Tuesday night may have been the craziest night of an unpredictable year.

 Winnacunnet was named as the new #1 team in the state and promptly got beat by 14 by Londonderry…who lost a week ago to 2-10 Pinkerton, who since that win over the Lancers have lost three straight games by a combined 52 points.

 Concord beat Alvirne, Spaulding (we’re getting to them later) beat Memorial, Littleton all but wrapped up the 3 seed…Groveton blew an 8 point fourth quarter lead at home to Moultonborough..Oyster River bounced back from getting drilled by Pelham to go on the road and drill Kennett and Pelham lost to Windham on the same night….and the team everyone forgets about…the ones who went 21-0 last year…just beat Exeter on the road. Remember the Portsmouth Clippers?

 So can you see why no one is crushing it in staff picks?

 Are you telling me you could see all this coming?

 Today we will take a look at the biggest stories as we head into the weekend.

 Today’s column is sponsored by our friends at Concord Orthopaedics with offices in Concord, Windham, Derry and new London

 We will have coverage of three games this weekend:

 Justin McIsaac & Jennifer Chick-Ruth will bring you highlights and LIVE audio (only) coverage of a huge Division I girls’ showdown between unbeaten Bedford and once-beaten Manchester Memorial.

 On Friday night Pete Tarrier and the Great Jon Kesty will at Memorial to bring you coverage of the boys game as Bedford rolls into Manchester with 10 straight wins to take on the Crusaders.

 On Sunday Justin McIsaac and Devin Poslusny will be at Bishop Brady for the Frank Monahan Foundation Basketball Showcase when the Giants take on Pembroke Academy.

 

Division I

Bedford (10-2) at Manchester Memorial (9-2)

 There appear to be six teams fighting for the Top 4 seeds in Division I (which means a bye for the Top 3 seeds and a pair of home games for the #4 seed). Making this a very big game for a pair of teams who are expecting to take the bus ride down 101 to Durham next month.

 The Bulldogs haven’t lost since December 21st;  Nolan Anderson is playing his best basketball of the season and Max Chartier realized about a month ago that this team needed him at or around 20 points a night.

 Memorial was tripped up in Tuesday night’s insanity by Spaulding (at home) and for Danny Bryson’s team, it is their time to get a big win against a Top 4 team. The Crusaders losses have come to Portsmouth, Winnacunnet (in double overtime) and Spaulding. A win over Alvirne is their best on the season and looks excellent on the resume, but they need to hold serve at home Friday night against a Bedford team they might face again down the line.

 Manny Alisandro (21 points) tried to rally his team back against Spaulding but Memorial fell just short. Games like this one can be the difference between a home game in front of a packed house and a road trip with the room decidedly against you.

 We’ll have all the highlights for you on Saturday morning.

 

 Nashua North (2-8) at Spaulding (6-6)

 The ‘ Is McIsaac walking into the woods like ‘Shooter’ from Hoosiers after the section finals with a shotgun in his hand?’ texts started about a week ago after the news broke that Isaiah Rose and his family had up & moved to Maine in the middle of the basketball season.

 That was followed up by the news that Dante McKenny had hurt his leg during practice and could be lost for the year.

 It was a rough week for the Spaulding Fighting McIsaacs.

 And yet….they kept winning games.

 Their win over Manchester Memorial was their 5th in a row, and this one was over a title contending team on the road. Arie Breakfield was fantastic, scoring 28 points and never letting Memorial overtake them in the final minutes of the game. Keagan Calero has stepped up his game & leadership while kids like Jarrod Gooley have stepped up and produced when their number was called.

 Rose was the team’s second-leading scorer and as a sophomore, a huge part of future runs back to Durham for a program that has been a regular participant in the Division I semifinals under President Tim Cronin.

 The loss of Rose hurts Spaulding offensively, but the defense seems to have gotten better. Calero is as good an on the ball defender as there is in the state and Shane Hudson is very tough defensively as well. Gooley is spacing the floor with his ability to knock down three’s and if this team lacks a true rebounding big, they are seemingly getting it done by rebounding as a group.

 With games still remaining after this one with three of the bottom teams in the division; Bishop Guertin, Trinity, and Pinkerton (if you had read that sentence to someone in 2014 they would have dragged you off to the psychiatric hospital in ‘Stranger Things’ never to be seen again…) Spaulding still has a good shot at a Top 8 seed in the tournament.

 

Division II

Merrimack Valley (10-3) at Kearsarge Regional

 All of the sudden Kearsarge looks a week away from being one of the top two seeds in Division II, even with the four losses while being shorthanded to begin 2018.

 Division II is going to be a lot of fun, and it wouldn’t shock me one bit to see a double-digit seed in Durham, but it’s become clear that Kearsarge is indeed a notch above everyone else in the division. They can beat you in the 50’s and outscore you in the 70’s and right now there doesn’t seem to be more than a handful of teams capable of putting four wins together in the tournament.

 I’ve been really impressed by the consistency of this Merrimack Valley team and a  lot of that credit should go to head coach Tim Mucher. Their defense is the underrated part of their success, as they are holding most teams in the 40’s & 50’s. They have four players averaging between 11 and 8 points per game and have lost only one game at home all season, to Kearsarge in a game we covered.

 The winner here takes a big step towards a pair of home games in March.

 

Division III

Raymond (1-11) at Franklin (1-12)

 There were people last week who felt like Jayden Torres was ‘snubbed’ when I named our mid-season first team all-state team and he was not one of the five players named. Jayden was in the ‘with apologies to’ section which goes to players who might be second or third team all-state at this point.

 Jayden Torres player profile page

 At the end of the season, we will name all three teams and it’s probably worth noting that in the pre-season Jayden was a second-team selection. He would probably be there today if the season ended.

 It brought back an annual debate about all-state teams and where very good players from teams with poor records belong.

 I texted with Jayden that night (Torres is an NHsportspage Players locker Room member) and he completely signed off on being a topic of the debate. I thought it would be a fun column to write and I would encourage people to leave their opinions below.

  I’m saying this with a smile on my face and love in my heart but if you use the word ‘disrespect’ about all-state picks know that I am giving you the eye roll straight from the NHsportspage headquarters…and please don’t denigrate any other high school players we cover.

 Let’s agree to save the disrespect card for when we really need it.

 Jayden has been the leading scorer in Division III almost from day one and is a terrific combo guard, able to run the point or play off the ball on the wing. His situation, as far as all-state goes, reminds me of Matt Giroux formerly of Concord. Giroux was one of the leading scorers in Division I his last three years at Concord for a team that won between 2 and 5 games a year.

 Where he belonged on all-state teams was always a big debate amongst coaches, with his former head coach Dave Chase being very vocal that he believed Giroux was a first-team player.

 So let’s look at the argument for and the argument against players from teams at the bottom of the standings being first team all-state selections.

 The argument for:

 Jayden is getting the focus of the entire defense night to night………it’s not his fault that he doesn’t have a lot of help and if they are a poor rebounding team (they are) how is that Jayden’s fault? He’s the point guard!............while players like Cody Graham, Zach Waterhouse, and Tommy Johnson have other players to keep the defense honest Jayden doesn’t. He is getting open shots for his teammates but not benefiting from any himself unless he creates it………..he has scored 32 points or more four different times this season and went for over 50 in a holiday tournament…..if he played for Campbell or Conant he would score less but would be an even more dynamic player, with the ability to create for his teammates and win games with his playmaking,,,not just his scoring totals…..if you were playing pick-up ball with Division III players only…wouldn’t Jayden go Top 5?

The argument against: Franklin has lost 10 of their 13 games by double digits and five by 25 points or more..that means that when the winning team goes deep into their bench early in the 4th quarter Jayden is still out there scoring against the back end of the rotation guys…and that’s why he’s putting up huge numbers………also those players on top teams in the division are often sitting at the end of games because their team is up 20 plus points, so they are not playing as many minutes and that effects their scoring….wins do matter, no one is expecting wins against top teams but Franklin has lost games to teams near the bottom of Division III like Prospect Mountain & Winnisquam……….why would teams double team Jayden when they are up by 20 points?..............give me a player scoring 20 ppg in the top 5 over a player averaging 24 on one near the bottom.

 I’ve had this conversation with a lot of coaches over the years and Giroux was always an interesting case study in Division I. Maybe he had 23 points but they lost by 17..how many did he have when it was still a game and how many did he score when the game was over and the bench was in?

My personal opinion is the two strongest points from above are these two:

 …..if he played for Campbell or Conant he would score less but would be an even more dynamic player, with the ability to create for his teammates and win games with his playmaking,,,not just his scoring totals…..if you were playing pick-up ball with Division III players only…wouldn’t Jayden go Top 5?

 Put Jayden on Campbell and they become a title contending team and he is terrific in a wide open offense that encourages pushing the ball. The fact that I didn’t have him on the first team had little to do with Jayden and more to do with the five guys on the team, who are all having terrific years for teams with designs on a trip to SNHU. (Bryton Early of Somersworth, Evan Arsenault of Berlin, Eli Swanson of Inter-Lakes, Joe Minson of Monadnock and Peyton Springfield of Conant.). Again, there was never a snub.

 The private conversations I have with coaches about players carry a lot of weight with me. The opinion on Jayden is universally that he is very good, but is he a first-team selection when his team has only won one game? Coaches I asked seemed split on that much like our audience.

 The argument will continue after players like Matt and Jayden graduate…we’ve outlined both sides of the argument. It’s always interesting to see where people stand on the debate…

 

 Division IV

 Epping (7-6) at Newmarket (11-3)

 These two rivals get back at after the Blue Devils upset The Mules last Friday night behind a big game from Hunter Bullock.

 Let’s recap what happened Tuesday night and where we stand as we head into the last two weeks of the Division IV season.

• Newmarket’s loss to Pittsfield, coupled with the fact that they still have to face Epping and go to Derryfield (on Tuesday) means that another loss likely makes them the 5 seed and would send them to Woodsville in the quarterfinals (barring upsets). Let me tell you from first-hand experience, there is a very big difference between staying at home and driving out to Woodsville…that’s not a trip Jamie Hayes wants to take.
• Littleton, playing without four kids home sick including Parker Briggs, held Profile to 9 first-half points and just about wrapped up the 3 seed. In other words, there’s a good chance the final four run continues…Danny Kubkowski has been terrific the past two weeks.
• Groveton lost an 8 point fourth quarter lead at home to a Moultonborough team they beat last week on the road and now looks they could drop to the 7 seed…although more likely they stay at 6…lining them up with (look above……..again)
• Either Mount Royal or Hinsdale is going to be in the quarterfinals…because that is your likely 8/9 game.
• Epping is the team NO ONE wants in the first round, I’ve confirmed this way up north and back down south. They might be the 11 seed and that could send them back to Groveton…
• If Derryfield beats Newmarket (for a second time) at home on Tuesday they will finish as the top seed in the tournament. If they lose and finish with identical 17-1 records with Pittsfield then Sam Natti (our Division IV Bracketologist) might suffer an ‘11’ like nosebleed trying to figure out that tie-breaker because,,,you know…Pittsfield and Derryfield play nearly an identical schedule…but not each other.
• I know that’s two ‘Stranger Things’ references in one column but you have to admit the bloody nose analogy worked…Godspeed Sam Natti if Derryfield loses.

 

 The New Hampshire High School Hoops Show returns Saturday morning at 9:07 am. Pete Tarrier & Dave Haley re-cap every game from the Friday night schedule while covering all four divisions. We’ll have two coaches on the show every week and you can listen in right here on our homepage by clicking the LISTEN LIVE BUTTON. The show airs every week during the season on 99.9 FM & 1370 WFEA radio in the Manchester area or listen for FREE on the TuneIn Radio App.

 Our guests on Saturday will be Rob Fauci of Somersworth along with Marshall Crane to talk about Sunday’s Frank Monahan Foundation Showcase at Bishop Brady.