Maine is one of the sinkholes of college basketball. A really tough job. Here is how the current coach is approaching it, according to Three Man Weave, which I thought was fairly creative:

Barron knows his roster is constantly at a talent disadvantage, so he emphasizes execution on offense and confusion on defense, doing his best to maximize the players on his roster. He slows the game down to a crawl, minimizing possessions and forcing foes to break down a structured half court defense that encourages jump shots. Barron mixes in zone looks to break up opponent’s rhythm, counting on those curveballs to disrupt what otherwise would be a parade of open jump shots from the outside.

Plus he gets creative in his recruiting:

"Three Canadians, two Serbians, plus players from Latvia, The Netherlands, England, Sweden, Turkey, and the Ukraine…the Black Bears are a veritable “where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?” of a roster. Getting all of those international pieces to mold together will consistently be one of Barron’s chief challenges."

And, of course, to heighten the frustration, if Barron does get a pretty good player, he probably is going to take advantage of the lax transfer rules and move up the ladder.