farmington and the University of New England in Biddeford.

UMM will begin league play this fall in men’s soccer and women’s volleyball, then the basketball teams will join MAC competition for the winter season.

Casey, the UMM athletic director, sees the move to the MAC as a positive step.

“Number one, it creates natural rivalries with measurable results in that we can constantly compare ourselves with them,” Casey said. “It aligns us with other institutions in the state that are known for their athletic and academic excellence.”

Casey admitted that competing in the Maine Athletic Conference will be challenging for UMM teams.

“We recognize that it’s going to take tremendous efforts on the part of our athletes to achieve success,” Casey said. “Excellence in athletics is what we should be about, and I’d like to think we’re pointing in that direction.”

Casey hopes that being part of the MAC also will help provide UMM athletes with more recogition, including media coverage and all-conference and tournament accolades.

UM-Machias competed as an independent in basketball last winter after being a member of the Northeast College Conference for several years. However, when UMPI withdrew from the league in 1993 and the NCC lost its automatic qualifier into the NAIA playoffs, Casey saw no reason to remain a member.

Casey’s Clippers had a successful 1993-94 season, posting a 17-8 record. UMM even earned a spot in the NAIA Northeast Region Independent Tournament in Philadelphia.

“When you’re an independent, it’s very nebulous,” Casey said. “We didn’t know until the week before we went whether we were going.”

Now that they’re in the MAC, the Clippers will automatically qualify for the postseason tournament. The winner earns a spot in the NAIA national tournament.

“When you’re in a conference, you already have a format and you know what you need to do to get into the playoffs,” Casey said. “For us to go to a playoff, we’ve got to do this.”

Dan Shermerhorn, Jason Mansoff and John St. Pierre represent the University of Maine on the 1993-94 Hockey East Academic Honor Roll.

The three Black Bears were among 31 players honored for their accomplishments in the classroom. Quentin Fendelet of Merrimack College was named the league’s top scholar-athlete after earning a 3.88 grade point average in accounting.

Mansoff recorded a 3.17 GPA in chemical engineering, Shermerhorn earned a 3.20 in business, and St. Pierre finished with a team-leading 3.21, also in business. Merrimack led all Hockey East schools with nine players on the academic honor roll.