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Wonder why the University of Maine men’s basketball team is so downtrodden? The other day was a perfect example. The men’s team went on the road to play Boston College ( 20.5 point favorite) and came away with a victory over the ACC Eagles 69-64. It was the first loss by Boston College to an America East team since 2015.
For a team that has gone 288-468 (38 percent) since 1997, you would think that the local newspaper (Bangor Daily News) would embrace any win with the new regime, especially since the new coach is a graduate of UMaine and has been an assistant there also.
But no, the women’s team, a proven winner, gets front page headlines (for an injury) and all the press. Where is the men’s headline — in the middle of the page on the website (after the women’s team). The other papers in the state, Kennebec Journal and Portland Press Herald, had the game as the second article of the college sports section. If the local news can’t (or won’t) cover the team, how do people expect them to get better. And how do people expect the top athletes in Maine to desire to play for the home state team if they can’t even get local coverage.
Come on BDN, jump on the bandwagon and give the same support for the new era of Maine men’s basketball as you do the women’s team. Who knows, maybe they will get to the NCAA tournament, something that they have never done before (one of only 35 of 358 have not), but hopefully Coach Chris Markwood will make that happen.
Kevin Bilodeau
Dexter
