Kieth Matte could sit back and tell you about the time, trailing by one late, Ryan Milliken covered the opposing point guard like a glove until he finally found an opening and stole the ball.

 About how he then found a streaking KJ Matte for a breakaway lay-up for what would be a one point win.

 And he could be talking about a 4th grade basketball game.

“You almost get sentimental thinking back to all the games we’ve had these guys for,” said the Lebanon head coach. “You just want to finish it out and make it a special season, but that isn’t going to be easy.”

 There’s no point in posting (SPOILERT ALERT: Do not read if you haven’t seen the movie yet!). Lebanon, who has been to four consecutive final fours and returns four starters, is the team to beat in Division II. The question is how big is the gap between the Raiders and the rest of the field and who are the teams most likely to be there in the end?

 Today in our third of four basketball previews we take a look at a deeper than I had originally expected, Division II.

 

 Division II Predicted Order

1.Lebanon

2.Hollis-Brookline

3.Manchester West

4.Pelham

5.Bishop Brady

6.Coe-Brown

7.John Stark

8.Pembroke Academy

9.Milford

10.Plymouth

Lurking outside the Top 10: Timberlane, Windham, Goffstown, Hanover, Oyster River & Souhegan

 Thank you to our Division II Gold Level Coaches & Members: Mike Larson of Pelham basketball, Mike Boehm of Souhegan.

 Each Gold Level member has access to every full game video we cover all season long up until the finals in Durham.

 Click to become a Gold Level member today!

 

 

  If it was only about stopping the all-state backcourt in Lebanon that would be one thing but with a nine deep rotation and a new transfer from Vermont the Raiders have the ability to come at you in waves.

 If there is talk around the division about the Raiders winning their first title since 1998 it hasn’t made its way to the Upper Valley. “We really just talk about having a great practice every day and building on that week to week,” said Matte. “We really do.” Said Matte, sensing I wasn’t quite sure I believed him. “The good news is we really are having great practices and it’s a group that loves the process of improving. If we do that the wins will come with it.”

 KJ Matte is our pre-season Player of the Year after sharing the honor a year ago with Portsmouth’s Joey Glynn. The Bowdoin bound point guard is a tremendous floor leader and helps anchor one of the best defenses in the state. “KJ has put in the work to get better and he wants this to be a special senior year for he & his teammates.”

 Joining him is Milliken, who is the player people all come away talking about after facing him for the first time (I’ve seen it first hand with my seacoast team plus Winnacunnet and Central from this weekend). “ I wish you had a defensive player of the year (not a bad idea) because he would win it hands down,” said Matte. “He is relentless on defense and he is always out there to guard the best opposing player on the floor. What a weapon that is for us as a team. You can’t replace a Ryan Milliken, he’s that valuable.”

 Graham Chickering makes it a Big 3 with his improvement over the last two years. “He’s so steady for us, “said his head coach. “ He does whatever you need out on the floor.” Joining him in the starting lineup will be Vermont transfer Chris Nulty, a 6’3 forward. “He is an enormous edition to our team. Next year he is going to be the Man but right now he is helping us in a dozen different ways and the players love having him on their side.”

 Paul Slabinski and 6’4 center Matt Eyelander will also play major roles (Eyelander had a very good championship game against Glynn and Portsmouth a year ago) for a team that not only wants a fifth straight trip to the final four but to be the last team standing when it’s over. “There are a lot of really good teams and coaches in this division. I’m going to try to enjoy the ride, appreciate the time I have with these kids and hope we are playing at our best in March.”

 Nine years of doing this has taught me a few things, one of those being if you have a lot of size up front and a veteran point guard to run the show, you’re going to do pretty well. Add a very good veteran coach to that mix and you see why its final four or bust for Hollis-Brookline. “We have the chance to have a very good season,” said head coach Mike Soucy. “I want them to have the highest possible expectations of themselves and right now it is about having a really high level of focus every day and not just game day.”

 Nick Fothergill is an all-state point guard who will run the offense for a third straight year. “He’s worked hard and his decision making with the basketball has really come along,” said Soucy. Steve Giaconia will join him in the backcourt and his head coach thinks the 6’0 shooting guard could have a big year for the Cavaliers. “He really dedicated himself to hitting the weight room over the off-season and I think that sets him up to have a special kind of season.”

 Scott VanCoughnett also had a good off-season and is one of the team’s best defenders. The frontcourt will be the biggest in the division with 6’3 Matt Simco, 6’7 Patrick Whalen and 6’4 Matt Dowling. Simco is a terrific athlete who is a workhorse for Soucy (“He rebounds, defends, can’t ask more from him.”) while Dowling gave Londonderry fits on the glass Saturday in the jamboree and will be a big factor for Hollis-Brookline. ““He’s our energy guy and Matt has really had a terrific pre-season for us,” said Soucy.

 Add to the fact that Soucy sees ten players contributing on a nightly bases and the Cavaliers are a favorite to get to Durham. “ We have some real scorers in the group so you’ll probably see us running more sets than we have in recent years,” said Soucy. “We want to make sure we are getting the ball to players in good positions to score.”

 If you wrote Manchester West off after 6’10 center Akok Akok made his decision to leave for prep school you didn’t see the Blue Knights take Merrimack to the wire on Saturday afternoon in the jamboree.

 Head coach Danny Bryson loves what he sees from his team early in the pre-season. “Last season we had two of the best players in the division in Joe Simpson (now at NHTI) and Keenan Caron (Colby Sawyer). Those two tend to dominate the ball at times, not in a bad way, but the other guys on the floor could get caught watching them go to work,” noted Bryson. “With this group I’m seeing a ton of movement and guys really cutting without the ball and being rewarded for it. I’m really happy with how we have begun the season.”

 West isn’t done owning an all-state point guard as Jacobee Burpee has taken his game to another level over the summer and taken the reigns of the offense. “This is his year,” said his head coach, “He deferred a lot last year to the four seniors we had out on the floor but this is his team now and he knows it.”

 Carlos Dominquez and Dominic Plourde, maybe the team’s best defender, return from a season ago and both will be major players in 2017. “Those two players are a good example of the balance we are going to have on the floor,” said Bryson. “I think we will be able to exploit a weakness in the other team with the players we’ll have out there.”

 Kuany Teng has greatly improved over the off-season for a West team that lost to Lebanon in the semifinals last March. “We want to get back to Durham and that really began on the bus ride home. Jacobee, as he was getting off the bus back home said ‘Coach Can you open up the gym tomorrow? I want to get back to work.’ “As a coach that tells you your players are focused,” said Bryson. “I like the DNA of this team; I’m excited to get going.”

 Pelham returns to Division II with two championship plaques in the trophy case and a new look team as both Keith Brown (Endicott) and Matt Regan (Bishop Guertin) have moved on. Mike Larson though was a longtime assistant for the Pythons and the right hire for the job. With all-state point guard Kyle Frank in the mix again Pelham still has the final four as the goal.

It will just be a different gym this time around.

“We lost seven of our top nine players from a year ago so it is about a lot of new players stepping into bigger roles,” said Larson. “But the attitude has been tremendous from day one and although we have been up & down in our scrimmages I love the way these players work.”

 It begins with Kyle Frank (who had 27 points against Spaulding on Saturday) who has put in the many hours between Pelham’s gym and his skills work with the New England Storm that show results when the games start to count in the standings. “I can’t say enough good things about Kyle Frank,” praises his head coach. “He’s just been fantastic whether it is leading by example or showing the kids how to do certain plays or work in certain drills. He is showing the younger kids just how hard you have to play to be able to compete night to night and that kind of leadership is invaluable to a head coach.”

 Joe Pantaleo returns to the starting lineup and anchors the Pelham defense as well. “Joe communicates on defense as well as any player I have ever coached,” said Larson. Blake Woekel is one of those tough glue guy competitors that win you games while twins Derek & Matt Crowley will be counted on to produce in 2017.

 Keith’s younger brother Drew is a freshman knockdown three point shooter who will step into the starting lineup from day one. “Drew is a great kid, “said Larson, “He is a different player than Keith but he is absolutely a player who will help us win games this year as a freshman, and not many kids around the state will do that this season.”

 Cole Etten did a terrific coaching job in leading Bishop Brady back to the final four (with a little help from a kid named Joe Bell). With Bell now playing basketball at Trinity College it becomes his ‘supporting cast’ that takes the lead. “One thing you see with this group is that they play as a team,” said Etten who enters his third year as head coach. “We were able to play a lot over the summer and in the fall league and you can see there is chemistry out on the floor.”

 Bryce Johnson steps into the lead role after a very good sophomore season a year ago. “Bryce can score and he does it in the flow of the offense.” Kaleb Hibbard will be a part of a guard rotation that includes three year starter Matt Quirk, one of the best guards in Division II.  “Matt has worked on his game and we’ll try to get him the ball in good position every night.”

 Matt Desmarais and Josh Leclaire return to the Giants frontcourt after each saw time on the floor at Durham against Portsmouth a year ago, a game Brady hung in for a quite a while, return. “The focus, as it is every year, is on getting better defensively,” said Etten. “If we keep working we have a chance to be in the conversation again.”

 Jennifer Chick-Ruth’s alma mater over at Coe-Brown (doesn’t it drive you nuts when people keep bringing up where they went to high school?) returns eleven players that saw the floor a year ago. This sets up what could be a very fun season for Hall of Fame head coach David Smith. “We have a great group this season again and they’re really come in listening & ready to go to work. We have seven players who could all start so that makes our practices pretty competitive.”

 It begins at point guard as Brody Ashley returns to run the Bears (they’ll always be the Comanches to me..) offense. He’ll be joined by Scott & Sean Spennard as well as Sam Lupinacci, who may be ready for a breakout year. “ We have a multiple guard offense and Sam is a player who we will look to as a scorer,” said Smith.

 6’5 Dylan Andrews will protect the rim for the Bears while 6’3 Jake Snow will join him in the frontcourt. Smith has seen forward Mike Milligan step up his game over the off-season, just adding another player to a very strong rotation. “ We have to improve our defense from where we are today, that’s the focus,” said Coach Smith. “ We have to be a pretty good defensive team if we want to win against the elite but I think we have the group willing to put that work in on a daily basis.”

 Go to the rim at your own peril against a John Stark frontcourt that will go 6’6, 6’5 & 6’3. We’re talking football players who are 6’6, 6’5 7 6’3 by the way not the skinny kid who it only takes a light shove to move away from the basket.

Head coach Mike Smith has a group he has been working with for years, and he likes what he sees early on. “ We’re really looking to build off of what we did at the end of last year,” said Smith of his Generals who took off in the second half of the year and lost a heartbreaker to a very good Hollis-Brookline team in the tournament. “ This is a team I’ve had together for a few years and they have great chemistry on the floor because of it. We have had some great practices so far so I’m excited to see what we can become.”

 Drew McQuarrie, who will play football for Boston College next season, anchors that frontcourt and could end up finishing his career with 1,000 rebounds. “ He’s really our main guy and it’s because of the work he does on the glass and on the defensive end of the floor,” said Smith. “ Just a great player to coach.” His younger but even taller brother Parker made his debut on NHsportspage this fall when the 6’6 quarterback won a big road game in Hanover. This season he joins his brother and 6’3 Cooper Gorski in a loaded rotation. “ We are going to be able to pressure more out front than we have in years past. That’s because we have the guards to do it but also because we have rim protection at the back of the defense and Cooper is obviously a big part of that.”

 Isaiah Lovering and Chase Patterson return to the Generals backcourt a year older & much wiser after being key members since their sophomore and freshman seasons. “ We had to throw Isaiah (a senior) and Chase (a junior) out there before they were ready because, well we really had no choice,” remembers their head coach. “ On opening night they went up against Bishop Brady and the Bell brothers (who would go on to win the Division II title) and I remember apologizing to them both because I knew what they were in for.”

 The upside to that experience..” They both know how to handle that pressure now and they are really a huge part of what we do every game.”

 During a winless campaign a year ago Pembroke Academy was not only a young team but a young team in the wrong division. With a freshman loaded roster head coach Shannon Sciria doesn’t have to worry about winning games in Division II he just needs to worry about developing his young talented roster.

 That and Drivers Ed schedules.

 “ We are very athletic and as far as kids that want to get better and want to be coached, I couldn’t ask for a better group. They are sophomores though and they make sophomore mistakes,” said Sciria. “ We took our lumps last season and now it is about seeing how much we have improved. I asked a lot of these players and I asked a lot of myself and my coaches as well because we need to be better. We are not going through what we went through last season again.”

 Sophomore Noah Cummings is one of the better underclassman guards in the division and will again be the floor general for the Spartans. “ He gained some valuable experience a year ago, even if it wasn’t always a lot of fun,” said Sciria. “ When you are a freshman facing Manchester Memorial’s run & jump full court pressure you’re going to get beat up. He handled it very well and wants to really show what he can do this season. He doesn’t have a second or third gear, he plays hard all the time.”

 Shawn Menard will join him in the backcourt at shooting guard (“Shawn has improved as a shooter and gotten bigger physically as well.”) while 6’3 Jack Leon will be joined in the frontcourt by 6’6 Ryan Johnson. All three players are sophomores. “ We had some success in the fall league and I understand it’s fall ball but you can see the strides that these players have made.”

 Jake Sherman is the team’s grizzled veteran (he’s a junior and there isn’t a senior on the roster) and has the ability to get hot from the perimeter, and probably provide a lot of rides to practice. “ The culture of this team has really improved and we’re excited to see how we can progress as the season goes along.”

 Dan Murray’s Milford Spartans were in the Top 4 of the Division II standings a year ago and with their all-state guard back they’ll be in the mix for a spot in Durham again in 2017. “I really like this group a lot,” said the veteran head coach. “ They play very well as a team and this is a group that shoots the ball well.”

 Ryan Banuskevich returns after an all-state season a year ago, “ He’s getting his game back after playing football all fall,” said Murray. “ Just in the last few practices we’ve seen his game really start to get back to the level he was at last season.”

 Shane Winnett, Nick Gutterson and 6’5 center Evan Ryan will man the frontcourt while Murray expects good production out of a group that includes Jamie Pare and three sophomores. “ We have had to replace a lot of seniors who saw big minutes a year ago so it’s a process but so far so good. It’s a fun group to work with.”

 A year ago Mike Sullivan’s Plymouth Bobcats seemed to do everything well but shoot the basketball. With only one senior on the roster and a strong group of sophomores & juniors things should turn around this season. “ This is the most depth of any team I’ve ever coached,” said the ninth year head coach. “ We have some underclassman that aren’t quite there yet but I like our group a lot and I think we’ll compete with everyone on our schedule.”

 Jordan Docen, Danny Carey and Owen Brickley were all last seen huddled around me celebrating on the field at UNH last month. They’ll lead a group looking to get back to the postseason this winter. “ They’re great leaders and they are kids who understand the work that needs to be put into a winning season.” Sullivan sees six players battling for the five starting spots, which have made for some pretty intense practices. “ This group works hard, real hard, out on the floor. My hope is we develop into a team that can make some noise at the end of the season.”

 Social media giant Timberlane basketball has a group that will compete again for a home playoff game under head coach Jeff Baumann. “ We have a lot of players that have now been in the system for a few years. You hope that translates into more wins because last season we let a lot of games slip away that we should have finished.”

 Drew Siemering returns as a three year starter, “ He does a little of everything and for a forward he really does a nice job of handling the basketball,” said Baumann. Ryan Doherty and Mathew Perry (avoiding the terrible Friends joke because the poor kid has probably heard it 1,000 times) return to the rotation while Connor Schott will handle guard duties. “ He’s a player who has worked his way up and has a chance to play point guard for us,” said his head coach.

 “We have been a team that hangs in with effort and athleticism but has struggled at times to shoot the basketball,” said Baumann. “ This is a team that I think has a very good chance to outscore teams on the nights we need to.”

 If there is a weakness that could hurt Todd Steffanides’ Windham Jaguars in the 2016-17 season it might be what has ailed Plymouth & Timberlane in the past; scoring. “ That’s our kryptonite right now,” said Steffanides of his team. “ We will have to play great defense and cause enough turnovers to help out our offense because right now we really struggle in the half court.”

 Kyle Rembis is back at shooting guard for the Jaguars while Chris Houde and Tom Splagounias will lead the frontcourt. “ Those two and our frontcourt in general have played very physical, which is good. We just need them to stay on the floor without fouling,” said Steffanides.

 Steve DaSilva could play a very important role with his ability to knock down perimeter jumpers. “ He’s a player who didn’t make the team as a sophomore and really worked his way back to where he will be a key guy for us this season,” said Steffanides. “ That is the kind of player you love coaching.”

 For Goffstown it was one play here & a play there that defined their first season under head coach Mike Gasper. In 2017 Gasper is hoping the Grizzlies make the plays at the end of those games and flip their record from a year ago. “ We had several games where it was missed put backs at the buzzer or a missed opportunity late that cost us the game, including in the first round at Milford,” said Gasper. “ We have quite a few members of the soccer team that just won the state title so we hope that winning chemistry carries over.”

 Ethan Skinner will run the point for Gasper after having a very strong pre-season while senior shooting guard Ryan Hall may be ready for a breakout season, “ He’s really improved,” said Gasper. “ There were times in the past where he just wasn’t fundamentally sound but he’s worked on that and it is beginning to show out on the floor.”

 6’3 Sophomore Aaron O’Melia and 6’3 Taylor French will man the frontcourt for Goffstown (“ Aaron is long and really defends well while Taylor works incredibly hard,” said Gasper. “ I wouldn’t be surprised to see him with six to seven offensive rebounds a game this year.”). Jacob Borges, Sam Heidenreich, Skinner & Hall were all teammates on the Division II champion soccer team. “ We have the athletes to compete every night, but can we close out games this season? That’s what we need to see.”

 Hanover will build around a good backcourt in 2017 under head coach Tim Winslow. “ I think this team will really be able to compete with every team in the division by the end of the year,” said Winslow of his team with several new rotation players. “ Until then there might be some early growing pains.”

 Freshman Charlie Adams is set to become the first freshman to start for Winslow since all-state guard Sam Carney. “What you notice about him is he has no fear out there,” said Winslow, “ and that is big when you are talking about an underclassman.” Ben Gantrish will provide a lot of the Hanover scoring (“ It will help him and help us that we will be able to play him off the ball this season.”) while the Marauders lost one of their best defensive players for the year when Glenn Enneper went down with a football injury.

 Winslow looks at guard Martin Paulson as an X-factor for a team that hasn’t missed the playoffs in over a decade.

After two rebuilding years Lorne Lucas has a team built around good sophomore & junior classes at Oyster River. The goal is to develop that young talent to the point where they’re playing their best basketball in March. “ I also do not want to go up to Lebanon for the first road of the tournament for a third straight year,” joked Lucas.

 That too…

 Devin Sawtelle has developed into a guard who can play multiple roles in the backcourt for Lucas. “ He was a kid who showed up at every off-season workout and put in the time to get better as a player,” praised Lucas. “ You love to coach a player like that.” Max Lewis is part of a promising sophomore class and saw time in the rotation as a freshman last season. “ Max is very steady and does as good a job as any player we have of reading defenses.”

 Kyle Landrigan and Brennan Oxford, both 6’3, will man the Bobcats frontcourt with the Wake Forest baseball commit Oxford playing in the paint beside 6’4 Dan Judge (“He’s developing quickly into a player that I think can help us,” said Lucas) and Landrigan mostly on the wing. Freshman Joe Morell may be the teams best outside shooter and will see time right away. “ All the kids are working really hard,” said Lucas who begins his third season after a successful run at Somersworth. “ This is a team I’d like to see play aggressively and take that next step this season.”

 If Souhegan is going to win this season they will do it without a lot of height, which means head coach Peter Pierce has the focus on his defense and the pressure it will be able to create. “ This is the smallest team I’ve ever coached. We are going to have to run a five out offense and shoot the ball well to win,” said Pierce. “ Creating turnovers will be important as well as we can be effective in transition.”

 Ryan Boehm will be a very big part of the success the Sabers will have this season as he will be joined on the team by younger brother Jeff. Boehm will look to feed the ball to Souhegan's best post player Davis Biddle while Anderson Geffard & Ryan Hickey will see big minutes for Pierce as Souhegan looks to get back to the postseason. “ Defensively it will be about applying pressure to ball and in the half court it will be about doubling & rotating,” said Pierce. “ That will take some time to come together but we have players willing to put in the work.”

 

 

 Pre-Season First Team All-State (Player of the Year *)

KJ Matte of Lebanon *

Ryan Milliken of Lebanon

Kyle Frank of Pelham

Ryan Banuskevich of Milford

Jacobee Burpee of Manchester West

 

Second Team

Nick Fothergill of Hollis-Brookline

Drew McQuarrie of John Stark

Bryce Johnson of Bishop Brady

Graham Chickering of Lebanon

Steve Giaconia of Hollis-Brookline

 

With apologies to: Sam Lupinacci & Brody Ashley of Coe-Brown, Ben Gantrish of Hanover, Matt Simco of Hollis-Brookline, Joe Pantaleo of Pelham, Matt Quirk of Bishop Brady, Noah Cummings & Shawn Menard of Pembroke, Cooper Gorski of John Stark, Dominic Plourde & Kuany Teng of Manchester West, Ryan Hall & Ethan Skinner of Goffstown, Matt Eyelander & Chris Nulty of Lebanon, Ryan Boehm of Souhegan, Drew Siemering of Timberlane

 

Coming Tomorrow: Division I

 

 The New Hampshire High School Hoop Show IS BACK!! Saturday morning from 9 to 11 am Pete Tarrier & I will give you all the scores from all the Friday night games, plus insight & analysis on the state of high school basketball in New Hampshire.  

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