America East Basketball: Maine Black Bears

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The Maine Black Bears are coming off a season in which they played some good non-league games before conference play got started. A victory over South Florida, as well as a final appearance in the North Florida tournament, had fans in Orono, Maine a little excited about this team. However, the Black Bears could not sustain what they had going in the month of December, once league play began. An early exit from the conference postseason tournament didn’t help. Now Maine is hoping to play a full season of basketball and make noise come March.

Over the summer, the Black Bears added three freshmen to the program along with portal transfers. The hope here is that Maine is in better shape to be a factor in the America East Conference race. Let’s take a look at what is new with the Black Bears.

The freshmen that are on campus are 5-10 guard Caleb Crawford from the Bronx, NY, and Loomis Chaffee. he was the team’s top scorer a year ago averaging 18 points a game. He helped his team win a Founders Championship, as well as a spot in the NEPSAC Class A Championship. He was a three-time All-Founders League First Team member as well as a two-time first-team All-NEPSAC.

Darius Lopez is a 6-2 guard out of West Warwick, RI. who played ball at Vermont Academy. He was a two-time champion at the high school level. He would end his time at Vermont Academy with solid numbers.

6-7 forward Amare Allen joins the program from Ajax, Ontario Canada. Allen is considered a standout prospect for the Black Bears. He was named MVP of his league during his season year as he helped his team to a 4-0 record in the Tarkanian Classic establishing his team as one of the better first-year teams in that event.

From the portal comes 6-10 forward Killian Gribben who played his last two seasons at Siena College. He appeared in 59 games averaging 3.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and less than a block per game. He is from Ireland, and during his summers, he has represented his country three times in summer tournaments.

Another big man that Maine is hoping to get something from is 6-10 Keelan Steele who missed all of last season due to injury. During his freshmen year with Maine, he appeared in six games scoring six points with eight boards, and had two assists combined in those games.

The Black Bears non-conference schedule is challenging to be sure. They will begin the year at Duke on November 4. They also have road games at Brown, Quinnipiac, The University of Richmond, and a four-game stretch in December at Fordham, Duquesne, Canisius, and Stony Brook. There is a tournament in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving weekend where they will play three games vs Elon University, University of Pennsylvania, and Navy.

They could be a dark horse in the league if they can get anywhere with this schedule.