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The 900 Degrees Pizzaria Final Thursday Thoughts Part I

By Dave Haley, 03/26/14, 12:30AM EDT

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Epping became court storming experts in March

We take one last look at the 2013-14 high school basketball season.
 

Lingering thoughts from the four championship games…..

 From the very first time you heard the news that Sean Young had been named as the new boys’ basketball coach at Epping high school you felt there was an odd symmetry to this new union. Epping you see was the team with all the talent but not enough of the poise & maturity to ever get past the first two rounds of the post-season. Between player suspensions and talk of issues between parents & coaches, Epping was looked at as the team just good enough to break your heart in March.

 In came Sean Young, a coach thought by some early on in his career to be one of the very best young coaches in the state of New Hampshire. Young had taken a high powered Wilton-Lyndeborough team all the way to Class S championship game in 2008 and followed that up by being named the head coach of the New Hampshire Shrine team that faced Vermont.

 Young though, like the team he would take over in 2013, struggled to attain that level again or reach the expectations set for his teams. His Wilton-Lyndeborough teams never got back to the final four again and in 2012 he had uneventful season as the head coach of a Merrimack Valley team that was quickly swept out of the playoffs after a 7-11 season.

 So there was plenty of baggage to go around when Young first met with his new team. In a room like that there is no time or really any purpose in beating around the bush, and so Young didn’t. He told his team what everyone outside of their locker room was saying about them; you’ll crumble when it gets tough on the floor, you won’t behave off the floor and you are the team with potential that never accomplishes anything. He also told them that if they committed to work and follow him, they could change all of that.

 Whether or not his new players liked what they were hearing they certainly reacted. Whether it was that very day or during a practice or game after that they decided to follow their new coach who probably felt like he had as much to prove as those kids.

 Epping bought into what Young was preaching and when it got tough on the floor they didn’t crumble. Kids stayed out of trouble off the floor and in a tie game with six minutes to go in the quarterfinals Epping outscored Profile by double digits to get to the final four for the first time since before any of the players on the team were even born.

 Once they were there Jimmy Stanley looked like the 21 year old college kid, mature, filled out and a little wiser, who comes home to practice with the high school kids. He was a man amongst boys. Brett Couture helped patrol the paint, Colby Wilson made you guard him 24 feet from the basket and Jake West, suspended for their semifinal game for the kind of flare ups on the floor that used to define this team, made a ton of big plays in the championship game. Sean Young raced around the gym at Plymouth state like Jimmy Valvano looking to hug everyone, and just like that Epping & Sean Young went from potential to champions. Together.

 It was late in the third quarter of our pre-season jamboree, in what was a very entertaining game between Manchester Central and Conant, when Eric Saucier finally stopped talking to his kids on the floor and loudly whispered to me at the scorer’s table. “ Dave….how many guys has he played?” Central, a team that didn’t lose that day and in fact never lost again, was ahead by nine points after the Division III champs had cut an early Central lead down to 25-22 in the second quarter. “ Eight….(Doc) has played eight guys.” Saucier nodded and said thanks, and went back to his kids. Saucier wanted to know how many players Doc Wheeler had played against him because he believed that he was getting Central’s best shot, and simply wanted to confirm it.

 That is how Conant measures themselves. They don’t shrug off pre-season losses or lament injuries or bad chemistry, they measure themselves against the best. Saucier is smart enough and has seen enough basketball to know Central was the best team he was going to see all year, he wanted to know exactly how his team stacked up. Well enough to compete with the very best and with a school with 1,500 more students than his.

 Conant had fantastic players in Robert O’Brien & Eli Hodgson as well as a senior captain in Kyle Carland that Saucier found himself in closed counsel with on more than a few occasions, regarding topics and issues he had rarely run into in his coaching career. Wins over Lebanon & Smithfield (RI) had followed an opening night road win over Division II Bishop Brady and it is safe to say that this team may have peaked in December. It says everything about them that they still were the last team standing in March. Saucier saw the weakness of his team; outside shooting and he knew he was going to see every variation of zone defense a Jim Boeheim or a Jerry Tarkanian could have created. His message was to change the goal and turn the tables; hold every team we play under 40 points and we win. Surely Rob & Eli alone could come up with 30 themselves and in Nate Wheeler & Carland he had plenty of scoring in reserve to get past 40.

 When it was over Saucier held the seventh Division III (Class M) title in nine seasons at midcourt in Manchester. Forty five minutes down the road Manchester Central had done the same thing exactly 24 hours earlier. Saucier knew where his team stacked up with against the best, and he also knew no one in Division III could stack up with his.

 When Matt Alosa and his Pembroke Spartans walk into a gym you immediately take notice. Dressed in suits & ties the Spartans have a very professional look and a vibe that tells you to back away. While other players tend to wander and mingle or re-connect with old opponents & AAU teammates Pembroke players tend to stick to themselves.

 Alosa himself is usually surrounded by his assistant coaches in the stands like they are forming a human moat around him, making the simple act of walking over to say hello seem like more trouble than it’s even worth. Pembroke feels like it is them against everyone else and they seem to be very comfortable in that mode. The results will tell you it just might be effective.

 Time and again Pembroke was pushed but never toppled. Dylan Gage hit an ‘whoops I called glass,’ three to beat Lebanon. Teams like Windham & Goffstown played tighter games than expected against everyone’s pre-season #1 and Collin Sullivan of Plymouth was a few inches away from beating the Spartans on their home floor. In late January Portsmouth pulled it off. Nick Mackey frustrated leading scorer Patrick Welch and the Clippers hit enough jumpers to end the longest winning streak in New Hampshire. It was a season that began with controversy in the NHIAA offices and ended with it again on Twitter. Through it all Pembroke stuck to their circle of players & parents and did their best to become the ninth repeat champions in Division II (Class I) history.

 As Portsmouth closed the gap to five in an entertaining championship game Pembroke’s two best players broke free; Welch hit a runner over two defenders and Kafani Williams wrestled a rebound away from two Clippers and finished at the rim. When the horn sounded on the 2014 season Pembroke’s players went right to their student section as Welch found Alosa, his mentor since he the age of eight. Pembroke might be New Hampshire’s most polarizing program, and they may even prefer it that way, but what is not up for debate is where they stand in Division II lore. They enter the conversation as one of the best teams of all-time over a two year period and 43-1 is a pretty compelling argument.

 When you sit in David ‘Doc’ Wheeler’s office the first thing you notice are the state championship balls that sit right behind his chair. Wheeler has pictures of his family and fiancé Jennifer but it is also easy to find pictures of former players like Will Bayliss, Mike Stys, Joe Fremeau, Tyler Roche and Sam Carey. Players that have added to the greatest tradition in New Hampshire high school basketball history.

 One large poster sized frame sticks out amongst all of the memorabilia; it is a collage of pictures from Central’s 2006 Championship team that finished 25-0. To win a title is hard enough but perfection is so rare it is very seldom strived for. Midway through the 2014 season Wheeler knew he had something very special. Wheeler had seen 25-0, coached players who were all-Americans in college and played in the ACC on national television, he saw the warts when the rest of us saw a freight train.

 As the games flipped off the calendar though Central only got better, highlighted by a game against Nashua South in which Central went 12 for 12 from the field in the first quarter, including 7 for 7 from the three point line. Days later I met with the Nashua South Lacrosse coach to set up a fundraising campaign with NeighborhoodFundraising.com and he could only marvel at what he had seen that night. It was like talking to a guy who swears he saw Bigfoot out his back window. “ I turned to another coach that night and said , ‘have you ever seen anything like this?’ he told me. “Nope..neither one of us had.”

 The Little Green strived to be the best defensive team in Division I while piling up points at an alarming rate. Brett Hanson was as hard to stop one on one as any player in New Hampshire, Joey Martin had range past 22 feet and the handle to get by you on his way to the rim. Jon Martin was the facilitator as he and Dawson Dickson, a three year starter at point guard,  shared ball handling duties while scoring nearly 20 points a night. Central looked unbeatable as the field dwindled to four teams.

 Then it nearly all came crashing down when inner-city rival Manchester Memorial put on a show at UNH that they were still talking about weeks later. Central though never panicked. When his team got down double digits late, a scenario they had not faced once in over twenty games, Wheeler reminded them of the important fact that was going to be the only way out of this mess; they were great. They were a great team, relax, play, and we’ll get back in it.

 In a video on our site with over 1,700 views and growing Central & Memorial but on a performance they’ll be talking about at Billy’s in Manchester ten years from now. On a night when Memorial was sensational Central was great enough to be just a little bit better. In the end they were perfect, 25-0, and their poster will be one of the first things you notice in Doc Wheeler’s office someday..
 
The 12 seniors I’d send to represent the state of New Hampshire………..

 Bill Simmons yearns to be an NBA GM, I yearn to be put in charge of naming the Shrine Team. Well here are the 12 I’d send to break a losing streak against our neighbors to the west.

 The Starters

 Center: Eli Hodgson of Conant

 Last seen devouring a double cheeseburger during a post-game interview with Pete Tarrier this 6’4 senior is going to be a very good player at the next level just like his older brother Ezra who is a two year starter at Plattsburgh State as junior. If you think Hodgson isn’t the choice because he plays in Division III I’ve wasted 24,000 words and 60 hours of radio on you…so here is my final argument. His numbers against Central in the pre-season jamboree; 15 points and 11 rebounds. He’s our center.

Power Forward Part I: Carmen Giampetruzzi of Trinity

Power Forward Part II” Kafani Williams of Pembroke Academy

 I’m going with two power forwards because Carmen can space the floor and knock down three’s. You play to your strength and that has both of these guys on the floor. Each guy averages well over 10 rebounds a game and Williams has a nearly unstoppable spin move in the lane. We’re in good hands here.

 Point Guard: Eric Gendron of Merrimack

 6’4 point guard who can get to the rim and finish over it, shoot from 22 feet and has been running pick & rolls from the point guard spot the past two years? Yes please.

 Shooting guard: Patrick Welch of Pembroke Academy

  We take Welch off the ball and let him run the wing. Few players in New Hampshire pushing the ball up the floor with the dribble faster and if Welch is underrated anywhere it is defensively. He has become a very good on the ball defender in the last year. Oh and he is the best shooter in the state..
 
 The Reserves

 Jon Martin of Manchester Central

 Martin can play the point or shooting guard spot. People see the scoring numbers but unless you’ve seen him play four or five times you don’t realize what an excellent passer he is. 

 Rob O’Brien of Conant

 Another 6’3 guard with range out past the three point line. O’Brien can get to the rim and has terrific instincts on the floor, plus he is from Conant so you know he can defend.

 Jordan Lates of Nashua North

 You need one heat-check guy off the bench. I want a guy that if the offense is sputtering I know he comes in and changes the pace, a Jamaal Crawford type…that’s Jordan Lates.

 Jimmy Stanley of Epping

 Stanley can step right in for Williams and Giampetruzzi with little drop off. He is an elite rebounder and a deadly shooter from the elbow.

 Jake Vaiknoras of Pelham

 The Pelham guard is just a guy you want on your team; he pushes the ball and is a relentless defender. A perfect rotation guy for a game you need to win…and we need to beat Vermont..

 Patrick Glynn of Portsmouth

 Rebounding and terrific defense off the bench. Glynn is an underrated scorer as well.. he can rotate in & out with Hodgson for a very good big man duo.

 Tomorrow takes a look at the best rivalries in New Hampshire plus my final thoughts & memories of the 2014 season.

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