When Jon Furbush watches the University of Maine men’s basketball team play, he sees the reflection of his high school teammate and longtime friend.
That was especially evident Tuesday in an America East semifinal victory at Vermont. Every time a Black Bear closed out on Vermont’s leading scorer, TJ Hurley, giving him less space than found in a clown car to get off a good shot and holding him to 1-for-15 shooting — 0 for 7 from 3-point range — Furbush sees the Chris Markwood he’s known since they were teammates on the South Portland High basketball team 25 years ago.
Yeah, that’s all Chris, he thinks.
“The things you can control are your effort and your attitude,” said Furbush, who has been the men’s basketball coach at Bates College, his alma mater, for 17 seasons. “His guys always play hard. The way they guarded Vermont, that’s a really hard thing to do on the road.”
Maine held the Catamounts to a season-low 25.9% shooting, including 1 for 9 beyond the 3-point arc.
Markwood’s Black Bears will face top-seeded Bryant at 11 a.m. Saturday for the America East championship (ESPN2, ESPN+). A victory would send the Black Bears to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. Maine is one of 35 Division I programs that have never played in the NCAA Tournament, which was first held in 1939.
Saturday’s game against the Bulldogs will not be easy. Bryant beat the Black Bears by 26 points the first time they played this season, and by eight points in the rematch two weeks ago. Still, Maine is playing for a conference title for the first time in 21 years, and the guys who played high school ball with Markwood at South Portland saw this coming.
“I’m not surprised at all,” said Matt DiBiase, who graduated from South Portland with Markwood in 2000 and then was his roommate in Orono after Markwood transferred to Maine from Notre Dame. “We envisioned him doing big things for the basketball program, and he’s followed through. It’s so great for the state of Maine to have someone like Chris. It’s such a good situation for him. Look at all the eyes he’s gotten on the program.”
DiBiase took his 17-year old son, Jordan, to Maine’s season opener at Duke. It was surreal, he said, seeing his buddy coach at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils, led by Newport’s Cooper Flagg playing his first collegiate game, won by a lopsided 96-62 score, but it wasn’t because the Black Bears rolled over.
Maine men’s basketball coach Chris Markwood protests a call during the second half of a Nov. 4 game against Duke in Durham, N.C. Ben McKeown/Associated Press
“They played hard,” DiBiase said. “Chris was always a great defender. He was always a gritty, hard-nosed player. It’s not surprising he’s rolled that into his program.”
The Black Bears have recently snapped a pair of long streaks. By beating UMass Lowell last Saturday, Maine won a conference playoff game for the first time in two decades. Tuesday’s win at Vermont in the semifinals ended a 30-game losing streak against the Catamounts and sent Maine to the conference championship game for the first time since 2004.
Maine has played in a conference final just four times since 1980, when America East began life as the ECAC North Conference. In 1991, Maine lost to Northeastern. In 1994, the Black Bears lost to Drexel. In 2002, they fell to Boston University, and in 2004, Vermont ended Maine’s season one win shy of the Big Dance.
Both DiBiase and Furbush said Markwood demanded a lot of himself and asked for the same effort from his high school teammates. In winning Mr. Maine Basketball in 2000, Markwood averaged 16 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game, helping the Red Riots reach the Western Class A final.
“He was always unselfish as a player. We almost had to harass him to make him be a scorer,” DiBiase said. “He’s not a ‘look at me’ kind of guy. Never has been.”
You see that in the Black Bears, too. Maine has three players averaging double figures in points, but none above 14.6. A different guy led the Black Bears in scoring each of the past three games, and four scored in double figures in the 72-64 quarterfinal win over UMass Lowell.
Furbush’s season at Bates always starts a few weeks after Markwood’s season at Maine, so he’s able to get to Orono to observe a Black Bears practice. In that more intimate setting, Furbush sees his old friend’s personality really shine through.
“Both of us have a similar mindset. It’s always bigger than basketball for us. Chris’ practice plans are super-detailed. He holds his guys to a high standard, but it comes from a place of care,” Furbush said. “I just see my good high school friend doing what he does on and off the court.”
