The University of Maine men’s basketball team had its promising 2023-24 campaign come to a screeching halt last week, when the sixth-seeded Black Bears fell 84-58 to No. 3 Bryant in the America East quarterfinals.
Similar to year one under head coach Chris Markwood, UMaine fielded one of the conference’s most elite, turnover-inducing defenses this winter, but was ultimately hamstrung by offensive inconsistency, losing close games in the regular season and getting blown out in the playoffs.
In both seasons under Markwood, the Black Bears finished 7-9 in-conference, top three in points allowed, top two in turnover margin and bottom three in points scored — culminating in 25-point losses in the first round of the America East tournament.
To make matters worse, UMaine’s 3-point shooting percentage dropped from 33.3 percent last year to 29.5 percent this season (last in the America East), a glaring problem that Bryant took full advantage of in the playoffs.
“We’re not a great shooting team, so they played us soft and packed the paint,” Markwood said on Saturday. “We didn’t shoot the ball well (6-for-22 from three, 19-for-59 overall), and if you don’t execute offensively against a team like that, they’re going to play fast and it’s gonna be a rough night.”
If Markwood and company are going to snap the team’s streak of 18 consecutive playoff losses and 13 consecutive losing seasons, they will have to address their lack of long range shooting this offseason, while simultaneously maintaining their strong defensive identity. At the moment, however, the path that Markwood will take to address the team’s needs remains unclear.
First and foremost, the Black Bears could graduate anywhere between one and four of its five starters this spring.
Fifth-year guard Ja’Shonte Wright-McLeish is one starter who will definitely part ways with UMaine this offseason, having exhausted his collegiate eligibility. The 6-foot-4 Montreal native was a career 31.3 percent 3-point shooter, and averaged 6.3 points and 0.9 assists for UMaine this year, starting all 32 games.
Meanwhile, 6-foot-10 center Adam Cisse (4.1 points, 1.4 blocks per game), all-conference second-teamer Peter Filipovity (14.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 24.4 percent from three) and two-time Defensive Player of the Year Kellen Tynes (12.6 ppg, 2.3 spg, 23.9 percent from three) are each academic seniors, and could opt to graduate and/or transfer this summer.
Tynes and Filipovity were clearly UMaine’s two most important players this season despite their poor 3-point shooting rates, and Cisse was just one of two centers on the roster this year. Losing these pieces would force Markwood to completely switch directions with the team, and the trio have until approximately mid-May to finalize their future plans.
“We’ll have those individual meetings next week to see what guys are thinking, but they still might not have decisions at that point. Everyone’s a little different. It could go a bunch of different ways,” Markwood said. “We’re waiting out to see what unfolds. On paper, we only had two guys that were definitely graduating, so we weren’t in a rush to sign anybody early — transfers or freshmen. Ideally, it’ll be done in the spring, but sometimes you have a scholarship available until May or June.”
In addition to Wright-McLeish, fifth-year player Okay Djamgouz has exhausted his college eligibility this season, and represents the only other open roster spot as is.
Djamgouz transferred from Drake University last offseason, where he was a career 46.5 percent 3-point shooter on two attempts per game. Djamgouz was expected to help revitalize UMaine’s shooting game, but was away from the team starting in November due to personal reasons.
“He’s not going back to college after everything that went down this year,” Markwood said. “I can’t go into detail on the personal stuff, but it was a tough blow. We obviously expected him to be a big part of [the team]. These things happen, and from our side there’s nothing we can do about it.”
If UMaine can replace Wright-McLeish and Djamgouz with two knockdown 3-point shooters internally or through recruitment, then it will have a solid chance at finding playoff success. Markwood has laid the groundwork for future success with his defense-first approach, and the next two months could make or break the Black Bears’ 2024-25 campaign.
