1/19 games

Some real interesting match ups coming up on Tuesday 1/19.

Milford visits Portsmouth. Portsmouth coming off a nice road win at Oyster River hopes to have their talented Sophomore guard Billy Lane back after going down with a twisted ankle on Thursday. Milford is coming off a easy win against Monadnock where starters played small minutes and the non starters dominated to a 49 point win.

Pembroke host Merrimack Valley Pembroke hopes to prove that they can beat a team with size despite being a small roster. I am sure they will look to make this a full court fast paced game and limit Senior center Kevin Cressey's touches. This game is a contrast of styles and I honestly do not know who to pick. I guess I go with the home team but this really could be an upset in the making.

Souhegan host Pelham Souhegan coming off two losses in a row to Milford and Bedford will be trying to contain the talented Steve Spirou and Mike Lombard duo. This game could be interesting for a while but I see Pelham being to much for Souhegan. One nice matchup could have Spirou and Devin Gilligan defending each other. Tough situation for Gilligan coming off a tough night with Mike O'Loughlin and Jamie Holder taking turns on him now he has Spirou. Tough nights will seem to be adding up against Gilligan on Tuesday. Pelham wins this matchup.

ChiKid as i've previously said I was not impressed with Gilligan in the Milford game(i'm sure it was just an off night) but he is going through a rough stretch right now having Holder and O'loughlin guard him then having Spirou guard him two games later he really is deal with some of the best players the state has to offer. I would certainly be interest in seeing him play against a non-elite defender. As for the Pelham Souhegan game its an interesting match up because I do believe the guard play from Souhegan is stronger than Pelhams but Spirou may be enough to win this one by himself much like Hojlo did last year going for 41 i believe. I'll take Pelham in one that's closer than most would think

Gilligan isn't going to get an easy matchup all year. He will have to deal with the other teams number one defender and best athlete all year long.
Price you pay for being hyped up on the blogs. lol I definitely give Souhegan a small edge on Pelham's guards. However just like you said Pelham may get enough form Spirou and Lombard I may add to get the win. Decent game but Pelhham should win it.

Any thoughts on the other two, MV and Pembroke and Ports vs Milford?

I don't really know much about MV aside from Cressy being really good I think he'll have a big game but i'll give to Pembroke who has experience and I'd presume coaching on their side. I'll take Pembroke.

As for Milford Portsmouth thats an interesting game it will be the first tough environment the Spartans face (aside from souhegan but that was in Milford). With Lane's ankle being injured I think it is going to be difficult for the Clippers to keep this one close although i'm unsure how close it would be anyways. I like Milford by around 15 in this one they just have too many weapons for Portsmouth to stop.

What are your thoughts on Bow they are an opening night one point loss to Stark away from being undefeated with wins over Pembroke OR and a decent Coe-Brown team

In case you didn't know it, Merrimack Valley beat Pembroke handily in the Capital City Classic during Christmas Break. It should be a good game, but MV's height will have no problem taking care of Pembroke.

I was unaware of MV beating Pembroke in the holiday tournament and like I said I don't have much knowledge of MV aside from Cressy. I'm not going to read to much into a holiday tournament win because different coaches play those games differently, I'm not trying to take anything away from them because that is a great win for their program but I still like Pembroke in this one

Well I like two teams that many arent talking about. Bedford and Bow.
Bow lost a close game last night to Stark but a person I know from Bow told me that their center Tom Poitras went down early with a bad ankle. Tom lost several games last year with a bad ankle so this may be a ongoing issue that hurts them the rest of the way. Lets hope not but without him they are going to have issues with teams who can rebound and run on them.

Bedford will get better as the season goes on. I think their coach does a nice job training the team to control tempo when they play against a team with more firepower and they have experience with Marinelli and Webber. Joey Maher is also underated at getting boards and playing big around the hoop.

Lebanon beats Hanover, I wonder how that went down. Anyone got the details? How was the matchup between Carney and McCarthy?

You can watch the Hanover/Lebanon game on the NHIAA website, it's archived on there I just started watching it now. The announcers aren't very good, but they're just kids. It does help to have them so you know who the players are.

I just finished watching the first quarter of the Lebanon vs Hanover game and I highly recommend watching this game already. In the first quarter there are two offensive fouls called on Lebanon that I think are just about as bad as it gets. As a guy who has coached rec,travel and AAU I have seen many calls not go my way but these two would have gotten me a technical for sure.

Here's the link for everybody: http://newhampshire.ezstream.com/

There's several other games listed as well...in my experience the technology on this website is terrible, again, a future job opportunity possibly ChiKid...

Do you think they could've found a piece of rope to tie back the red curtain so it wouldn't block the corner of the court in the Hanover - Lebanon game?

ChiKid - That's an impressive coaching resume, but you were 1 - 1 in your interpretation of the the 2 charging calls. The 1st one was a charge. The defender obtained legal guarding position before the dribbler hit him. In the second one it was a block. The defender moved into the dribbler and should've been called for a block. The announcers kept talking about being set. I'm sure they haven't read a rule book lately because you don't have to "be set" to draw a charge. You have to establish a legal guarding position which is 2 feet on the court and the front of your torso must face the opponent. After you establish legal guarding position you can have one or both feet on the playing court. You can also move obliquely or laterally(but not forward) after you obtain legal guarding position. "Being set" to obtain a charge is 100% wrong.

I watched the same the two plays and if your going by what a true charge is than that was two horrible calls. Here is the true official ruling of a charge call.

A defensive player is permitted to establish a legal guarding position in the path of a dribbler regardless of his speed and distance.

A defensive player is not permitted to move into the path of an offensive play-er once he has started his shooting motion.

A defensive player must allow a moving player the distance to stop or change direction when the offensive player receives a pass outside the lower defensive box.

A defensive player must allow an alighted player the distance to land and then stop or change direction when the offensive player is outside the lower defensive box.

A defensive player is permitted to establish a legal guarding position in the path of an offensive player who receives a pass inside the lower defensive box regardless of his speed and distance.

A defensive player must allow an alighted player who receives a pass the space to land when the offensive player is inside the lower defensive box.

A defensive player must allow a moving offensive player without the ball the distance to stop or change direction.

The speed of the offensive player will determine the amount of distance a defensive player must allow.

If an offensive player causes contact with a defensive player who has estab-lished a legal position, an offensive foul shall be called and no points may be scored.

A defensive player may turn slightly to protect himself, but is never allowed to bend over and submarine an opponent.

An offensive foul should never be called if the contact is with a secondary defensive player who has established a defensive position within a designated "restricted area" near the basket for the purpose of drawing an offensive foul.

The "restricted area" for this purpose is the area bounded by an arc with a 4-foot radius measured from the middle of the basket.

EXCEPTION: Any player may be legally positioned within the "restricted area" if the offensive player receives the ball within the Lower Defensive Box.

The mere fact that contact occurs on these type of plays, or any other similar play, does not necessarily mean that a personal foul has been committed. The offi-cials must decide whether the contact is negligible and/or incidental, judging each situation separately.

REFEREE DISCRETION>>>> hahahahaha

By the way, Bobby Huggins was impossible to ask the question of Mafia affiliation, Guido and Tony would not me within 5 feet of him.

Tim Donaghy however would be willing to wage a bet on that call.

The following language of the block/charge call is not in IABBO rules. The IABBO rules were used in the Hanover - Lebanon game:

An offensive foul should never be called if the contact is with a secondary defensive player who has established a defensive position within a designated "restricted area" near the basket for the purpose of drawing an offensive foul.

The "restricted area" for this purpose is the area bounded by an arc with a 4-foot radius measured from the middle of the basket.

EXCEPTION: Any player may be legally positioned within the "restricted area" if the offensive player receives the ball within the Lower Defensive Box.



There is no restricted area in the IABBO language and rules for the block/charge call. Given the IABBO rules on block/charge the first call was correct. When you first look at the play in regular motion it does look like it was a questionable call. When you slow the play down you would see the defender obtained the "legal guarding position" ( 2 feet on the court and the front of his torso was facing the opponent). When the dribbler created the contact, then the dribbler was responsible for the contact.

Once again I reiterate there is no "restricted area" language in IABBO rules for the block/charge call.

Yes, ChiKid, you are learning when you put in REFEREE DISCRECTION in one of your posts. Maybe, you are finally starting to come around to the nice people who work basketball games with whistles.

Milford @ Portsmouth has been cancelled, curious if any other games have? Was going to check out the pelham souhegan game any word on cancelations?

Thanks for the update Bigman. If there's any other games cancelled then pass it along. I was thinking of going to Milford at Portsmouth, but Ol Man Winter has put a kabosh on that.

Game has been rescheduled tomorrow. So far Pelham vs Souhegan still on. So far!

Milford at Portsmouth has been rescheduled to tomorrow CHiKid. What time does Varsity go off?

I am assuming the usual start times of 5 for jv and 630 for varsity. I will confirm and let you know if that is incorrect.

Why do Class L games start at 5:30 and 7:00 pm while Class I games start at 5:00 and 6:30 pm?

Do Class I players have to go to bed earlier than Class L players?

Last year many teams complained that the players were getting home after 10:30 pm because so many games are over an hour drive in class I. So class I decided to start earlier to try to cure that issue. I think it was a good move.

Wow I was under the impression the NHIAA never made changes...look at me eating my words now...

Any update on the game change?

ChiKid says it's definitely 5:00 and 6:30, but that was while he was becoming good friends with Mr. Corona at an upstanding Milford watering hole.