Feb 9th in class I has some nice match ups.

Ok here we go, Feb 9th and some nice matchups in class I.

Milford at Pelham Game is a pick em, Milford has played well as of late but Pelham is at home and coming off a nice win against Bedford.
I will pick Milford but I am biased as you all know. Cannot wait for the game tomorrow.

Bedford at Laconia Bedford by 25

St Thomes at Portsmouth Portsmouth by 30

Pembroke at Lebanon Lebanon seeks revenge and gets it. They win by 10+

Oyster River at Souhegan This is a tough matchup for Souhegan. I think OR has to much size and will do enough to win but this could be the best game of the night if your not from Pelham or Milford.

MV at Plymouth This is a tough game to call. I know Plymouth hasnt had a good win yet but they seem to play better and more physical at home. That could be a bad thing for MV tomorrow. I am going to pick MV but this could be the upset of the night.

Bow at Kearsarge Bow has to much talent and gets a win on the road.

Hollis host Monadnock Hollis wins this by 15 at home.

BB at Coe Brown This is strength vs strength, both teams have good inside play with Penney for BB and Skyler Mitchell for Coe Brown.
I give this game to BB but it will be a good game to watch.

Stark visits Conval Conval seems to not have any idea what they want to do offensively. Stark is well coached and has good size that Conval will not be able to solve. Stark big..

Now Friday what should I do? BG vs Trinity or New Hampton vs Brewster? Any suggestions?

Maybe, watch T & F operate a Fox 40 and offer humble constructive criticism?

Mitchells do not have humble opinions.. it is just a figure of speach lol

Here are my picks for tonight's they're will be some really good games around the state tonight. Souhegan Oyster River should be a great game and we all know what to expect with Pelham Milford. Pembroke Lebanon will also be a battle.

Milford Over Pelham
Bedford Over Laconia
Portsmouth Over St. Thomas
Lebanon Over Pembroke
Souhegan Over Oyster River
Valley Over Plymouth
Bow Over Kearsarge
H/B over Monadnock
Coe-Brown Over Brady
Stark Over Conval

Milford came out with a burst that was as good as any I had seen all year. The big three were all in attack mode and Jamie Holder led the way. Holder had his best game to date tonight in Pelham coming out with 8 or 10 points in the first quarter, Mitchell had 7 and O'Loughlin had 9 or 10. Milford was up by 18 in the second quarter when a rolled ankle seemed to be the break Pelham needed to get some momentum. Mitchell pushed the ball heard late in the second quarter and one a quick stop rolled the ankle and would not return. Pelham fans were classless cheering as he was carried from the court. No one on the Pelham staff,faculty,parents or adult of any kind kept the kids in line tonight. I thought it was classless and the second worst thing I have seen from Pelham's program. The worst thing was the Middle School coach not wanting to accept the trophy for second place a few years back.
Milford showed that they are deep and maturing fast with some great defense and eventually becoming patient and coasting to a 13 point win. I am working individual stats but Holder,O'Loughlin and Nelson all played well. While this was just 13 points in the final they did it with their starting point guard sitting. Nice win for the Milford team.

Here is what I saw last night after watching the game film. Milford is so explosive when they are able to rebound and run the floor. Last night Kyle Nelson and Dan Desmarais rebounded well and started many good possessions with nice outlet passes. Add that to the hot shooting of the guards and it was trouble for Pelham. Milford was well on their way to another 70+ game before Mitchell went down. The score at halftime was 36-17 Milford. While Pelham made a run to get it to about 9 Milford smartened up and ran the clock some and forced Pelham in the 4th quarter to really extend the defense. That is an issue for most teams as Milford seemed to get in the lane and dump offs at will. This was a convincing win and Pelham seems to be missing to many pieces to consider themselves in the top tier of teams. Right now you have to think that Milford,Pembroke,Portsmouth,Lebanon,Bedford and Oyster River are the teams to beat. Matchups in the second round will be huge and the top 4 seeds this year are worth their weight in gold. Final four will be a blast.

How's Jr's ankle? looked like he rolled it pretty good, but not so bad that he won't walk again

Yeah, he rolled it good and it is pretty swollen but he can walk on it and I think if he can get the swelling down he will get back quick. We have Friday off which should help him get ready for Tuesday. He was playing well and team was rolling, so it was a nice win. You were there or did you just see the highlights?

Wasn't there....I do plan to catch a Milford game soon however. I gotta see these kids in action

Asst - Wait until you see the Milford video production crew and the Milford referee assistants crew at work during a Milford game. It was so entertaining at the last Milford game I went to that I went out and paid a second admission because it was so entertaining.

Well if I were looking to see them play I would look at the games against Lebanon or Bedford. Avoid Monadnock and Conval at all cost.
Souhegan may be good for a while but still up in the air wether we will let Mike try and go on that game. The weekend will tell if we want to risk it that son or not.

Who said anything about going to see basketball? I'm going sit right behind you guys and video tape the action. You won't even know I'm there.

Ok T and F here goes my rant on bad calls. Last night there was some very inconsistent calls from the referees doing Milford vs Pelham.Early in the action Steve Spirou was attacking the hoop off the spin move when one ref franticly waved his arms as if to call a violation before the shot. Now this could really only be called a few things. One being a foul on the floor and the other being a traveling call. Referee under the hoop whistled Milford for a foul. Foul was called on the shot and two shots were given. My question is this. If one referee is waving off the shot for a reason that was obviously before the shot why when the other ref said two shots did the referee with the opposite call discuss this with his partner in order to get the call right? T and F.. this one is all yours.

Referees will sometimes discuss double whistles that contradict each other and other times one ref will yield to a partner's call when he discovers the call is in his PCA. For those of you who have never read a rule book, of which there are plenty and for those of you going by the FIBA rule book until a kind soul showed the lost soul from Milford the right way, the PCA is Primary Coverage Area. There is grey territory in the each ref's PCA when play is going fast and furious. When the dust has settled on conflicting whistles most times 1 ref will yield to the ref who's call it was in his PCA. I won't get into the parameters of PCA in relation to the different parts of the court, but suffice to say, without seeing the play and going by the information you've given me, it seems like the call in 1 ref's PCA over ruled the other ref's call which wasn't in his PCA.

Back on soap box: Last time I looked Milford beat Pelham last night 58 - 45 and you say there was some inconsistent calls by the refs. How many mistakes did your son have last night in missed shots, turn overs and mental decisions? I'll bet he had as many if not more than your "alleged" inconsistent calls by the referees. My point is that the players and referees are human. If you're searching for the perfectly called game by a referee you will find it in the same category as the perfectly played game by Mike Mitchell Jr:

The category is called "Still Looking"

Comparing the game of a 16 year old versus that of a paid professional is sillier than my debate of the call in question. I know the zones and I know that they are to help the referee's understand where there primary assignments are. In this case the travel that was partially called was in referee that waved off the shots area and the foul that was called was in the paint in the other referee's call area. I say this, when two calls are made, and the refs do not at least meet and talk about it to make sure they get it right they are not taking this job as seriously as needed in order to do a good job. That was my issue, no discussion and one ref assuming the other guy was right or at least accepting the later of the two calls shows me that the desire to get the call right was not as important as they or as it should have been. As for the human factor I agree no game will ever be perfect but not using the basic line of two calls on the same play requires discussion is in my eyes unacceptable.
So if a player makes a bonehead play we can discuss it and if a coach is not getting the best out of their team we can discuss it. Referee's are grown men so saying they missed something or that they did not do a great job should be just as acceptable.
I owe you a Youtube, then you can give me fair input on it.

So you tell me was it or wasn't it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_2btW738FU

Chicagokid43

Watched the tape and you are correct. What were they thinking??

I'm not expert in refereeing, but that call looked to be the gentlemen in stripes under the baskets, who called a foul on the shot. Plus....where was the travel?

Looked to me like outside guy got excited, might have thought there was a travel, the two got together and decided it was a legal move, and the subsequent foul was called on the shot. Why does every Milford game digress to the referees? Can't wait to find the Mitchell clan in the stands next game I see...

More complaining about the refs. Let it go...please. So a ref made a mistake or for that matter two did. We wonder why the players bitch and complain about the reffing, obviously it comes from the adults. Is the reffing in NH worse than any where else? Not from what I can see. I have have seen plenty of high school level/AAU games in the past ten yeasrs or so and the only two complaint about NH refs I have is:

1) too many calls that really don't affect the play.
2) too many offensives called where the players feet are not set or really not in a good position to take a charge.

Some of the refs call everything, some call nothing but overall the games seem pretty even both ways. Can you find me voicing my opinion during a game, absolutely! Just caught up in the moment I guess.

It's getting to the point where we need a "Referee Venting Forum" on the homepage...

NHsportsfan: excellent post and one that brings some nice decorum to the continual complaining of refereeing. After some time the complaining sounds like the adults in the Peanuts cartoons:

Wah Wah Wah Wah Wah Wah

People that complain about refereeing in a loss sound like sour grapes. People who complain about refereeing when they win sound ridiculous.

For the ones that whine and CONSTANTLY COMPLAIN about refereeing there is no doubt in my mind if they ever refereed a game, not even Varsity, but JV or Freshman, they would br dry gagging on their Fox 40 whistle to try to keep up with the speed, quickness and skill of the game and the quick decision making of refereeing a HS basketball game.

Asst- if you put a "Referee Venting Forum" on the home page I will officially announce my retirement from the NH Sports Forum.

I was kidding...this forum is about hoops, and hopefully a place for other sports as well in the future. In no way do I want to make it about officials. Can they be discussed, of course, but I just wish it wouldn't dominate some of the conversations as it seems to at times. I think I've made my feelings known regarding referees and outcomes of games. It just doesn't add up for 1 play (or call) to define a 32 minute game.

Totally agree with you Asst. I knew you were kidding about the ref venting forum.

I have been giving this great thought and before things get hot and heavy for the playoffs and ref venting I am here to announce my retirement from blogging on the NH Sports...... nah I changed my mind.

1 play or call to define a 32 minute game? Absolutely not, except in some towns like Milford, Nashua, Milford, Merrimack, Milford, Amherst, Milford, Manchester, Milford, Salem, Milford and Milford

You almost forgot Milford.

My complaint was not about the call it was about the lack of communication between said referee's. I did not care if the call was a travel or a foul but the fact that one waved off the shot and the other gave the foul and freethrow's without a quick what did you see is what is wrong in the game. In my opinion there seems to be a obvious need to speed the games up and not interupt the flow and let the players decide the outcome and so many other one liners that the guys in stripes use in order to avoid calling the game as the book states. What cracks me up is that guys in the close nit group of referees always talk about this guy calls it tight and this guy lets them play and blah blah blah, That to me is just another way of saying one guy gets it wrong and another guy gets it right. If the book is the law as some of the zebra'd shirts claim then the less would be debated. I agreed with the foul and didnt think Steve traveled, I hated the fact that the ref who waved off a shot that was called from his zone did not at least run over say he saw something and make sure they got it right. These kids spend many hours working on their games. It is not wrong to ask that the ref's take a moment to make sure they at least try to get it right. That was my point.