Tuesday preview

I am depressed.I look forward to reading what T@f has to say about the upcoming class L matchups, and I see nothing,bupkus,nada,zilch,about his thoughts for tuesday's tilts.Maybe I expect to much from him,I am sorry.It's just that his literary style makes me smile,much like watching him play hoops used to make me laugh.

I don't like seeing depressed Forum members, so here you go Big Guy:

#13 North at #15 Goffstown: A battle to come up with a better seeding for the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised to see the scrappy Grizzlie bunch pull off an upset of the Titans. North has been so inconsistent this season.

#6 Dover at #10 Londonderry: This is a good matchup. Dover plays well on the road. Londonderry hasn't really put all the pieces together yet this season. This would be a good W for Dover to validate Coach Romps mantra that Dover doesn't mind playing their playoff games on the road. This would be an important victory for Londonderry if they entertain any thoughts about hosting a prelim game.

#1 Merrimack at #6 Pinkerton: Big frontcourt vs. small frontcourt. Tyler Gendron will be key in this game. He'll probably have to give 5 fouls to help contain the relentless attack of Proulx and Mathieu on the glass. If Patrikis and Park can combine for 16 to 18 points then Pinkerton could get the win. Merrimack has a big advantage in the backcourt. The Tomahawks need to take advantage of this.

#3 West at #12 Central: No question in my mind this is a pick em game. There will be more floor burns in this game than any other played in the state. The most important factor in this game is the new TV show for West:
"As the World of Richard Valentin Turns" Will he be at the Simon Gym Tuesday night? If he plays, will he keep his emotions in check? Can he stay on the court? Will he score 20 to 25 points? This Class L soap opera will start around 7:00 pm at the Simon Gym. Stay tuned......

#3 BG at #8 Memorial: Heh Big Guy, don't be expecting a standing ovation or a banner to be hung in your honor at 1 Crusader Way Tuesday night just because you're going back to your alma mater. You were tight shorts, mullets and Bohemian Rhapsody. That was sooooo long ago. Now, the shorts are longer, Pete Poirier's nickname of Pistol would probably get censored by the Manchester School Board and Queen songs are cool when they're sung on American Idol. Memorial has some matchup quandries for this game. Rarely do they play 2 to 3 bigs at a time in a game. It might be a necessity for them to play a bigger lineup against BG. If Fitz and Couture can shoot well tomorrow it will be a good game. If Memorial flounders on offense then Big Man might sing Bohemian Rhapsody in celebration......... God, what a thought.

Last night I went to bed depressed,this morning I woke up disappointed.I know all about those games T& F { WHO doesn't}.I was hoping to get your take on the Winnie - Spaulding matchup.{KISSed this 1 off did you}.Anyway,here are my upset specials for tuesday{it's going to be a THREE DOG NIGHT} central,pinky,and londonderry.I gotta go to work t&f,but rest assured I will be having{MEATLOAF} before going to the game tonight.One more question before I go t&f,are you still vice president,of the Southern NH chapter for the CAPTAIN AND TENILLE fan club??

I'm sorry I didn't give previews on #11 Alvrine at #20 Concord or #19 Timberlane at #15 Exeter etc.

I will try to have a more rounded preview for you for this Friday's slate. Nice call on the Three Dog Night upset special.... Can't figure out if One is the lonliest number or if Jeremiah is still a bull frog.

I haven't been keeping full track, but if you bet on some of your recent upset specials, then a loan from the bank of Trampoline and Trust would be needed to cover the upset picks that didn't work out.

Winny by 4 over spaulding.
winny missed a ton of ft and layups

Pinkerton 60 Merrimack 40. Merrimack up one at half after most of first half controlled by Pinkie. Few sloppy turnovers by Pinkie before the half gave Merrimack the lead. All Pinkerton second half pounding the ball down low, slowing the ball and playing good team defense. Don't think Merrimack had one offensive board in second half.

Central 49 West 42 No Valentin for West or Lacount for Central

Trinity 78 Keene 41

Memorial 64 BG 59

Edhem Mahmutovic had a monster game for the Crusaders by scoring a career high of 18 points.

3 of the top 5 teams in Class L lost this evening. This was one of those evenings where the fault line opens up and the standings shake and rattle. With 3 games to go in the season you have 8 teams in a rock fight for the top 4 seeds in Class L. I'll post more on the big Memorial victory later.

Good thing you guys have no heal system in class L. Keene would be a top 8 team lol

2 out my 3 upset specials came in,pinkyand central,londonderry almost did it losing by only 3.In the BG game that might be the worse quarter {3rd} that they have played all year.Very sloppy,and they still had a chance at the end.

So why was the third so sloppy? Bad decisions or bad shot selection?

I'll give you props Big Man on your Three Dog Night upset special. You called the Pinky and Central upsets and Dover escaped with a 3 point victory.

You mentioned Meatloaf in a previous post. Well, "2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad" as Meatloaf used to sing in the Bat Out of Hell album.

Chikid is proud that for once he is not old enough to know what you are talking about.

Knowles did not play for winny, but on bench in street clothes.

I do know one thing, that nhiaa tiebreakers will be in use this year, winny does not play merrimac, and we could have multiple teams tied at 3, 4 or 5 losses!

Memorial 64 BG 59

BG 15 15 15 14 - 59
Mem 11 18 9 24 - 64

The best part of an 18 game season is the next game. You look forward to the next game. If you had a rough game tonight then you can redeem yourself in the next game. If you played well tonight you can't wait until the next game to keep the momentum going. For some players they might wait all season for their "next game." Tonight at 1 Crusader Way Edhem Mahmutovic had his long anticipated "next game" and this paved the way for Memorial to pull the 64 - 59 upset over BG.

Memorial's game plan to start the game was simple. Start a bigger lineup to matchup with the best front court in Class L, play an active 2-3 zone and play deliberately and decisively on offense. This worked well to start the game as it seemed this would be a low scoring affair from the start. Memorial dared BG to be "Dover-Like" and shoot the 3 ball early and often. BG rimmed out a few 3 chances as Morgan and Fitz decided to drive to the hoop for their offensive fortunes. Morgan had 6 points and Fitz had 4 to help Memorial stay close at 15 - 11 after the first period. Green looked smooth in the opening stanza with 7 points. Memorial hardly substituted while BG did the same. If subs came in for the Cardinals it was 1- 2 at a time instead of 3 to 4. This game soon had a different "closer to the vest" type feel to it.

Memorial matched BG basket for basket in the 2nd period. Fitz had an outstanding 8 minutes with 9 points. He continued to make his presence known by driving to the rack with authority and finishing 4 FTs off of this. I'll have to check with Big Man on this one, but I swear Fitz took a taxi cab to the Colligidome and hit a made 3 from there in the 2nd period. BG had a balanced attack with 6 players scoring as their substitution pattern was more BG-Like. McLean and Edhem combined for 8 points in the 2nd period. They worked well together finding each other and keeping the ball alive on the offensive boards. Scott Marchwicz, last Saturday's hero at Spaulding, hit a big 3 at the buzzer at the end of the first half that caressed the rim with a lot of Crusader love to fall in. Memorial had to feel confident in the locker room as they had BG playing their game and the vaunted BG full court pressure was negated with nice decision making from Zenni, Couture and Marchwicz.

Connor Green had a hot start in the 3rd to put BG up with a slight cushion early as he hit 2 nice hoops. Edhem had a couple nice finishes to keep Memorial close. Steve Cuipa drained a couple of 3's in the 3rd and it looked like he could do it for the rest of the night with his velvet stroke. McClung was quiet in the 3rd with no points. BG took a 45 - 40 lead into the end of the 3rd.

The start of the 4th period would be key for Memorial as this would be where they could stay close or BG could pull away. Over the next 4 minutes Memorial went on a 13 - 0 run to go from a 45 - 40 deficit to a 53 - 45 lead. This was stunning to see the Cardinals get the game taken away from them by Memorial at this point. Strong drive finishes by Edhem and Morgan keyed this 13 point outburst by the Crusaders. Memorial had BG reeling and Coach Migneault called a couple of TOs during this run to stem the Crusader tide. A big And 1 3 point play by Kyle Remillard broke the Crusader run and made it 53 - 48 with 3:27 left. A St. Lawrence runner with 3:05 left made it 53 - 50. Edhem scored from a nice assist from Couture to put Memorial up 55 - 50 with 2:50 remaining. With Memorial up 57 to 53 Edhem had a big basket to make it 59 - 53. A Coumas basket made it 59 - 55. Zenni missed 2 FTs with 1 minute left and McClung hit a short banker with 40 seconds left to bring BG the closest they had been to Memorial in 5 minutes at 59 - 57. With 34 seconds left Edhem drained 2 FTs to make it 61 - 57. BG didn't score and fouled Edhem again. He hit 2 more FTs to give Memorial a safe 63 - 57 lead with 20 seconds left. St. Lawrence scored to make it 63 - 59 with 11 seconds left. Fitz closed out the final margin with a made FT to give Memorial the final score victory of 64 - 59.

Edhem Mahmatovic gets the game ball with his 18 points, bushel of rebounds and a great mental battle he won with nice passes and good decision making with the ball. Dan McLean did what Dan McLean does: Grit, hustle and a warrior mentality to back down to no one, not even the best frontcourt in the state. Fitz took what the defense gave him which was dribble penetration and drawing Cardinal fouls. He finished 7 - 8 from the line. Shomari Morgan was solid slashing to the rack and finishing with 13. Cuipa hit three 3's and he rimmed out a couple of others that looked like they would fall. Green was solid with 14, but was held scoreless in the 4th quarter. BG still has the best frontcourt in Class L, but for tonight, Memorial's frontcourt was better as Memorial's 3 of Edhem, McLean and Morgan outscored the BG's Big Three 39 - 33. Memorial condensed the game on offense and their zone made BG slow down on offense. A great victory for Memorial that puts them at the same record at this point last year at 10 - 4. A tough week for Memorial with BG and Merrimack now looks rosier with Merrimack losing by 20 to Pinkerton and of course coming off the confidence building victory over BG tonight.

Oh yeah, I bet Edhem Mahmutovic can't wait for Memorial's "next game."



BG: Green 14 McClung 10 St. Lawrence 9 Cuipa 9 Coumas 6 Lavash 4 Remillard 3 Kelly and Pyzocha with 2 each. Bg was 8 - 12 from the FT line.

Memorial: Edhem 18 Fitz 14 Morgan 13 McLean 8 Marchwicz 6 Couture 4. Memorial was 19 - 27 from the FT line.

You have to feel bad for good guy good coach Sam Carey after reading the following excerpt from Pete Tarrier's account of the West at Central game:

Over on the West side(no pun intended), the Blue Knights didn’t have the services of star senior guard Richard Valentin or jumping jack junior Quintin Hunter. Hunter was in attendance and was wearing his #20 West jersey, but with pants and not the matching shorts. According to West coach Sam Carey, Hunter is no longer with the team due to problems at school. As for the uber-talented, but equally troubled Valentin, Carey said “I don’t know where he is…and to be honest, I’m done talking about it.”

chi kid, bad decisions coupled with bad shot selection,sorry I meant the 4th not 3rd.Even though BG has 4 losses,I still haven't seen a team yet that I wouldn't want to see again in the playoffs. Last year I didn't want to see trinity or Salem.Winny friday becomes a must win.

One other tidbit that T&F forgot to mention.He brought my yearbook to the game and passed it out to the BG parents for a viewing.I was sitting on the opposite side but could see there was quite a bit of commotion going on the BG side,then my cell started ringing with all the comments from the BG peanut gallery. I took alot of good natured ribbing last night because of T& F.Well played my friend,your 1 up on me.

I am real glad you got harrassed Big Guy, up until now I thought I was the only blunt of T and F's constant attack. Nice to know it is not just a Midwest bias! haha

"chi kid, bad decisions coupled with bad shot selection,sorry I meant the 4th not 3rd.Even though BG has 4 losses,I still haven't seen a team yet that I wouldn't want to see again in the playoffs. Last year I didn't want to see trinity or Salem.Winny friday becomes a must win."

I think BG and Trinity are the two best teams but BG does not adjust very well to what is happening in their game. They have a very good system in place but their shot selection is horrible if the game is slowed down on them. If teams want to run with them they will blow anyone out but I don't believe that will happen every game in the playoffs. I guess if you have as talented of a roster as they do you can probably get away with it but in a half court set they seem very willing to settle for a fifteen or eighteen footer instead of a better shot.
Your thoughts??

From a fan's perspective,I love it when I see a zone against BG.I think Mcclung,Green,STlawrence, and Cuipa get great open looks and usually bury the 3 ball.The problem I see is when they miss BG is not rebounding.They need to be attacking the boards,if the bigs are shooting from outside the guards have to be crashing and fighting for the boards.That all being said,look at their 4 losses,Salem at the buzzer on an unbelievable shot by Larosa,Merrimack by a few without Migs or Green, Trinity by 3 or 4 with Madol having a monster game, and Memorial with their center having a career game last night.Four quality teams,they haven't been blown out yet. I look for a big win against Winnie Friday.Migs will have them ready.

NH SportsFan, I agree with you about BG settling for the outside shot last night. I remember in one key offensive possession BG had with under 2 minutes left in the game and Memorial up by 4 Green took an ill advised (there's my fav term) outside shot which barely drew orange. Migs danced a "what the heck did you do that for" dance down the coaches box. I would love to see a shot chart for BG for the Memorial game. Maybe, what Memorial did defensively will serve as a blueprint for BG's opposition in the playoffs. On the other hand, in the first quarter, BG had at least 4 to 5 three pointers that went in and out or just barely rimmed out. If even a couple of those tickle the twine, then BG has a 10 point lead at the end of the 1st and Memorial has to give some serious thought to going man.

There was a funny thing that happened with about a minute left in the game. C. Fitz was dribbling the ball up against pressure and Migs starts yelling, "don't foul him don't foul him." As soon as Fitz passed the ball off to Zenni Migs yells, "foul him, yes, foul him." The Memorial fans were laughing and they appreciated the way Migs wears his coaching heart on his coaching sleeve. I wish Liz Dunne could have seen it. I'm sure it would have brought a smile to her face.

Yes, it is true, I just so happened to have a copy of Big Man's senior yearbook at Memorial. I told him that he shouldn't expect a banner to be hung in his Crusader honor, but him receiving the yearbook AFTER BG faithful had a nice chance to peruse it was priceless. I take anyone accusing me of heading up a Captain and Tenille fan club very seriously. Some of the nice tid bits the BG faithful found out about Big Man last night was that he:

1) Was voted Senior class flirt (unanimously?).
2) Wore a turtle neck in his senior picture that had a neck bigger than Allen Iverson's shooting sleeve.
3) Had a candid picture that showed why the Hornest's Nest Stirrer for BG is what he looks like today.

Speaking of the Hornest's Nest Stirrer, he tried to stir one up with C. Fitz last night in the waning seconds of the game. C. Fitz had a nice can of hornet's spray ready to go and swiftly kept the hornets from coming out. I did have a chance to meet this boy. Big Man had made an observation that he was one of the nicest kids you'd ever want to meet. Like his upset picks for his Three Dog Night special, Big Man was also right on the mark for this observation also.

Wow, I just checked out Jeremy's Power Rankings in Class L. If you compare the changes to a richter scale for an earthquake I would give it an 8.5 on the richter scale.... shake, rattle and roll. As a Class L fan you had to think there would be a night like last night that would happen. Can you imagine what the playoffs will be like? I'm not ready to say this could be like one of those Class I playoffs where a couple of double digit seeds play in a semi or a final, but no seed is secure in Class L. No team has a player like Laguerre who is a difference maker in the last 2 minutes of every playoff game. Even though Trinity won the title last year, it would be Laguerre skying above every body else to get a key offensive rebound and put back. It would be Laguerre making a key steal or block. No team has a Laguerre this season.