ORONO – They are juniors coming off impressive seasons.

They know there is room for improvement and they also are aware that their respective teams should be in the hunt for North Atlantic Conference basketball championships.

University of Maine men’s team point guard Casey Arena and women’s team forward-center Stephanie Guidi went through their paces on Saturday as their teams practiced in the Memorial Gym for the first time.

Coach Rudy Keeling’s Black Bear men are coming off a 20-9 season that included an 86-78 loss to Drexel in the NAC Tournament championship game. Joanne Palombo’s women’s team went 20-7 and won the NAC regular season crown only to be excluded from the NAC Tournament for having scheduled too many regular season games under NCAA rules.

“We’re just going to take it one game at a time like last year,” said Arena, Maine’s leading returning scorer (13.2 points per game) and assist man (6.1 per game). “We’ve got great balance this season. We’re going to run like we did a year ago. Our big men can keep up.

“We want to make the NCAA tournament. A Maine basketball team has never done that. We’ve got to play the best we can, stay together and have a lot of fun. We’ve got a young team but we also have a lot of experience,” added Arena, one of three starters and eight returnees in uniform.

Guidi was an All-NAC first team selection a year ago when she averaged a team-leading 15.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.

“I think we’re going to be a lot quicker this season. We’ll be able to press more. And our scoring will be a lot more balanced,” predicted Guidi.

“We have 11 players and we expect all of them to contribute,” Palombo said.

The arrival of highly touted Maine schoolgirl sensations Cindy Blodgett and Sandi Carver will complement the four returning starters and five other returnees. Center Izabella Bachmanek has left the team because of foot surgery that has rendered her unable to play at the level she hoped to perform at. She has transferred to the University of Toronto.

Guidi, who was bothered by a shoulder ailment last year, has specific areas of improvement she hopes to attain.

“I’d like to work on increasing my shooting range,” said Guidi. “And I’d like to improve my moves in the post.”

The Maine men have exhibition games on Nov. 10 against the Croatia/Latvia Selects team and Nov. 18 vs. Hi-Five America in Portland before opening the season at the Shootout Spokane Tournament against Yale on Nov. 25.

The Maine women have a Blue-White game on Nov. 4 and games against MTK Budapest on Nov. 11 and the Riverside Club in Portland on Nov. 18.