Division II
 
 (16) Con Val at (1) Portsmouth

 ConVal punched their ticket to the dance behind the play of some talented underclassman and the inside play of Isaac Bacon and Will Chambers. On Monday night they travel to Stone Gymnasium to play a 17-1 team that has stumbled a bit since their overtime win over Bishop Brady.

 ConVal has only won 2 of their 9 games so they aren’t pulling the miracle of Monday night. For a young nucleus it will be a good experience just to get in. In Portsmouth they will the best defensive unit they have faced all season.
 
 (9) Milford at (8) Hanover

 Dan Murray’s team looks to avenge a 56-41 loss at Hanover back on January 10thwhen they enter the tournament with their highest seeding since their back to back titles in 2010 & 2011.

 Tim Winslow’s team won four of their last five games to gain the 8 seed and on Monday night they will try and move on to the quarterfinals behind Rocco Linehan and Tim O’Rourke. The Marauders have been a very solid defensive unit in the second half of the season and will need to contain Kirk Palladino (14.6) and Jack Briggs (14.4).
 
 (13) Oyster River at (4) Lebanon

 It has been a struggle all season long for Lorne Lucas & The Bobcats. Colin Runk (15.3 ppg.) has been able to give this team good production offensively but Oyster River has turned it over too often and not won many battles on the boards.

 Lebanon is about getting out and going. Lucas likes his team to push the pace & pressure so in Keith Matte he’ll find a similar philosophy. The Raiders don’t have the size to outrebound many teams so they rely on pushing tempo and scoring off of turnovers. KJ Matte (18.1) has been first team all-state  worthy at the point and every coach that watches Ryan Milliken (10.8) play comes away gushing about his energy & production. The loss of Greg Roberge was a big one, as it makes a thin bench anorexic but Matte has pushed enough of the right buttons to get two more home playoff games. The Raiders look again like a tough out and a good bet to get back to the Final Four for a third straight season.

 
(12) Hollis-Brookline at (5) Merrimack Valley

 Hollis-Brookline head coach Mike Soucy will be selling his kids on a temporary case of amnesia as they head into Merrimack Valley Monday night. The Cavaliers have lost eight of their last ten and now face a veteran team that believes this is their time to get MV back to Durham after a more than decade long absence.

Matt Fothergill (15.3) has been very effective for Soucy’s team but has had to carry the bulk of the offensive load all season long. A young team has struggled to come together after last year’s quarterfinal lost all but one of their rotation players.

 MV has been a very well coached, very balanced unit that has won a lot of close games. Bruce Barton (14.1) has been effective in the post, Nate Mulleavy (10 ppg.)& Cole Remillard (11.1) have been equally effective out on the perimeter and Justin Williams gives The Pride (I remember the days of the Merrimack Valley Indians..) four players who can be counted on night to night.
 
(15) St Thomas Aquinas at (2) Manchester West

 These two get back at it after playing just last week in a game Danny Bryson’s West team won 75-57.

 The Saints will continue to push the ball and shoot the first open three pointer they see under the Grinnell College philosophy (covered here a month ago). Schuyler Hedberg (19.1) is among the leading scorers in Division II while Kevin Gould gives the Saints a big man on the low block.

 West will gladly get out and run where the very thought of Zach Jones (18.7 ppg.) & Monytung Maker (16.2) flying up & down the court should give any opposing coach nightmares. This West team has come together very nicely under Bryson and whether their final game is on the last day of the season or earlier, this is going to be a tough team to knock out..
 
 (10) Goffstown (7) Coe-Brown

 Maybe the most interesting match-up of the first round…
 Goffstown seems to be a different team when they are stroking it from the outside. There is good size and rebounding with Tim Comeau & Casey Gervais to create second shot opportunities but the Grizzlies have been inconsistent from behind the arc.

 The Bears will have a big crowd on hand and the band belting out Axl’s theme from ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ but can they control the tempo ? David Smith’s team gets their points out of the flow of the offense, they aren’t going to run many sets for anyone specifically as Mac Struthers (13 ppg.), Sam Langdon (11.2), Luke Zollman (10.7) have all been productive & reliable.
 
(14) Souhegan at (3) Bishop Brady

 No one came in to the season thinking Bishop Brady, our pre-season #1, would have four losses but when the dust settled they are in the #3 spot and poised for their first run to Durham in over a decade.

 Pete Pierce has done a nice job with the rebuilding effort at Souhegan. The Sabers will need plenty of production from Brock Lefebvre, Alex Hill and Jarrel Webster Monday night to stay with a Brady team that can put up points in a hurry.
 
 (11) Kennett at (6) Windham

 If you’re looking for that team lurking outside the top 4 that could be your sleeper team it’s Todd Steffanides Jaguars sitting at six. David Carbonello will likely be a first team all-state pick at the point guard and this is a senior laden team. Those teams tend to do well in March at any level.

 Windham beat Kennett 57-50 in North Conway earlier in the season and has played better by the week. The Jaguars are winners of seven in a row and don’t think for a minute there weren’t higher seeded teams checking to see where they ended up.

Take a look at Windham’s losses this season: they lost a pair of games to Pelham, to Portsmouth, Bishop Brady and Milford. This has been a rock solid unit all year and they’re likely to give Kennett a lot of trouble Monday night.

 Steve Cote’s team needed to finish strong but hasn’t been able to in coming up short in seven of their last ten games.