Start of the D1 2010 - 2011 Season

Here are some thoughts of the start of the 2010 - 2011 season:

My top 8 in D1 Boys:

1) BG
2) Trinity
3) Dover
4) West
5) Central
6) Merrimack
7) Memorial
Pinkerton

For all intents and purposes this is BG's State Title to lose. They have the talent, depth and coaching to take their first basketball title in over a couple of decades, but....... I have them #1 with trepidation. There are 3 nagging things in my mind if I'm a BG fan that could drag BG down this season: 1) The point guard position. I am going to have to be convinced they can receive steady play and leadership from their point guard position. Rarely does a team come away with a state title without this ingredient. 2) The rotation of BG. I have and always will believe a firmly implanted rotation of 8 to 9 players is the best thing for a successful team. Rotating 10 to 12 players with some receiving a minute and others receiving 4 to 5 minutes has a tendency to detract from the offensive flow of a basketball team. 3) Conner Green has to make a concerted effort to be an offensive presence in the paint. He has to get his hands dirty closer to the hoop and not rely on the comfort zone of the 15 to 25 footer. There are some coaches in the state that are very happy when Green settles for an outside game in any given game. Can BG solve my #1 and #3 reservations about this team? Absolutely. With regards to #2 this has been the system at BG and will continue this season with the 10 to 12 player rotation. There are no dominating teams in D1 this year. A lot of teams took a step back in talent. The BG rotation can win the whole thing, but if some team is well coached and has a good rotation of 8 that plays well in the semis or finals ( Remember Winny last season)....... then it's anybody's title to win.

Trinity lost Madol. The Patriots lost Moss. I'm not trying to compare the personalities of Madol and Moss, but comparing the situations of these teams losing 2 talented players. Remember what Patriots fans were saying after they lost Moss? What are the Pats fans saying now? I think Trinity could have a very good year with all their parts. They have height, shooters and defenders. Combine all this with players buying into Keefe's system and you have a team that will be tough to play every night in D1. All of the Pioneers won't have to look to Madol as option #1. They can all share the load and feed off the TEAM concept. I have a feeling Zach Stevens will rebound nicely from his knee injury and be an infectious leader for the Pioneers. He along with Jake Hamel form a formidable 1-2 for outside shooting. Even though the loss of Madol takes away from the Pioneers' Paint Brigade they still have some serious height that can create havoc. They have a nice blend of youth and experience. If this team can have a steady influence at the point guard position then WATCH OUT !!

Dover has played a lot of games together in the summer, AAU and Fall. They have a nice rotation of 8 to 9 players. Al-Darraji and Faustino are one of the best 1-2 punches in D1. Mahan is a solid point guard who is an extension of his coach. The first game with Trinity is one of your best matchups on opening night along with Central at BG. There might be some questions answered in the first night of play in D1.

West has an intriguing cast of players. They play full tilt 100 % of the time. You have to be ready for speed and quickness when you go against the Blue Knights. I will say this with full confidence: Jose Gonzalez is one of the most fundamentally sound big men in the state. He is one of the best rebounding and passing big men. He doesn't force his offense. He scores when required. When he comes back healthy and you add him to the athletic trio of Abdalla, Martin and Hunter the Blue Knights will be very formidable.

Central, unfortunately, took some early hits with losses of key players to start the season. They still have one of the best 1-2 combos in Wickey and LaCount. I'm expecting a monster year from LaCount. He really impressed me with his complete offensive game in the off season leagues. When him and Wickey are clicking this is a very good team. Junior Brown must score more for this team to crack the top 4. He is another player that has to get his hands dirty by working his offense more in the paint. Lafond is a shut down defender who will take the physical load off LaCount.

Merrimack has some nice pieces of which the best is Dimitri Floras. He can light it up for 20 to 30 on any given night and gives Merrimack a chance in any game. Tyler Gendron is "Break Out" player to watch for. He has some serious 6'4 length and funk to his game that makes him a difficult matchup for opposing teams. How well the supporting cast of Peabody, Brownwell and Gendron's younger brother, Eric, support Floras and the older Gendron will dictate the success of this team.

Memorial......Good news - they have Madol. Bad news - He doesn't have the luxury of time to mesh with new players and a new program. It is easy to say Madol and Morgan form one of the best 1-2 punches in D1, but they have to learn to feed off each other and work with each other. This is a dynamic you can't under estimate. Madol has to blend with his new supporting cast. I don't see Memorial as being too deep, but obviously they will be competitive in just about every game they are in. If they can figure out how to handle full court defensive pressure and give the M and Ms a chance to operate on offense then the Crusaders will be successful.

Pinkerton will defend their title nicely. They have Patrikis, Park, Colbert and Williams that will help form a solid starting 5 for the Astros. I think Rosinski will like flying under the radar as a defending champ that lost a lot from the championship club, but will get better as the season moves along. This will be a team NOBODY wants to play come playoff time.

Securing a top 4 position for the playoffs will be as important as ever. After BG there aren't too many teams that could dominate the opposition on any given night. Having the prelim and quarterfinal in your gym could mean the slightest difference in punching your ticket to the Final Four in Durham. Imagine a quarterfinal home atmosphere in a place like Trinity or West? You get the picture. This could be worth 4 to 6 points to one of these QC teams to host a prelim and quarterfinal.

Who will be the Final Four? Too much basketball to play right now. Who will be the champion? Refer to the aforementioned question and the answer.

What a kickoff schedule in D1:

You have Central at BG. Dover visits Trinity. Here are 4 teams that can seriously contend for Top 4 status in D1. This doesn't give teams much time to work out the kinks. The teams that lose in these 2 games can say it's early, but in the end these games might play a pivotal role in tie breakers when it comes to determining who receives 2 home games in the playoffs. I believe that would make for a sense of urgency at BG and Trinity tonight.

Merrimack at Alvrine is a good matchup. Winny at West provides an intriguing matchup. The methodical and calculating Warriors against the "32 minutes of Hell" that the Blue Knights will provide every Tuesday and Friday.

All of a sudden the forum is starting to warm up a bit...been cold n dusty in here for far too many months nice recap T&F enjoyed it thoroughly.

Thanks Assistant. It's nice the REAL games are starting. There is way too much off season stuff that dilutes the REAL games. It is good the rubber is going to meet the road starting tonight at 7:00 pm.

How about these nice little over/unders:

Over or Under for a You Tube posting of an alleged controversial official's call after a Milford loss: 1/2.
With this you are either saying Milford will be undefeated of they will lose 1 game after which a storm of You Tube clips will verify why they lost the game, in some fan or fan's minds in Milford.

Over or Under for Doc Wheeler wearing a black top to coach the Central regular season games: 17 1/2.
They play 18 games, so you either say Doc goes black the whole season or changes it up for 1 game.

Over or Under for key ankle/knee injuries in D1: 8. It seems like just about every team had a big ankle/knee injury to a key player last year. Don't get me going on how over playing is prevalant with today's HS basketball player with AAU, off season leagues etc. It does seem there are more leg injuries to players than what happened 10 to 15 years ago. I say nearly half the teams in D1 will have a key player suffer a leg injury that will keep them out for a bit.

Over or Under for ChiKid to question a referee's interpretation on the internet: 100. If you take into consideration the internet and in a gym the over under on this would probably total around 200,000. Please remember this following thought:

The good news is that there is only one year left of ChiKid/HoosierDaddy invading our HS basketball blogging world

The bad news: There is one year left of ChiKid/HoosierDaddy invading our HS basketball blogging World

There will always be a ChiKid out there...lurking...waiting for his turn...

The season hasn't even started and the words "invading" and "lurking" have been used to describe ChiKid.

Not good.

T&F and I are usually on the same page for the most part...

With these predictions.. I think we could be in separate chapters!!!

I put all 4 Manch teams in the top 6 - although I don't agree with the order you have, my friend!

I also believe - and I'm not trying to suggest hidden knowledge or trying to be cryptic - but I would like to see rosters compared now and in a month or so. I smell instability in Div 1 teams... not unlike some happenings a few seasons back.....

If NH Hoops were here, I think he'd back me on this.

BTW NH Hoops is doing quite well....

I totally think Doc goes all black all season....

Do we think Goody's shirts are sturdy this season?

Tuesday and Friday wrote:The season hasn't even started and the words "invading" and "lurking" have been used to describe ChiKid.

Not good.

I was not describing ChiKid, I was describing his inevitable replacement...he's like the Mr. Smith of our Matrix. Once one is gone, another shall rise to take his place.

I have noticed a more permanent press quality to Goody's shirts lately.

There is some instability in some rosters, but given the fact we should respect personal things that happen away from the court, I'll just leave it at that. We should really try to make a concerted effort to air clean laundry as opposed to dirty laundry. You can take that as cryptic if you want. There will be a plethora of dirty laundry that will accumualte over the course of this season. In the end dirty laundry does effect the performances of some teams.

I will focus on the people who play and my clean laundry.

Maybe ChiKid could work his way into the name of Phoenix?

Tulliver, I respectively hear you on the order of the Manchester teams. Central and Trinity will probably have a more consistent ranking during the year 2/3 to 4/5. West and Memorial, on the other hand, could bounce up and down like the stock market. I picked Memorial 7th, but would not be surprised to see them finish 2, 3 or 4. I firmly expect West to compete for a top 4 slot, but if their hamper fills up with dirty laundry, then a finish out of the top 8 is conceivable.

I don't mean dirty laundry at all due to instability....

I just think we've got some injury prone potential and some hoopsters throughout the division that may not be as committed to the sport as we've seen in some years. I heard there were some players from multiple schools who just didn't know, if they wanted to really give the time. Based on that, I think there could be some instability - not due to academics or behavior issues - but due to kids who just might not want to do a whole HS season... and who debated about playing in the first place. A team with players of such varying levels of interest and commitment... I deem unstable.

Also, I fear injuries are just too much of a given. I would love everyone to have a healthy season.. but I find that likelihood to be doubtful... and that can change things in a NY minute

Thanks for the clarification, Tully.

I plan on going out on a limb with putting Milford at one. But for class L i have a strange feeling that Madol and company will be taking it all. I guess we will all find out in March.

B-balltime, are you saying Milford's 1 loss will be in the regular season, Holiday Tournament or in the playoffs?

I think they will go unbeaten barring injury or suspensions

Talk about easy money it seems there was a problem in the Portsmouth vs Pembroke game.

How about these nice little over/unders:

Over or Under for a You Tube posting of an alleged controversial official's call after a Milford loss: 1/2.
With this you are either saying Milford will be undefeated of they will lose 1 game after which a storm of You Tube clips will verify why they lost the game, in some fan or fan's minds in Milford. Well here it is from the sports animal.
1380TheSportsAnimal Yesterday at 9:07 pm

.Thoughts from a terrific Portsmouth vs Pembroke game-

--Controversial (non)call at the end of regulation- game tied @ 53, Charlie Duprey gets off a last second shot, Tyler Morrison gets his hand in the cylander as the shot bounces out, but no call. Might've come right at the buzzer, might've been the refs not wanting to end the game that way, might've been right after the buzzer. Very close.


-- Patrick Welch. 27 points. On fire all night, couldn't miss from 18 feet. Just a Freshman!

-- Great point guard battle between Kamahl Walker (Ports) and Rene Maher (Pembroke). The only two guys that were allowed to play somewhat phsyical with each other.

-- I was told on of our refs like to call fouls. A lot. I was not misinformed.




Instead i took the Portsmouth vs Pembroke game in Portsmouth as it continues there seems to be more Controversy at in Portsmouth home gym? Couldn't they at have at least waited until the second game of the season ha ha ha.

Basketballtime, don't open up your wallet yet. My over/under of 1/2 for a You Tube clip of a contoversial call was for a MILFORD LOSS not a Portsmouth loss. I hope you don't have that money spent. You'll have to wait for the Milford season to play out.

If Milford plays like they did last night they will not go undefeated. Interesting note from last night. Mitchell was called for 4 fouls all 4 were performed with his chest. I will not argue the calls because I thought they were close and could be interpreted differently according to the angle of view and the official's INTERPRETATION of the rule. I will say this.. it was the first time I have seen a kid commit 4 fouls with his chest and not put a player on the line for any of them. He committed two of them in the first quarter and the second two in the third quarter. Both were before the bonus and allowed Milford to get back on D and get stops. Very smart fouls... Not that he was thinking that but it did turn out that way.

Nice to see ChiKid taking a night off from invading You Tube.

Highlights will only be available on the Milford basketball website. Wait til you see what I have in store for the ring ceremony and the banner raising..

Celtics may actually look to copy my format for the highlights for it is all about 18 video.

My God, we will all wait with bated breath.