‘Spaulding Week’ on NHsportspage continues with the Thursday Thoughts and the very real possibility that Portsmouth head coach Jim Mulvey pours a cup of water over McIsaac’s head on Friday night.

 We will be out at two games tomorrow night; a HUGE showdown in Division I when Spaulding meets undefeated Portsmouth and across the state Pete Tarrier & The Great Jon Kesty will be back at the Pratt when Conant hosts undefeated Hopkinton.

 Then we will re-cap every game in the state on the New Hampshire High school Hoop Show on Saturday morning.

 Pete was just saying to me the other day how he loves how the scoring leaders in each division are beginning to get colored in.

 Division I Scoring Leaders

 The players with color pictures are from families who support our seven person team and are premium and Gold Level members. We truly appreciate each and every one of them. 

 (When you register I will reach out to you right away for a color picture of the player or players in your family.)

 We will feature more & more articles that will be for our premium supporters only, even Thursday columns like this. We hope we are worth a onetime decision to support us and the 12 months of unlimited coverage & statistics that come with it.

 Thank you to our newest Gold Level Members!

 Cole Etten of Bishop Brady basketball, Joseph Bruns of Concord, Buddy Trask of Colebrook basketball, Rob Bradley of Derryfield basketball, Jamie Hayes of Newmarket basketball, Steve McDonough of Laconia basketball, Dave Chase of Concord basketball and the Brown family of Pelham (I think I remember their oldest son..)

 Thank you sincerely from Jen, Jon, Pete, Reed, Eliot, Justin & I.

 

 Division I

 Spaulding (5-1) at Portsmouth (6-0)

  This game is going to be fun & interesting for about a dozen different reasons.

 First of it all it might..might…mark the return of all-state center Joey Glynn. The 6’5 player of the year candidate landed awkwardly going for a loose ball in the season opener against Central ( a game we covered) and woke up the next morning with his foot in pain. His return would make a good team quite nearly great and only make it more difficult to defend the best shooting team in New Hampshire.

  What stands out with the Clippers early on is that a lot of Division I teams don’t have a familiarity with what Jim Mulvey runs for sets and press breakers (against Manchester Memorial McIsaac & I were literally calling the plays as they were being set up…no seriously.).

 That will not be the case Friday night. Tim Cronin and his longtime assistant DB Betz, know Portsmouth well (Cronin and Mulvey are good friends) and they’ll sniff out the slip screens & Shon Parham alley-oops.

 But how does Spaulding keep the Clippers from penetrating the middle, as they did with Liam Viviano for much of Tuesday night’s game, and still be able to close out on shooters like Mike Sanborn?  Winnacunnet got open looks but they couldn’t take advantage and they murdered themselves at the foul line. Portsmouth isn’t going to be so generous.

 Expect Keagan Calero (if there is a better on the ball defender in the state I haven't seen him yet) to try to keep Cody Graham on the perimeter. Spaulding wants to limit the number of Portsmouth possessions and close off the middle.

 The Red Raiders have a three year starting point guard in Matt Roy but he doesn't need to dominate the ball. When Winnacunnet sent full court trapping pressure at them Tuesday night they broke pressure with the ball only rarely touching the floor. A reminder that you can’t dribble through pressure in Division I, the athletes are too good.

 Offensively Spaulding will break down the Portsmouth man to man defense with screens and movement. Cal Connelly is going to be a tough match-up for Portsmouth, he’s had success against Glynn in the past and Alex Tavares is not a good match-up for the Clippers. Can Christian Peete affect Connelly’s shot or does the 6’5 forward simply take Peete to the post?

 If Portsmouth goes zone Connelly and Arie Breakfield are perfect for flashing to the high post with their size, shooting and ability to see over the defense.

 The biggest issue and possible fatal flaw for Spaulding as we head into flu season is their depth, or absolute lack of it. Spaulding is six deep when Griffin Towle is healthy and as of last night he wasn’t. That means foul trouble, turned ankles or the common cold can derail Spaulding.

 I would expect Tim Cronin (or President Cronin as McIsaac refers to him) to slow the pace to their liking. There will be a game plan on both sides going in & adjustments galore once the game gets going.

 You can listen to Justin & I Live right on the site and see all the highlights and team wide post-game interview (Portsmouth with me if they win, Spaulding with McIsaac if they win) Saturday morning.

 This is going to be fun.

 

 Bedford (4-1) at Winnacunnet (4-2)

 The Division I preview covered, ad nausea, that any team could beat any other team on a given night. Well Pinkerton went out and illustrated it last Friday night when they clipped the Warriors in overtime.

 In that overtime Winnacunnet went to the basket four times and scored eight points from the free throw line for their troubles. On the other five possessions they shot three pointers, and came away O-fer.

 This team misses Jack Schaake, their best post player. Schaake is out with a foot injury and his timetable for a return is uncertain right now. Seth Provencher is doing a very nice job off the bench but the big man can only help you in three to four minute spurts. Logan Keene has scored four points in the past two games and Zach Waterhouse has scored seven points in the two game stretch.

 The cause & effect of that is Liam Viviano starts pressing (you can see when he’s in the flow and when he’s not) . When Viviano has three or four guys on the floor making plays there are few players better in New Hampshire but when he feels like he has to do it by himself the defense usually has come to the same realization as well.

 A win over Bedford will cure all of that in a hurry. The Bulldogs are getting all-state campaigns from Max Chartier, Troy Meservey and Liam Greene and I love the chemistry of this group under head coach Mark Elmendorf.

 We broke down Bedford in our Tuesday scouting reports last week and I thought the coaches we used did a nice job of describing why this team is such a tough match-up. They are very patient offensively and they have the size to limit Winnacunnet to one shot. That makes the play of Freddy Schaake (playing very well right now) and Keene (he’s due for the bounce back game) vital.

 

 Nashua North (0-4) at Manchester Central (1-2)

 I’m not going to breakdown North until after I’ve seen them a few times but here is your ten second review; No team in the state misses a player as much as the Titans miss Ronnie Silva.

 No team, and it’s not even close.
 

 Division II

 Hollis-Brookline (4-0) at Manchester West (4-2)

 Am I crazy or is this just a bad match-up for West?

 Hollis-Brookline takes care of the basketball (there are few better backcourts than Nick Fothergill & Stephen Giaconia ) and defensively they are going to make West work to get to the paint.

 Will West settle for jumpers and can they apply enough defensive pressure to push the pace to their comfort zone?

 Danny Bryson’s team is playing good defense and he does a really nice job of getting his players to space the floor, giving them room to operate. When they’ve lost  it’s been about points, and not enough of them,

 In their two losses they managed 38 points against Goffstown (I love how Goffstown is turning into Merrimack north under Mike Gasper..a long time Tim Goodridge assistant) and 39 points against Milford. Even in a 49-48 win over Timberlane West had to win at another team’s pace.

 If that trend continues Hollis-Brookline is going to handle them Friday night. I’m a big Jacobee Burpee fan and I love all the little things on the floor that Carlos Dominguez does but West has to figure out how to either win 46-44 games or get teams playing at a pace faster than they want to.

 

 Division III

 Hopkinton (7-0) at Conant (2-2)

 They love Pete Tarrier up at the Pratt and he should see a good one tomorrow night.

 I love how McIsaac threw into his Monday Top 10 that Conant was quietly lurking at 2-2, it’s absolutely true.

 People from the outside assume ‘The Conant Way’ is some shot they give you in 9th grade, it has to be taught by seniors and the coaching staff. The Orioles may only have four regular season games under their belt but that has left a lot of time for the only Division III coach with four titles on his resume to get this team in line.  

 This is a team that is going to have to win tournament games with defense and one elite scorer (JP Record).

 The Hawks (who we broke down in this week’s scouting report) are a very difficult team to guard because they don’t have one player to key in on. Head coach Steve Signor is utilizing the athletes he has by pushing the pace and doing a good job spacing the floor.

 Conant has been a house of horrors to Hopkinton the past ten years. Friday night will be a chance to flip the script.

 

 Gilford (4-2) at Berlin (4-2)

 Good test for the alma mater who has to figure out where they rank in the Division III pecking order.

 After a rough semifinal performance in the holiday tournament Mason McGonagle (Player Profile) has played very well since the break. McGonagle is giving Chip Veazey’s team 16 points every night and against Sanborn on Tuesday Ethan Carrier (Player Profile) followed up an 18 rebound performance against Prospect Mountain with 18 points.

 That gives Gilford an inside/out game to go with good point guard play from Brandon Lemay and strong play from forward Greg Madore & sophomore Korey Weston (who has a little Human Hurricane Max Troiano in him. The ultimate compliment).

 In Berlin they play a physical team with an all-state point guard in Evan Arsenault.  Seth Balderrama (12.0 ppg.) and Joey Fodor (11.6) give Dave Morissette’s team size and reliable production. 

 Berlin has played very well since the ‘Wait..is that a real score?’ 77-45 opening night loss to Somersworth at home.  This is a battle of two teams looking for a Top 8 seed and home playoff game.

 This Gilford team is not as big and physical as the 2015 quarterfinal team that beat the Mountaineers up north. They’ll have to play tough to come away with a big road win tomorrow night.

 

 Division IV

 Epping (5-1) at Portsmouth Christian (3-2)

 Wait a second where has PCA been all season??? How am I just getting to the team I probably spent more time (over) analyzing  than any team in the state last season?

 I felt like I spent 10% of my week last season on the phone with The Big Smooth Lewis Atkins and Paul Staude and I had a ‘ I’m going to act like I’m mad at you’ relationship all the way to Plymouth.

 What happened to us?

 Well what happened is PCA was beaten soundly on opening night by pre-season #1 Groveton , lost to Epping and saw leading scorer Drew McCormick go down to a wrist injury.

 Wins over Nute (0-7) and Hinsdale (2-3) get them to 3-2 but right now we know very little about Derek Summers’ team and if Staude & Joe Yoon can make up for the production that went with McCormick.

 Without him the team that came within 30 seconds of winning the Division IV title might miss the tournament all together.

 Sound crazy to you and possibly antagonistic? Here are their next nine games;

 Epping, Division III St Thomas, Farmington, at Littleton, Derryfield, at Newmarket, at  St Thomas, Pittsfield and Farmington.

 Doesn’t seem so crazy anymore does it?

 

  Listen in to the New Hampshire High School Hoop Show Saturday morning from 9 to 11 am as Pete Tarrier & I will give you all the scores from every Friday night games, plus insight & analysis on the state of high school basketball in New Hampshire.  Our guests Saturday morning will be Lebanon head coach Kieth Matte and Conant head coach Eric Saucier.

 You can hear the show by clicking the "listen live" button right on our homepage, or by searching for ESPN NH on the TuneIn Radio app or locally on 900AM (Nashua area) or 1250AM (Manchester area).