March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

This was hardly a courtesy call for Cordell

ORONO – If Cordell Llewellyn had to come back to Maine, why couldn’t it have been as a tourist or, better yet, as a transfer?

These were the thoughts of University of Maine men’s basketball coach Rudy Keeling after he watched Llewellyn, a 6-foot-3 force of roundball nature, lay waste to the Black Bears during Saturday afternoon’s old time Yankee Conference hoop revival between Maine and Rhode Island at Alfond Arena.

“He went to Wake Forest, then he goes to Rhode Island. … I wish he’d come here,” Keeling said, moments after his Maine team walked off the floor 96-78 losers to Rhody in a game that reminded veteran UMaine fans why this lopsided rivalry had been allowed to lapse after the programs went their separate ways 15 years ago – Rhody to the Atlantic-10, Maine to the North Atlantic Conference.

Unfortunately for Keeling and his Black Bears, Llewellyn’s return to Maine for the first time in almost three years came in a powder blue and gold Rams uniform.

Worse, he roasted the Bears for 20 points and four rebounds in 23 minutes of action, making himself a major factor in URI pushing its series record vs. UM to a gaudy 85-12.

Was this any way for an alumnus of Max Good’s Maine Central Institute postgraduate program to treat the university of the state that hosted him in his formative years?

“I hadn’t been back. … It’s too cold,” Llewellyn joked about his return a few minutes after the game. “I was at MCI for a year. That was an experience. I was looking forward to coming back and playing.”

To update Llewellyn’s journey:

After leaving MCI following the 1990-91 season, during which he helped carry Good’s squad to a 27-0 record and the New England Prep title, Llewellyn headed to Wake Forest in North Carolina for what he thought would be a spot as a starting guard in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

It didn’t happen.

“I just didn’t fit into their team concept,” said the soft-spoken native of Toronto. “I just didn’t feel comfortable there. I wasn’t happy.”

It was while watching a game on television that Llewellyn first caught sight of a team he thought he would fit in with.

“I had liked Rhode Island before I went to Wake,” explained Llewellyn. “But they didn’t recruit me. When I saw them, they appealed to me.”

Rhode Island coach Al Skinner, knowing his senior-laden backcourt was about to graduate, was only too willing to give Llewellyn a shot. Of course, the player would have to prove he was serious by sitting out a required full season before joining the squad.

“I give him a lot of credit,” said Skinner, who older UMaine fans might recall as a talented player for UMass back in the early 1970s. “The year he’s sit out, he worked on his shooting. That improved. He’s really trying to learn the game and understand it.”

Those who remember Llewellyn from his days in Pittsfield will recall he came late to basketball. Growing up in Toronto, he didn’t play organized ball until ninth grade. Ironically from a UMaine perspective, Llewellyn grew up playing summer ball with former Black Bear guard T.J. Forester, also a Toronto native and MCI alum.

Llewellyn said that the year off the court at URI wasn’t easy. But it has worked to his advantage.

“I mentally prepared myself to sit out. That made it a lot easier. I worked on my shooting, ballhandling, trying to understand the game. I’m basically a self-taught player,” he said.

Llewellyn isn’t a bad teacher. He came into Saturday’s game averaging 12.3 points per contest coming off the bench. His performance against the Bears made it clear he is understanding the game better and better.

In a six-minute span after Maine made a run to pull within seven of the Rams early in the second half, Llewellyn:

-hit a 10-foot turnaround from the right baseline;

-converted a backdoor cut into a conventional 3-point play;

-rebounded a Maine miss, drew a foul, and hit both free thro -drove the lane for a layup;

-drove the left baseline for a layup.

Llewellyn’s eruption was the key factor in turning a close game into an 81-62 laugher with 6:50 left.

“We’ve been fortunate the last two years to have excellent play off the bench. It looks like Cordell is going to give us that lift,” assessed Skinner, the understatement of the day.

If there was one drawback to Llewellyn’s afternoon, it was that Good, whose MCI team had a game, wasn’t around to see it.

“Max Good is a great coach. He helped me out a great deal. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I am right now,” said Cordell Llewellyn, who appears to finally be happy where he is. Even if Maine isn’t.


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like