The Maine Black Bears are in another rebuild under second-year coach Richard Barron.
Maine went 5-27 in 2018-2019 in Barron’s first season. The last time the Black Bears posted a winning record was way back in 2010, one of their three winning seasons this century, which, yeah.
Maine is 2-3 this season, winning its opener with Merrimack, 84-64, and defeating D3 Maine Maritime Academy, 90-50, on Sunday.
A member of the American East, the conference home of, ahem, UMBC, the Black Bears have three guys averaging in double-digits in scoring.
- Andrew Fleming, a 6’7” senior, averages 20.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, shooting 58.0 percent.
- Another senior, 6’4” Sergio El Darwich, averages 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, shooting 43.1 percent.
- Nedeljko Prijovic, a 6’8” junior, averages 11.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, shooting 51.2 percent.
Prijovic is really the only guy to worry about from three: he’s made 11-of-23 (47.8 percent) from long-range.
No one else with 10 or more attempts from three is shooting above 27.3 percent.
The Black Bears will go seven-deep, and have decent size: with three rotation guys at 6’8”, and then a 6’7”, a 6’5”, a 6’4” and a 6’1”.
This probably allows UVA coach Tony Bennett to go with 7’1” Jay Huff, 6’9” Mamadi Diakite and 6’8” Braxton Key for longer stretches.
Story by Chris Graham
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