We’re two weeks away from the start of football camps across the state and since we are in such a dead period as far as sports…my favorite pastime is now reading Justin McIsaac’s passive aggressive Red Sox tweets four nights a week…why he is still watching I’ll never know…so why not take a look at the basketball landscape in New Hampshire…
 
 Sean Young once again ran a very good tournament last weekend at Epping & Sanborn high school….

 Portsmouth beat Winnacunnet for the White Division title while Souhegan  won the Blue division in a tournament featuring over 30 teams last weekend.

 Any observations need to be tempered by the fact that nearly every team was missing a key player or two but enough could be gleaned from three days of basketball to roll out some summer thoughts:

 Cody Graham was the best player in tournament last weekend and that’s a quite a statement considering the Portsmouth shooting guard will only be a sophomore next season……..Joey Glynn likewise has taken the next step and evolved into one of the best centers in the state……..Jim Mulvey will have a legitimate point guard competition come December when Shon Parham (missing this weekend and for most of the summer) will now have to fight off Christian Peete (vastly improved) and Romeo Ingram (who looked very comfortable running Mulvey’s offense all weekend) for the job. ..don’t be surprised if it’s Peete’s job in the end………….Winnacunnet will be in the mix for a top 8 seed next season in Division I with a much improved Liam Viviano running the show alongside Anthony Primavera and Freddy Schaake (sidelined with a bad ankle injury on Sunday)….if Jay McKenna can get outside shooting from the likes of Mike Lamprey, James Morse and Zach Waterhouse they are going to be able to spread the floor and allow Viviano and Primavera room to operate…they were a team that struggled in their half-court offense a year ago but when they get out & run they can be a dangerous team….Spaulding is going to lean heavily on Cal Connelly after the loss of a very talented senior class….Tim Cronin’s team had wins over St Thomas (the Grinnell offense works very well in the summer when no one is prepared for trapping) Wells, Maine and Newmarket but they are going to need someone from a talented freshman class to step up……..Pelham is struggling to find an identity when Keith Brown (away at showcase events over the weekend) is not on the floor. Kyle Frank is adjusting to his new role as team leader while Matt Regan mixes in different combinations on the floor to see what works………Conant is your clear cut favorite in Division III but with Brown, the best player in the NHIAA, back the defending champs are still right in the mix………..Kearsarge Regional is going to be a factor in Division III as well after they opened some eyes over the weekend….. Point guard Trent Noordsij has the size and ability to get into the lane at will and with 6’7 centers Zach & Taylor Mattos ready for dump down passes or anything that comes off the rim they are a nightmare match-up on most nights. …..Kearsarge played well this weekend when they were able to control the pace in the half-court…when the game sped up they struggled with transition defense…..Nate Camp has done a terrific job developing this group and they’ll adjust...……….Epping is still the best team in Division IV heading into the season…..Dylan Derosier is now one of the top five players in the division while My Man Colby Wilson is still stretching defenses out to 25 feet….Sean Young had to sit power forward Jackson Rivers in a loss to Wilton-Lyndeborough on Sunday but the combination of those three all-state players and the return of Tommy Bullock, a shutdown guard defensively, makes the Blue Devils a favorite to reach the Division IV championship game for a third straight year………Wilton-Lyndeborough is using Casey Lane at the point…Lane is much more comfortable out on the wing but he’s their best option at the 1….Trey & Ty Carrier are back and if there is a team no one is quite sure where to peg in Division IV it’s the champs…..…If Isaiah Chappell returns Sunapee is a top 4 team….Chappell torched Milford for 40 points over the weekend and if he decides to stay at Sunapee and not head off the prep school he & Matt Tenney have a good shot to get Ed Tenney’s team back to Plymouth……The Lakers beat Woodsville and Somersworth over the weekend………….Newmarket is very much in that same conversation with 6 of its top 7 players back from a quarterfinal team a year ago that peaked late. The health of 6’4 center Ian Bentley, who was unable to play this weekend,  is going to play a huge factor for Jamie Hayes’ team because without him they drop from top 4 to top 10 in what will be a very balanced division next season……………Sam Natti’s Lisbon Panthers are right on track, playing seemingly anybody and anywhere in their quest to gain cohesiveness and experience (the person responsible for setting up a game between Portland, ME and Lisbon in a summer tournament needs to re-evaluate how they do their job)…..Natti has a good sophomore point guard in Josh Brooks and some genuine senior leadership to build around..Lisbon is a year away from being a good basketball team again and showed that in a twenty point win over Nute on Sunday…..Portsmouth Christian is an intriguing team with former Dover starter Kylani LaFleur now onboard….Head coach Lewis Atkins, who prefers to be called The Big Smooth, has returning starters in Shaun Bradley, Paul Staude and Caleb Gendron to surround LaFleur, who is going to be one of the leading scorers in the division next year. With Vacation-Gate behind them a lot of coaches I spoke with last weekend put PCA in their pre-season top 4…how the pieces fit together will be interesting to watch……..Groveton and Woodsville are both Final Four or bust teams in 2016. Mark Collins’ team still lacks an inside presence but Corey Gadwah is one of the best pure scorers in the division and Daegan Lurvey will be a three year starter at point guard when opening night rolls around…Groveton’s issues are with their inability to finish against size (Kearsarge gave them fits) and their tendency to fall into scoring droughts where Gadwah has to bail them out…. Collins (who passed 300 career wins last season) always has them playing hard and they’ve gotten the better of Woodsville when they’ve squared off this summer………the biggest leap year for high school players is from sophomore to junior year and Collins has a team full of experienced juniors…….The Engineers were thisclose to a trip to Plymouth a year ago and had a very good weekend with wins over Milford and Campbell this weekend….Jaret Bemis and Derek Maccini can match up with any backcourt in the division while Cooper Davidson and Sam Pushee give Jamie Walker’s team rebounding and production down low………The North Country isn’t back to the glory days but Littleton, Groveton and Woodsville all will be top 6 seeds come March and Lin-Wood is a team that could surprise some people behind Devon Rivera……..Souhegan is on the right track under third year head coach Pete Pierce as they won the Blue Division on Sunday. The Sabers were led by Jerrell Webster and return the nucleus from a tournament team last season………in a division where it is Portsmouth/Lebanon/West and everyone else right now (the gap between the top 4 and the rest of the division is pretty big) Pierce has a chance to get the Sabers back in the mix for a top 8 finish..…..Gilford beat Epping at the buzzer Friday on route to a 2-1 first day but struggled on Sunday in losses to St. Thomas and Pelham…..Carter Mercer will run the offense (in both football and basketball) while Zach Djabelarbi & Tyler Swarthout are going to step into bigger roles with the graduation of four starters from a year ago. Junior shooting guard Mason McGonagle has a chance to step right into a starting role for Chip Veazey’s team. The Golden Eagles have only lost one JV game in the last two years under Greg Madore and it’s that group now that has to try and lead the Alma mater back to the quarterfinals for the fourth straight season..
 
 My ‘Wooby’ is blowing up nationally……………………..

If you listen to Pete Tarrier and my radio show you’ll know we have one player every year that we refer to as our ‘Wooby’. It’s a term taken from the 1983 Michael Keaton movie ‘Mr. Mom’ about his little boy who couldn’t go anywhere without his favorite blanket. I started using the term to tease Pete every time he would get starry eyed talking about his original Wooby Brett Hanson.

Mine was a skinny kid from Trinity who happened to be known as ‘Mabor Gabriel’s little brother.’

I first got to know Wenyon Gabriel when we bonded on the bench as our NHsportspage team, that included his older brother Mabor, Carmen Giampetruzzi, Troy Pelletier and Pete’s Wooby ,was manhandling some team….probably McIsaac’s.. by 40 plus in the seacoast tournament.

 Wenyon was a quiet bean poll with a lot of raw ability at that point. The fact that three years later he will be turning down a scholarship from either John Calipari or Mike Krzyzewski or even both (South Bend is gorgeous in February Wenyon..) has everything to do with how hard he has worked. Miquel Gonzalez and his team over at Mass. Rivals have done a terrific job developing Wenyon, as did Dave Keefe at Trinity and the coaches at  Wilbraham & Monson Academy but this is about a kid who wouldn’t listen to people tell him he had limitations. Wenyon had range only to about 15 feet and a decent back to the basket game at Trinity in his junior season. He now is a legitimate threat from 22 feet and can get to the rack off the dribble anytime he pleases. His ten blocks against Bedford in the Division I quarterfinals were a preview of what was to come.

I can tell you from knowing Wenyon that this all could not be happening to a nicer kid. This is the kind of kid you root for, no matter where he decides to go to school..
 
 John Langlios is leaving Campbell and headed to Florida………..

 I will have more on this when I interview Coach Langlois later this week but the longtime head coach will be moving to Florida to be closer to his family and has accepted a job at a Division II high school down south….more on this story to come.