ORONO – Coach John Giannini likes most of what he has seen from his University of Maine men’s basketball team during the nonconference portion of its schedule.

Now, he’s hoping the Black Bears can continue to take steps toward becoming an even better team as the America East season gets under way.

UMaine begins its quest for a league title and the NCAA Tournament berth that goes with it tonight at 7 when it takes on Hartford at Alfond Arena.

The Bears want to improve on last season’s 8-8 conference record and their brief quarterfinal appearance in the America East tournament.

“I can’t wait for it,” UMaine senior forward Mark Flavin said of opening the league schedule. “Everyone on this team is just as good as anyone in the conference.”

Giannini is pleased with his team’s progress to date. The Bears have been more effective with their running game and have been able to force more turnovers.

UMaine has developed a knack for unselfish play on the offensive end, finding the open shooter for good looks at the basket. Even so, there have been some deficiencies.

“I still think that our ballhandling and passing decisions need to get more simple, more fundamental, more basic and it will result in fewer turnovers and more scores,” Giannini said.

The Bears are averaging 18.1 turnovers per game. Senior point guard Eric Dobson, who leads the league with 6.2 turnovers per game, has also committed 5.4 turnovers per contest.

UMaine features two solid big men in Mark Flavin and David Dubois, but the Bears must get them the basketball in good spots without telegraphing the passes.

Sophomore guard Kevin Reed knows the Bears need to make some refinements now that they have entered America East play.

“It’s pretty much the little things that mess us up, like turnovers, dribbling the ball and making bad passes,” Reed said. “We just want to work on every aspect of the game and try to go into conference play looking sharp.”

Giannini said making the commitment to sound dribbling and passing techniques could vastly improve UMaine’s offensive efficiency.

“We drill that stuff and frankly it’s probably the only thing our players haven’t done a great job of absorbing,” Giannini said. “They’re doing a lot of the things that we want them to do and if we could just get that piece done, it could make a big difference.”