UMaine men’s and women’s basketball teams can start practices tomorrow

Wow, time sure goes fast, the older I get the faster it passes and moves..

But a second is still a second, 60 seconds is still a minute and 60 minutes is still and hour, etc.

Times don’t change. but people do change.

It seems like it was just the first of last March and now 6 months have passed until today, October 1 and we are back to basketball at UMaine.

Guess what? The UMaine men and women basketball teams can start their pre-season practices tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 2.

The women’s team will be holding a clinic from 1:00p-2:00pm at the UMaine Memorial Gym’s “THE PIT”,for all interested boys and girls grades 2 thru 8 and then hold their first practice of the year following at 2:15pm.

You might think that this is 2 weeks earlier then usual, well you would be correct. The NCAA has changed the starting date by letting D-1 teams to start 2 weeks earlier from the Oct. 15 date that has been the starting date previously.

D-3 teams can start Saturday, Oct. 15.

The Maine men open their pre-season schedule on Saturday, Oct. 29 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor against D-3 Husson University and the Maine women open up their pre-season the next day on Sunday, Oct. 30 against D-2 Stonehill at the CIC..

The women have 8 freshmen players and also the eligibility of the outstanding transfer guard player, Sutton from Duquene University.

The women will be young, but should be more athletic and bigger then they have been the past two seasons with their incoming international players. Look from them to be as tough as they were last year by the time the conference tourney comes around.

They return their all-conference selection senior point guard 5’10” Sigi Koizar to build around.

The men have 4 incoming freshmen, and the eligibility of the transfer from  Niagara University, 6’2″ Wes Myers and the eligibility of the 6’8″ red shirt freshmen Vincent Eze to replace the 2 graduating seniors, 6’5″  Shawn Lawton and 6’9″ Til Gloger and the 4 players lost to the transfer route which included 2 starters, 6′ guard Kevin Little and 6’5″ Guard/forward Issac Vann and key sub Lamar Harewood a 6’2″ guard..

They have just one starter returning and that is 6’0″ junior point guard Aaron Calixe.

Both teams will be very young, have a key junior transfer point guard eligibile and how fast the new players develop to the D-1 level of play in the America East Conference will determine their success come tournament time in March.