We are coming to the end of the regular season previews so today I’m trying to breakdown the tournament implications of each game.

 On Saturday morning we will have our annual ‘Bracketology Show’ with Inter-Lakes head coach Mike Rathgeber revealing the Division III bracket and Lisbon head coach Sam Natti doing the same for Division IV.

 Look for that on the website at 8 am.

 Next week we plan to do the same thing with Division I bracketologist Jay McKenna of Winnacunnet and Division II bracketologist Nate Camp of Kearsarge.

 Look for the weekly podcast with Justin McIsaac & I previewing and predicting every Friday game in the state around noon today.

 Right now our schedule for the girls and boys tournaments includes full coverage of 32 games so……..buckle up all the way to the BABC games on March 28th.

 Also, look for an announcement on our annual Seacoast Tournament which will begin the first week of April.

 I want to cap the tournament at 8 teams and right now we already have 5 locked in from New Hampshire and Maine so if you want to put a team reach out to me.

 This is the 10th year we have run the double-elimination tournament out of Portsmouth and it annually features some of the best basketball players in the state.

 Thank you to Jennifer Cox of Concord girls basketball, Nike Tour Golf professional Keith Gilchrist of New York and the Andrewski family of Kearsarge basketball for being the latest families to support our entire team as Gold Level Members!

  Tomorrow night Joel Johnston & I will be at Winnacunnet when the Warriors take on Justin O’Neil and the Bedford Bulldogs.

 On Monday night ‘The Franchise’ and I will be out covering a Division IV first-round game to be announced on today’s podcast.

 

 Our coverage today is brought to you by our partners at Core Physicians, with over fifteen office locations conveniently located throughout the greater New Hampshire seacoast area!

 

 

 Division I

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

 Bishop Guertin (14-2) at Exeter (14-1)

 Exeter team page

 Bishop Guertin team page

  The top seed in Division I is on the line in this one as John Fisher’s team comes off very good wins over Nashua South and Winnacunnet.

  So let’s talk about the Cardinals.

  I called three coaches who have faced BG and asked them to breakdown the Cardinals.

  All three agreed that their size across the lineup is a big factor, along with their depth.

 John Fisher can roll out a 6’4 or bigger frontcourt and play 10 guys. Kyle and Lucas Baker give them two physical players in the post and their shooters have the size to shoot over close-outs.

 BG has played man against certain teams but went 2-3 zone against Winnacunnet on Tuesday night. That makes it difficult to game plan against them.

 The chemistry is also very good with this group and it’s something Fisher pointed to in one of our text conversations. Dylan Santosuosso (16.2) has been the leading scorer all season long but Mason Carroll, Sam Mullet, Jordan Robichaud, John Sullivan, and Kyle Baker have all gone for over 15 points in a game this season.

 Against Winnacunnet BG forced 22 turnovers and took very good care of the basketball. The Cardinals are a patient team and if one player starts getting hot…they’re going to keep going to him and not worry about divvying out shots across the lineup.

 In Exeter, they face the best offense in the division and the likely player of the year in Ryan Grijalva. Teams have started to figure out how to slow down the Blue Hawks offensively and attack them defensively when they overplay the passing lanes.

 Still, they’ve been the best team in the state since early December when we saw them beat Con Val in the Jamboree. The winner here has the inside track to the top seed in the tournament.

 

Bedford (9-6) at Winnacunnet (10-6)

Bedford team page

Winnacunnet team page

 Two teams that are currently in the Top 8 and want to remain there for a home playoff game in two weeks.

 Winnacunnet is a team loaded with talented underclassman and I thought McIsaac hit the nail on the head last week when he said Jay McKenna’s team was a year ahead of schedule.

 Dropping two straight road games to contenders Bishop Guertin and Nashua North was understandable and happened for very different reasons.

 Against BG the Warriors didn’t take care of the ball, struggled against the Cardinals size and their 2-3 zone. Shooting 5 for 15 from the free-throw line also wasn’t going to cut it against a team as a good as BG.

 In the Nashua North game, the team we picked #1 in the pre-season arrived.

 They were awesome and there wasn’t a team in the state who would have beaten them that night. Nate Kane drilled 8 3-pointers on his way to 26 points and I don’t really follow sports but going 15 for 26 from behind the arc sounds like its pretty good.

 Hayes Waddell returns from injury for this one and he will give the Warriors an extra shot of toughness tomorrow night. He also very likely will be matched up at times with all-state forward Justin O’Neil (19.7).

 Mark Elmendorf’s team closes with Salem and Merrimack; both are going to be grind it out affairs that likely are not decided until the last 3 minutes.

 This one isn’t a playoff game but it might be the difference between a Top 8 seed home game and a bus trip to start the Division I tournament.

 

 Goffstown (7-8) at Dover (6-10)

 Dover team page

 Goffstown team page

 The Grizzlies have begun to play very well while the Green Wave has to be wondering if their school was built on Indian burial grounds. (yes in 2020 I made a ‘Poltergeist’ joke…you can’t be that surprised).

 Dover has been in every game they’ve lost recently and in all of they led in the second half. Losses to Alvirne, Bedford, Bishop Guertin (without Kingsley Breen who was sick) and Concord have begun to make Matt Fennessy’s team wonder if they can close out victories.

 Breen went for 30 points and 10 rebounds against Bedford and if he keeps asserting himself like that the wins are going to follow.

 Ryan Cowette’s team seems to be peaking at the right time. Robenson Beguidy has really evolved as a playmaker, Jack Kelly has been very good at getting to the rim and Derek Steckowych gives them a center that can knock you off of your spot in the post and knock down jumpers from behind the arc.

 

 Portsmouth (13-2) at Alvirne (8-7)

 Alvirne team page

 Portsmouth team page

 Don't look now but the Broncos have won 7 of 9 games.

 They’ve done it on the defensive end and behind the emergence of Jackson DeWitt (15.2), Meshack Mugariri (11.4) and Liam O’Neil (11.3).

 In the fives losses in their first six games, the Broncos allowed 68 ppg. Since that time they have allowed 52 ppg. in winning seven of nine. Marty Edwards’ team still has a chance to finish in the top 8 but will face a huge test against the Clippers.

 Coleman Brewster is now tied with Royce Williams atop the Division I scoring leaders at 20.7 ppg and his 26 points against Nashua North on Tuesday night was a big-time performance in a huge road win Box score: Portsmouth 63, Nashua North 57

 John Mulvey has done a terrific job with this team and even though injuries to Jacob Boutin, Zach Paradis and Brewster they have kept on winning. The Clippers are undefeated at home and are very close to wrapping up two home playoff games for the 10th time in 11 years.

 Remember this is a Portsmouth program that petitioned up to Division I in 2017 and won back to back titles after doing so. The run Jim Mulvey started and his son John is continuing is one people will talk about for decades to come, as that 2017 undefeated team has to go down as one of the all-time teams (Cody Graham won 3 titles in 4 seasons) in NHIAA history.

 

 Division II

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

 Hanover team page

 Pelham team page

 Hanover (15-1) at Pelham (12-3)

 Tim Winslow’s team picked up another big win over Con Val in a game we covered on Tuesday night. They now close with Pelham on the road followed by a senior night clash with arch-rival Lebanon.

 For Pelham, this is a game they need if they believe (as I do) that they are capable of being the last team standing at UNH on March 21st.

 They lost to both Lebanon (on the road) and Bow (at home), leaving Hanover as their last chance to pick up a resume-building win. Mike Larson’s team has been dominant at times, owns a very good win over Hollis-Brookline and was able to survive the injury to Drew Brown who missed time in the middle of the season.

 What they need though is a win against a contender that proves they are on the same level as Hanover, Bow, Lebanon, and Con Val. A win at home over the Marauders would give them that.

 

 Division III

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

 With the Division III and IV boys’ semifinals and championship games on the same nights…..Division III at Keene State and Division IV back at Plymouth State…my streak of seeing every Division IV final four-game since 2013 is coming to an end.

 Lance Legere, Sam Natti and ‘The Franchise’ Jennifer Chick-Ruth will have coverage of the Division IV final four while Austin Grass, myself and a Division III coach to be named later (if his team is eliminated) will have coverage of all three Division III games at Keene State.

 I’ll be calling the girls Division IV final four on Wednesday at PSU with Austin while Jen & Lance will call the Division III girls final four at Keene State next week.

 I don’t blame the NHIAA at all for this year’s scheduling mess but I do think the need to move away from the colleges may be coming. Both for scheduling and financial reasons, but that is something I’ll tackle in the two year end columns.

 If Gilford can beat White Mountains at home on Friday night (congratulations to both Jack Curtis of White Mountains and Kevin Newton-Delgado of Hopkinton for scoring their 1,000th career points on Tuesday night) they are the top seed.

 Mascenic Regional has also earned a top 2 seed. What a job Brandon Kear has done as head coach and I came away very impressed with the Mascenic kids after their win over St. Thomas last Friday night.

 Campbell at Mascoma will decide where those teams fall in the Top 8 with everyone I speak to agreeing that Campbell is not a team you want to face right now and Conant as a low seed is a nightmare.

 We will reveal all the scenarios for next weeks first round on our bracketology show and right now the plan is to cover one first-round game and two quarterfinal games before we all meet up at my other alma mater Keene State College……where my old Alpha fraternity house is now...sadly.. a parking lot.

 

Division IV

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

 Listen in to our Bracketology special on Saturday as we will have all the official match-ups but I wanted to try an exercise with my favorite division.

 It has felt all season long like if you predicted every game between the Top 10 teams you’d come out at about 90% accuracy. In other words, teams are beating everyone below them and very few above that.

 So let’s put it to the test; below are the seeds as of today that are at least .500 on the season.

 In parenthesis are wins they have against teams ranked above them on the current tournament seeding.

1. Littleton (no team above them to beat)
2. Newmarket (Zero. Lost only to Littleton)
3. Groveton   (Zero. Lost twice to Littleton)
4. Sunapee    (Zero)
5. Pittsfield   (One…split with Sunapee)
6. Portsmouth Christian   (one…went 1-4 against teams in the Top 5)
7. Woodsville  (Zero)
8. Mount Royal (One….over Sunapee)
9. Colebrook   (Zero)
10. Derryfield (Three…they beat PCA, Colebrook & Pittsfield)
11. Lin Wood  (Zero)
12. Lisbon aka. America’s Team (Two…beat Lin Wood & Colebrook)

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  What that tells you is you might see nearly chalk all the way to the final.....tune into the podcast Saturday morning for all the match-ups.