MCI to Maine

According to the New England Recruiting Report, the Black Bears have picked up a commitment from MCI frontcourter Svetoslav Chetinov. Chetinov, a native of Bulgaria, is a 6-9 center. The Report has him as the No. 43 prospect in New England (No. 39 is Maine recruit Gerald McLemore, a 6-3 combo guard out of San Diego and Worcester Academy) and No. 5 in Maine.

Other players surrounding Chetinov in NERR's New England rankings include:
No. 40 New Hampton's Tori Childers, a 6-5 power forward who has accepted a football scholarship to South Carolina;
No. 41 Ryan Olander, a 6-11 center headed for Fairfield;
No. 47 Quasim Pugh, a 5-10 point guard out of St. Thomas More who is headed for College of Charleston;
and No. 53 Chris Baskerville, a 6-5 power forward out of Lee Academy who is going to Central Connecticut.

The landing of Chetinov is a step toward addressing one of the two glaring weaknesses of last year's squad: consistent post production (passing, rebounding and scoring). Ballhandling was unquestionably the single greatest weakness as the team averaged nearly 19 turnovers a game. Many of those turnovers were committed when the ball went into the post and players struggled to get a shot attempt and/or make a kick-out pass.

In addition to Chetinov and McLemore, the Black Bears add 5-9 guard Ryan Martin (Maranacook HS) and 6-5 forward/guard Jon McAllian (Bangor HS).

More on Chetinov: He averaged 16.7 points a game during an U18 Christmas tournament in 2006.