Thoughts at the Christmas Break

Basketball thoughts at the Christmas break:


- Couple of interesting scoring situations this past week. Hannah Comeau of Derryfield scored 30 of her team's 38 points in their 38 - 30 victory over Concord Christian. West girls lost to Milford 61 - 6. Anna Brouillet of West scored 4 of the 6 points for West. 2 ends of the scoring spectrum, but it begs the question: Can you ever remember a player scoring al of their team's points in a win or a loss. Seems like it would be easier for this to happen in a team's loss, especially for the West girls since they have scored 4 and 6 points in 2 of their games so far this season. Wouldn't it have been something if Hannah Comeau had scored all of Derryfield's points? she came close scoring 30 of 38.


- Speaking of West girls basketball..... One could only dream that Harry Bailey could come back from the war and instead of gathering up $$$ to save George Bailey from the dastardly clutches of Mr Potter, that he could walk into the NHIAA offices up in Concord and convince the powers to immediately put the West girls into Division 4.


- Early rumblings for Jeff Lunn for POY...... from, of all people, GNG. I hope this doesn't become Dave Haley's "Merrimack football" with GNG. Dave just got over his sleeper pick of 0 - 11 Merrimack that truly slept through the football season. Dave had Lunn lumped in with "other top players" in back of his 1st and 2nd team. One can only hope along with Dave, that GNG doesn't give weekly reminders how Lunn is doing...... Pebble in Dave's shoe...... Thorn in Dave's side.


- Sad to report Iconic NH basketball referee, Moe Bilodeau, will not be reffing this season. He sustained a season ending knee injury in a prep game a couple of weeks ago. If Moe was on the court you knew it was a big game. Here's hoping he has a nice recovery from the surgery.


- Interesting thoughts on the Isaiah Joseph situation at Central. There was talk about it during summer league. People knew he was going to have to apply for a waiver for an extra year along with Wenyin of Memorial and Bureau of West. Wenyin's case was decided way before the season started. Bureau's case was decided shortly after. The Joseph waiver was not presented to Corbin until just before the start of the season. Grassy Knollers could have a field day with this. One Grassy Knoller told me, maybe Central waited so long as to give the NHIAA less time to make a decision which would work in favor of Joseph gaining eligibility. You can theorize all you want. The simple fact is that this situation was known last summer and it wasn't filed until 4 months later. Have a ball Grassy Knollers.


- The 1st place Lady Astros of Pinkerton could be in first place for the whole month of January and be 11 - 0. If they take care of business they could run the table for January and go 7 - 0 for the month. The schedule gets much harder starting Feb. 1st as they play Londonderry, North, BG and Bedford in succession.


- With Patrick Welch lighting it up early in the season, Kafani Williams playing strong, Maher doing his usual drink stirring etc. etc..... You get the feeling the D2 state title is Pembroke's to lose and it is for every other team to win.


- Coaches Box Story #1: If you watch Spaulding boys you will notice a more reserved Tim Cronin in the coaches box. He had complications from a knee surgery and is wheel chair bound for the Red Raider games. There is an emphasis this year on NH referees making head coaches adhere to the coaches box. Looks like Coach Cronin will have no problem with that in the near future.


- Coaches Box Story #2: After the Spaulding victory over Londonderry last Thursday a Spaulding fan was talking about the Cronin wheel chair coaching situation. They made mention if coach Keefe of Trinity, God forbid, was in the same quandary. Can you imagine Coach Keefe wheeling himself 4 to 6 feet on the court to talk to a player or ref and the reverse spin of the wheel chair locking up? Can you imagine a numbers break with a referee running up the court trying to avoid Coach Keefe in a wheel chair? Perish the thought.


- Coaches Box Story #3: Initial reports on Migs receiving a technical opening night at Bedford were because of his misuse of the coaches box. After talking to "sources very close to me" (Dave Haley loves that), it seems Migs received the technical for a colorful verbal exchange he had with one of the men in stripes.


- Back Court rule and violation. Please read carefully. My ears nearly burst last Thursday in Pembroke when a Portsmouth player picked up her dribble straddling the division line. She had the ball and one foot that crossed into front court status while the 2nd foot was in back court status. She pivoted back into the back court and you guessed it...... About 4 to 5 Pembroke parents shouted gutturally and viscerally:

BACK COURT.... BACK COURT !!!!!!!

OK, let's go through this slowly so you all can understand the most misunderstood rule by the general population that sits and complains for 32 minutes. A ball carrier must get both feet and the ball firmly established in front court before a referee could even entertain the thought of calling the back court violation. Once the ball carrier establishes full front court status: 2 feet and the basketball, then if the ball or either foot touches the division line then it is a back court violation. The ball carrier can have the ball, one foot in full front court status and the heel of the second foot on the division line and still go in reverse to the back court WITHOUT MAKING A BACK COURT violation. Of course all this has to be done within the 10 seconds a team has to gain front court status. Please read and understand people before you shout BACK COURT at the top of your lungs. People like me, who know exactly what's going on, will appreciate retaining their hearing.


- GNG is picking North, West, Keene and Timberlane for his 4 D1 teams not to make it to the year end dance.


- I was talking to a Hollywood screen writer who told me this great idea he had for a movie. He said I have a coach that coaches a HS basketball team in summer league. He then resigns and gets hired at a school that just moved their basketball program from D2 to D1. At his old school a coach takes over that used to coach the boys team. He then said it gets better. The new school is then invited to play in a city holiday tournament. These 2 teams are set up in brackets that if they win their first 2 games they will meet for the city holiday tournament championship the Friday after Christmas. You would have the old coach of the program he resigned from going against the players he used to coach and the new coach who coached the team a decade or so before. The screen writer asked me if I thought it was too far fetched. I said, "Yea, you might not want to write this story right now because it really couldn't happen.... Only in a basketball dream".


- Lastly, believe it or not I just found out this week GNG has moved closer to me. Wowsa Yowsa.





Merry Christmas to all and to all a good bounce of the basketball in 2013 !!!

Alot of words, but some good reading.

While it was a Xmas tournament, the Lady Astros of Pinkerton lost to Coach Alosa's Salem squad last night. No one is without warts in D1 girls this year - as Dover reminded everyone.

In the time it took me to read that, I think Brady threw two more picks! Nice post; now a couple of comments.

Sad to hear about Moe Bilodeau. Hopefully he'll recover fully. Moe's a very good official, and a great guy.

Thanks for the refresher on the back court rule. Always good to be reminded.

Can someone tell me what the dimensions of the "coaching box" are, or at least hypothetically? Are there markings on the sideline? I usually sit on the benches side of the court so I haven't noticed any markings.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I agree with you about Pembroke. They are the real deal.

Happy holidays to all forum members!

Technically and officially the coaches box should be marked with two 2 inch lines. The first should be 28 feet from the end line. This is the one closest to the scoring table. The other marking should be 14 feet from this mark going towards the baseline. So, the coaches box is officially 14 feet long. Do courts always have these markings? No. Common sense says the coaches box goes from where your bench personell start to where they end.

The issue of the abuse of the coaches box, in recent years, hasn't been the abuse of the length of it. Rather, it has been the abuse of the width of it a/k/a being on the court. The point of emphasis is to keep the coaches off the court. Certain coaches have made a mockery of the coaches box recently and this is the season the mockery will hopefully be eradicated.

That is surprising Pinkerton losing to Salem. I would call it a high mild upset.

I don't know why there hasn't been a pre-season ranking of coaches most likely to get t'ed up with this emphasis on the rule.

Well Tulliver, I guess you should start one.

Hold on.....let's not put my having Jeff Lunn 'only' among the best players in the Division and relate it to Merrimack being one of four sleeper teams in football (I'm never going to hear the end of that..), I know the kid can play, First or second team all-state..we'll see.

I do remember a year ago someone getting on my case for not having Joe McCarthy as first or second team...what was his name?........I know it started with a G & ended with a G.......what was that name....

I have been waiting for you to mention that.

The way I see it, I'm batting .500 cuz the year before I had a kid by the name of Green.

Seriously Dave, There is alot to like about Lunn. He is a bull in the paint. I can't wait till you see him in a game this season. I kid you guys ALOT, but you know I value your opinion.

I'm looking for some REM'S GEMS from these Christmas tournys.

You know, the diamond in the rough type kids. Not the headliners, but the kids that do all the little things to help the team win.

Mazz brought up a kid on the radio show the other night that is exactly what I'm talking about. I'll have to go watch { Pete and Dave's show AGAIN} to get the kid's name.

Feel free to post some names so I can look for these kids at the games.

He was talking about Dan Auger and Trevor Knight as their Glue guys ( love Glue guys...every team needs them), Campbell has a really good one in Nick Freson. Jon Cullity fits that bill for Trinity and much like last year's Londonderry team Dover this year has about 8 Glue guys...as I mentioned on the show (I'm pretty sure at least..)BG used to have a kid by name of Remillard as well as Pyzocha...

We are covering the Trinity/Central game tonight and will have video coverage on the site in the morning btw...

I agree totally with your selection of Auger and Trevor Knight at south. Both of these players play within thier abilities and while they might not win games for you with a fantastic play, they are steady and dependable.I guess you couold say they know their role. Tim Preston is playing a great overall game dish, drive and finishing when the team needs it.
I hate to admit this next tidbit. In all my years of watching high school basketball, Psycho and remillard were probably one of the best pairs of defensive players I have seen. I am sure Kyle didn't get his hoops ability from his father(ha ha).
One other player who impresesed me was the point guard from Keene-Bouhlay. He got the ball to the right players at the right time. Small, but a nice player.
One last thought. I like Jeff Lunns ability. I will just put him in the top 15 until further notice. Remembering last year's preseason all state team, Logan Kesty First Tezam( I agreed) Brad Hollers second team, no way and McCarthy honorable mention(I'll buy that.)I find it hard to put a BG player as POY when they haven't really played all the big boys yet.Hopefully this team does not become like last years edition.