Recruiting rumor trail

There are rumors circulating that UMaine will land Faulkner State Community College standout Terrance Mitchell.

Mitchell, a 6-3, 200-pound guard, led the Sun Chiefs in scoring, averaging 20.5 a game. He earned honorable mention All-America recognition for his play at the Bay Minette, Ala., school. In the photo, he lays a shot in over a Pensacola Christian defender.

A native of Milton, Fla., Mitchell would be the second Faulkner State basketball player to land in Orono. In 1999, Faulkner standout Fred Meeks was one of John Giannini's early recruits and helped build the Black Bears into a solid America East contender for several years.

Notes: Milton, Fla., is famous for being the hometown of PGA golfer and Ryder Cup hero Boo Weekley. ... It's also the town where a friend and I attended a high school football game in the mid-'80s between Escambia High of Pensacola and Milton. We went to the game to see a kid named Emmitt Smith who starred for Escambia.

One door closes ...

With the exit of Mark Socoby comes an opportunity to fill his roster spot. The Black Bears already have three freshman and a UMass transfer coming on board for next season.

Wonder if there's any chance of the Black Bears being able to track down a junior college scorer? UMaine suddenly has 35 minutes a game to fill and the team desperately needs someone who can flat out score.

You look up and down the rosters of every America East team and everyone (maybe not Albany, but Tim Ambrose isn't bad and Will Harris is close) has at least one or two players you pretty much know are going to get their points on any given night. The Black Bears never knew from game to game what they were going to get from anyone. And that would have been the case whether Socoby came back for his senior year or not.

Recruits coming in next year are freshmen Jacob McLemore (6-2 guard out of San Diego), 6-6 wing Murphy Burnatowski (Canadian junior national team), 6-9 forward Mike Allison (Canadian junior national team) and a sophomore, 6-7 forward Travon Wilcher (UMass transfer).

It's not reasonable to expect any of those four to be prime time point producers. Of the players coming back, Gerald McLemore showed great promise and must keep improving. But it is hard to look at anyone else on the current UMaine roster and expect a huge bump in point production. Not saying we couldn't be surprised; just not counting on it.

That's why it'd be nice to find a junior college guy who can come in and do what Muhammad El-Amin did for Stony Brook. Or, how about Fred Meeks, remember him? He came to UMaine about 10 years ago and provided instant scoring punch.

There have got to be guys out there looking for the chance to play, play a lot and score the ball. UMaine's got 35 minutes a game worth of opportunity.

James to FGCU?

According to a televised news report tonight, UMaine athletic director Blake James is a candidate for the director of athletics position at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla.

Socoby says good-bye

Bangor television station WABI reported today that junior guard Mark Socoby will leave the UMaine basketball team. Coach Ted Woodward issued a statement, attributing the decision to "personal reasons."

"Mark expressed interest to transfer and we wish him luck," said Woodward. "We really like the guys we have now going into spring workouts."

The highwater mark of Socoby's UMaine career most assuredly was his career high 30 points in an overtime loss to Stony Brook during the play-in game of the 2008 America East tournament. He hit a tourney record nine three-pointers, including a banked in shot that forced overtime. He surpassed the previous record (7) held by four players, including his brother-in-law, former Black Bear star, Kevin Reed.

One of the more heralded high school players in the state of Maine in recent years, Socoby entered UMaine with high individual and team expectations. While the Black Bears struggled as a team his first two years, Socoby showed good promise. He earned third team all-conference honors after a sophomore campaign in which he averaged nearly 15 points and six rebounds a game. For whatever reason, Socoby's shooting percentages, scoring and rebounding slid this year. And the team continued its malaise, losing in the play-in game for the second straight year.

Here is Socoby's stat line from what turned out to be his last appearance in a UMaine uniform, a 65-56 loss to Hartford on March 6:

30 minutes
2 for 9 field goals
2 for 7 three-point field goals
2 rebounds
3 assists
1 steal
2 turnovers
8 points

We wish Socoby the best and appreciate his efforts in a UMaine uniform. It's been a tough few years in Black Bear-ville and it is apparent that it must have been weighing heavily on him.

Rumor mill

Rumors are flying around that Black Bears junior guard Mark Socoby is considering leaving the UMaine program.

We hope that the rumors are unfounded and that Mark comes back with a vengence next season and finishes out with a stellar senior season. While statistically Socoby didn't have as strong a season as his sophomore campaign, he was still a player the opposition had to gameplan for when preparing to take on the Black Bears. Socoby and Gerald McLemore gave the Black Bears two legitimate outside threats.

Way back machine

Because it's always interesting to remember Black Bears from yesteryear ... and it's fun to work one of my favorite Black Bears into the discussion whenever possible ... let's take a look at the America East all-conference team from 1992-93. The '93 awards are significant because, until this season, that was the last time the Black Bears did not land a player on the all-league squad.

The '93 team featured four of the best players in the history of America East: Vin Baker, Hartford, Malik Rose, Drexel, Eddie Benton, Vermont and Spencer Dunkley, Delaware. Also on the first team was Brian Holden of Drexel.
Second team: David Stiff, Boston U., Anthony Wright, Delaware, Brian Pearl, Delaware, Anthony Brown, Northeastern, Dan Callahan, Northeastern.

UMaine's Marty Higgins and Derrick Hodge made second team all-conference in '92.

Francois Bouchard (No. 1 draft choice on my all-time Black Bears team) was picked to the second team in '94, starting a 15-year streak of at least one Black Bear being honored.

Who will begin a new streak next year?

Take that

In one way, it's poetic justice that Binghamton and Maryland-Baltimore County are preparing to square off for the league title Saturday.

Prior to the conference tournament last week, America East announced its annual awards and conspicuous by their absences were Binghamton junior guard D.J. Rivera and UMBC freshman forward Chauncey Gilliam.

Rivera had arguably the best individual season in the league and was widely viewed as a front-runner for the player of the year award with Vermont's Marqus Blakely. Not only did Rivera not win the player of the year award, but coaches also left him off the first team all-conference team.
The snub was a result of league coaches who were upset by the NCAA's handling of his transfer from St. Joe's.

He was eligible, he played and he excelled. Don't take it out on him.

As for Gilliam? He's arguably the top rookie in the league and demonstrated that again during the tournament, playing an instrumental role in UMBC's two victories. But he was left off the all-rookie team. He competes and sometimes appears close to the edge, but that's what you want from players ... I'd think. He had great statistics, but, apparently, coaches felt they needed him to pay for a flagrant foul that was called on him during a regular season game.

The call was questionable at best. Hard to tell whether his elbow to BU's Matt Wolff was intentional, a case of good acting, or a combination of both. Nonetheless, he'd already been punished and the snub was piling on. Maybe there's another side to the story. But, as with Rivera, he played the whole season and played well.

Gilliam and Rivera get the last laugh, however, as those who punished them via the ballot enjoy some crow in front of the television.