Disappearance of Bigs in HS Basketball

This article from the Union Leader goes along with what most of us have been thinking or saying for the last 3 to 5 years in HS basketball in NH. Bigs in HS basketball, with very few exceptions, have gone the way of the 25 inch turn dial Quasar/Zenith console TV.


January 20. 2016

NHIAA Basketball: No height? No problem
By JOE DUBALL
New Hampshire Union Leader

THERE USED to be a time when basketball games were won and lost on height.

The game’s roots put a premium on close-range, high-percentage shots, and the best way to get those looks was by having the length to reach the rim. Names like Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal epitomized this concept at the professional level and made it a necessity at developmental levels like high school.

This trend is still an important part of basketball, but it doesn’t have the same meaning as it once held. This is showing up in New Hampshire’s Division I boys’ ranks, where many teams are abandoning height in favor of playing smaller and faster.

There’s no pinpointing the when, why or how of this evolution, but it’s one that coaches have seen coming for some time now.

“You’ve just seen things become a lot more guard-oriented play where you spread the offense and get into that run-and-gun style,” Londonderry High coach Nate Stanton said. “You look at the development stage of players and people have just gotten away from teaching the simple post moves and having the back to the basket. Now it’s about facing up and attacking more often than not.”

The Lancers have subscribed to the concept over the past few seasons, but are displaying it more than ever this season. Matt Corey is the tallest player on the Londonderry roster at 6-foot-3, while the rest of Stanton’s crew is 6 feet or shorter.

Stanton more often than not turns to three-guard sets, including the lethal trio of Jake Coleman, Nate Gaw and Cole Britting. This leaves Londonderry with a disadvantage in height, but it allows the Lancers to beat other squads down the floor and gain the first step more often than not.

“When you are working with smaller guys to begin with, you have to strategize and adapt with what you have,” Stanton said. “The strength for us just lies with opening it up a lot more, which I think is really becoming the case across the state.”

There are exceptions like Pinkerton Academy of Derry with big men Brennan Morris and Ben Olson and a slew of other players sitting 6-foot-3 and above, but there are many other cases like the Lancers. Exeter, Manchester Central and Manchester Memorial are just a few other teams that have embraced their shortcomings in height by increasing the tempo.

While some teams are choosing to be smaller, others like Merrimack have no other option. Tomahawks coach Tim Goodridge has seen a variety of players, big and small, walk through his gym over the years, but for whatever reason hasn’t been able to draw the big bodies of late.

“We’re just playing with the cards we are dealt over here and we just don’t have those types of kids,” said Goodridge, who has coached against Luke and Matt Bonner, along with other highly-skilled big men, over his coaching career. “Maybe it’s just these bigger kids don’t want to put the effort in to play basketball. I do see that trend where kids just aren’t into participating as much as they used to be.”

And on another interesting note concerning the Portsmouth Clippers:


Joe Duball @jduballsports
@nhsportspage is reporting @PHSScores boys basketball is petitioning for a move up to D-I in 2016. Pembroke is set to return to D-II in '16.
Retweeted by NH Sports Page.com


Mike Zhe @MikeZhe603
As 1st reported by @nhsportspage the PHS boys basketball team has petitioned up to join D1 for 2016-18 classification cycle

Portsmouth and Goffstown should be D1 across the board in all sports.  The rumor is the classification committee was going to change the enrollment number to 1000+ for D1, but someone of influence spoke to keep the number at 1225+.

I like that term:

"Someone of Influence"


I need to get to know more of those people