We are back with the Thursday Thoughts where today we’ll preview seven games across the state this weekend.

 Look for the 2020 debut of the Players Locker Room ‘9 Questions’ interviews on Monday. The players had a lot of fun with these last year and it’s always entertaining for me to see 17-year-old kids picking Will Farrell (age 52) and Adam Sandler (age 53) as the actors they would choose to play them in a movie.

 Monadnock’s Jake Kidney shot the first one along with his Monadnock teammates, and crushed it. So I’m looking forward to all the videos to come.

 Players Locker Room Members

 Players around the state are also beginning to be invited to be a member of our NHsportspage senior and underclassman teams against BABC on Saturday, March 28th at NHTI in Concord. So look for those rosters to be announced in February.

 Lorne Lucas of Oyster River is the head coach of the senior team (assisted by Somersworth’s Rob Fauci) while Epping’s Nick Fiset will coach the underclassman team and will be assisted by Jeff Baumann of Timberlane and Sam Natti of Lisbon.

 2019 NHsportspage senior team vs. BABC highlights

 2019 NHsportspage underclassman vs. BABC highlights

 Joel Johnston and I will be in Dover tomorrow night to bring you all the play by play, highlights and the post-game interview with the winning team when Conant travels to face St. Thomas.

  Today’s column is brought to you by our friends and partners at Concord Orthopaedics. Click on the Academy Award-winning pre-roll video above produced by ‘The Franchise’ Jennifer Chick-Ruth.

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 Division I

 Division I standings, scoring leaders and Gold Level coaches/programs

 Alvirne (2-5) at Windham (5-1)

 Windham Team Page

 Alvirne Team Page

 As I said on our weekly podcast Justin McIsaac & I record every week I’m not 100% sold on the idea of Windham as a Top 4 team in Division I quite yet but they certainly have my attention.

 EJ Perry’s team is winning close games with defense and the shooting of Joey DaSilva, who had a breakout performance against BABC last March and has carried that over into a player of the year level campaign.

 Riley Desmarais has been really good at the point and for the Jaguars, this is a team that is starting to believe that if it’s close late, they’re going to find a way to win.

 The Jaguars face Alvirne on Friday and a tough Goffstown team next week. If they can get to 7-1 they’re on a Top 8 seed or bust track.

 If they can earn two or even one home playoff game they are going to be very tough to beat. Windham has very good student/crowd support, especially when they are in a game that matters and for a program that hasn’t had a lot of huge moments in their brief history; they’ll pack the gym for a big playoff game.

 Marty Edwards’ Broncos team is better than their record indicates, having lost three games by 6 points or less. Alvirne has only faced two teams with under .500 records (Concord and Londonderry). They were also able to beat Londonderry without their leading scorer Jackson DeWitt, who is questionable for tomorrow night's game.

 Windham has a stretch coming up where they will play Portsmouth, Nashua North and Bishop Guertin in a four-game stretch. We’ll find out all we need to know then but right now Windham classifies as one of the surprise teams in Division I this season.

 

 Bedford (3-3) at Londonderry (2-4)

 Bedford Team Page

 Londonderry Team Page

 The body language police have the Londonderry Lancers on their radar.

 This is a team last year that every Division I coach I spoke to mentioned as the team that was the biggest pain in the butt to face and I can name you a pair of seacoast coaches who wanted to avoid Londonderry in the tournament.

 That’s because the Lancers defended as hard as any team you faced, were very physical and extremely well-coached by Nate Stanton (our 2019 Coach of the Year).

 The Salem win at Londonderry late last season was the most physical game I covered all year and it wasn’t by coincidence that two weeks later both teams advanced to UNH.

 That identity is missing as we head into late January and I’m not sure even head coach Nate Stanton can put his finger on why.

 Jackson Cox was out of the lineup early in the season with an injury but is back now. Cole Keegan and Alex Tsetsilas were mentioned so often on this website during their championship football season that I would easily win any ‘How fast can you spell Tsetsilas?’ Bar bet that comes my way.

 So why has the basketball team been unable to match the intensity of the football team?

 It isn’t the coach, Stanton is one of the best 5 to 10 coaches in the state, and his peers would tell you that. It isn’t the level of compete in the players assembled on this roster. Keegan and Tsetsilas along with Will Reyes (who is just coming back from injury) have all proven they are winners, as did Luke Marsh on the Lancers championship baseball team.

 Whether the pieces don’t fit or we are simply looking at a team that hasn’t come together yet Londonderry doesn’t look like the same team night to night, let alone week to week. How else do you explain that the only team to beat Bishop Guertin also got run out of the gym against Spaulding?

 Tomorrow night they have a chance to steady the boat a bit with a win over a good Bedford team led by their head coach Mark Elmendorf and all-state forward Justin O’Neil, who went for 30 points in a Tuesday night win over Memorial.

 Londonderry’s next 5 games after Bedford are against Nashua South and Merrimack on the road, winless Pinkerton (it feels wrong just writing that), and then games against seacoast contenders Winnacunnet and Dover.

 If the Lancers can beat Bedford and Pinkerton while earning a split in road games against Nashua South & Merrimack they are right back in it. Right now though the issues seem to be a lot deeper than wins and losses.

 What it all means is Londonderry needs to figure out what their identity is before the 2020 season moves on without them.

 

 Winnacunnet (5-2) at Keene (3-3)

 Winnacunnet Team Page

 Keene Team Page

  A largely inexperienced Warriors team is coming together under head coach Jay McKenna.

  Brett Marelli has morphed into an all-state forward seemingly overnight and not only do the pieces seem to fit but the chemistry is very good with this group.

 Lucas Schaake may never be a big-time scorer but he helps this team in a lot of different ways and has stepped into the leadership role vacated by the all-state duo of Ben Allen & Jack Schaake. James O’Hara has been good at the shooting guard spot while Connor Considine has taken over the point guard duties alongside him. Settling the Warriors down against defensive pressure.

 The Warriors begin a very tough stretch with their trip out to Keene. Over the next six games, Winnacunnet will play four away from home with games against Dover, Exeter, Londonderry, Salem, and Alvirne in the mix.

 Noah Timmer is putting together another all-state season for the Blackbirds while Liam Johnston is one of the better passing forwards in the state. For Keene to earn a second straight home playoff game this season these are the home games they need to get. Wins against teams like Winnacunnet who are also playing for a Top 8 seed.

 

 Division II

 Division II standings, scoring leaders and Gold Level coaches/programs

 Bishop Brady (0-6) at Bow (6-1)

 Bow Team Page

 Let this be a warning to my friend Frank Moreno and his Bow Falcons…you may want the kids to stop reading and move on to Conant and St. Thomas below.

 Ok, here it goes.

 There is a very good chance Bow is going to finish 16-2 at worst and a strong possibility they run the table and go 17-1.

 The Falcons own two big-time wins over Pelham (pre-season #2 and currently 6-1) and Lebanon (pre-season #1 and currently 4-1). A look at their schedule ahead reveals they play only three teams with a plus .500 record the rest of the way; at Sanborn, Souhegan at home and at Kennett.

 They’ll be heavily favored in each.

 This is not a call for Bow to put it in cruise control, there are plenty of teams left like Milford, Merrimack Valley and Coe-Brown who could beat them on the right night. Right now though Bow looks like they will be a team preparing for what their opponents are going to show them in the tournament.

 You can expect to see teams try to make Matt Lamy and Nick Kiah beat them from the outside in a tournament game. Both are more than capable, but teams might be willing to take that chance rather than to be beaten up by the Falcons in the paint and on the boards.

 This team hasn’t hit their peak yet and the schedule tells you they have time to become the best version of themselves as we inch towards March.

 Ok, you can start reading again Frank.

 

 Division III

 Division III standings, scoring leaders and Gold Level coaches/programs

 Conant (4-3) at St. Thomas (4-3)

 Conant Team Page

 St. Thomas Team Page

 The first team to 50 points wins tomorrow night in this final four rematch.

 Both teams are really struggling to score and in response to that shared flaw both coaches Sean Murphy of St. Thomas and Eric Saucier of Conant have slowed the pace and focused on their defenses.

 Anthony Gauthier has been as good as advertised for the Orioles. The Conant forward leads Division III in scoring at 24.2 points per game but the issue is the rest of the team is averaging 22 ppg.

 Saucier is as good a coach as there is in the state and the defense is where it needs to be but over the next two months, he needs to find a way to increase the Orioles offensive production. Teams that can really score struggle to reach their season average once you get into the tournament while teams that struggle to score all season usually don’t last very long.

 For the Saints point guard Diego Garcia might be the most underrated player in the division and likewise, head coach Sean Murphy has his team playing good defense. The Saints had a go-to guy a year ago in Andrew Cavanaugh and a terrific athlete in Shawn Dekorne playing beside him but have not replaced that duo in the aggregate yet. (yes I’ve seen ‘Moneyball’ too many times)

 After Conant tomorrow night St. Thomas faces Gilford on Tuesday, giving the Saints, a Top 4 seed a year ago, a good sense of where they stack up against the best teams in the division.

 

 Division IV

 Division IV Standings, scoring leaders and Gold Level coaches/programs

 Portsmouth Christian (7-2) at Sunapee (6-3)  and

 Colebrook (5-3) at Newmarket (8-1)

 An informal poll of Division IV coaches, taken over the phone and in one case, the 99 Restaurant in Littleton, could find no clear answer to the question of who the fourth-best team in the division is?

 Littleton is clearly the favorite, Newmarket as stated here weeks ago is right behind them and after last Friday night, I’m very comfortable putting Groveton in the top 3.

 The consensus of my unofficial poll?

 Portsmouth Christian is the fourth team.

 We know Derek Summers’ team has a player good enough to win you a playoff game, Bryson Lund is the leader of the player of the year race at the mid-way point, but do they have the outside shooting?

 Teams are going to throw two bodies at Lund and dare the PCA guards to knock down shots in a tournament setting. That’s what Summers’ team needs to develop over the next two months. An ability to beat teams that defend them by doubling the post.

 After this one tomorrow night Sunapee has two big tests coming up against Derryfield and at Mount Royal. Tim Putchler’s team has an advantage every year in the extra points they get from beating Division III Newport (1-6).

 To be fair Groveton and Colebrook can earn the same points with wins over White Mountains Regional but the Spartans have been a playoff team under Mike Curtis while Newport has struggled since the graduation of Spencer Coronis.

 The Lakers have the opportunity for a big win tomorrow night and have been led this season by Zach Belisle, Jordan Chappell, and Harper Flint.

 Newmarket continues to play well, we’ll do a deep dive on the Mules next week in our mid-season snapshot column but Will Chase is having an all-state season and sophomore Colby Bost is going to be very good for Jamie Hayes’ team. He’s a player to watch over the second half of the season.

 Colebrook’s outlook has changed pretty dramatically in the past three weeks when they looked like a team that could earn a pair of home playoff games. Losses to Groveton (73-72 in overtime), to Derryfield (63-56 at home) and on Tuesday night to America’s Team the Lisbon Panthers 57-46 without forward Malik Mckinnon who was home sick have them now fighting for one home playoff game.

 Games with the Mules, Groveton (we’ll be in Colebrook for that one next Saturday), Littleton, at White Mountains and Woodsville tell you Buddy Trask’s team is going to have to pick up some key wins just to get a Top 8 seed and a home game.

 The Mohawks are built for their smaller floor under the watchful eye of the 25 foot tall Mohawk Indian on their gymnasium wall. To get a home game they will need the extra points that come with a win at White Mountains and to at least split the match-ups with Groveton (headed towards a Top 4 seed) & Woodsville (likely a Top 8 seed)’ Those games will be the key.

 We are at the point of the season where teams are starting to separate themselves and at the moment, Colebrook is headed in the wrong direction.

 The good news is the schedule gives them plenty of chances to get back on course.