D2 Final Seedings

Well I cannot sleep so I find myself looking at the standings in D2 and notice something very interesting. Currently Milford and Pembroke are 1-2 at the top of the seedings while Lebanon and Souhegan sit at 7 and 8 respectively. The last game of the year is guess who... Souhegan hosting Lebanon. This game could go to decide if Lebanon could play Pembroke for a third time if they get past their first round test and if Souhegan would get Milford in the second round. That game is on the 3rd of March and could be a key point to the tourney. Lebanon beat Pembroke in Pembroke early in the year and they still have to play again Thursday. Second round match ups in D2 could be some great games. Bring on March!

I was doing the exact same thing in the division 1 standings.Scary.Dover sitting at number 8.I can't believe Dover is 8th.

Why are you surprised about Dover? They're a scary team because they're talented....well coached and on a crescendoing track of improvement.
Some of their losses could have easily gone the other way, but this is still The Season of Parity for D1

Dover has had 1 bad game...home vs. Salem, otherwise they've been pretty solid. They can score, defend, rebound and shoot. They are a scary matchup for any upper tier team, much like Alvirne, Salem and Exeter.

They very easily could be top 4 if the ball bounces differently in a few games.

Agreed... I think it makes more sense when you look at the teams around them.... they've all lost quite a few games that could have easily gone either way.

I like to check the rankings after each game and imagine who'd play whom if it were tourney time NOW.

I keep getting shocked.

That first round of playoff games could have quite a few UPSETS in regard to higher numerical seed, but those upsets won't be surprising if one has followed the actual performances of teams like Dover etc

Dover looked very good in the 3rd quarter versus Central last night, but faded in the 4th quarter. If they put together 2 games similar to the way they played in the first 12 minutes of the 2nd half last night they could easily be in the Final 4 whether they are the 6 to 9 seed.

Dover losing late seems to be a theme... Trinity, BG, Central, others? Perhaps more of a depth issue than anything else... That won't bode well for them come tourney time.

JAF - Excellent point on the depth issue. What's funny is that the Green Wave had this depth issue last year until Mejia was brought up from JV. He helped them a lot in the depth dept in the 2nd half of last season. You don't know what goes on between coach and player etc, but I'm just saying Mejia didn't play for the majority of the 2nd half against Central, which I found surprising.

Tonight there is also a very interesting matchup in D2. Goffstown goes to Weare to play Stark. Goffstown is a three loss club trying to stay close to that top four seed and will need to win out to have that chance. Stark is a tough team to figure out at 9-7 with some nice wins,competitive games against some good teams and some scratch your head losses. Both teams like to shoot the three and play up tempo. It is possible that this game is even higher scoring than the 108 to 94 game with Hanover. If your a D2 guy this may be a must see.

As it stands right now we do know that the top two seeds for this years D2 Tourney will be MIlford and Pemroke. After that it gets a little sketchy. Pelham sits at 68 points right now having played all of their games and Portsmouth is at 63 with one road game to play against rival Oyster River. If Portsmouth can win in Durham they own the head to head tie breaker and I believe would slide Pelham down to the 4th spot.
The fifth spot is now in the hands of Hanover at 57 points with one game to play at home against Kearsarge. Most would predict a win by Hanover in this getting them to 61 points. Goffstown is at 53 points with two to play both at home against Stark and HB. With two wins Goffstown gets to 61 and the head to head during the season went to Goffstown. So Goffstown could be 5th, Hanover 6th and the winner of the Souhegan vs Lebanon game would then get the 7th spot and loser to 8th or even 9th. Coe Brown sits at 50 points with a win against St Thomas in their last game to decide that.

The team that looks positioned to get a early round upset could be Bedford. With a streak of six wins in a row to end the season including two wins over Souhegan and another over Goffstown they are confident and could be positioned to get a win on the road and have a chance to upset one of those top teams in the second round. Looking at their run right now they are dangerous.
Oyster River is another team that could be very dangerous. If they lose to Portsmouth on Thursday they will most likely get Hanover in the first round and while Hanover played a great game against them during the season beating them by 24 I am sure that the playoff matchup would be a much closer affair.

AHHHH March. You got to love March. Snow is starting to melt, Sun is getting Stronger, Beer isle and Shaws has a NCAA Tourney Bracket under the Bud Lite Section.... Got to love it!

I think we should do a bracket for D2 and D1.... Anyone?

And winner of D1 or D2 Bracket picks gets to attempt to finish the Billy's Burger Challenge at Billy's sports bar in Manchester:

Do you have what it takes to meet Billy's Challenge?
4 Billy Burgers, Basket of fries, and 4 pickle spears. Can you do it in 30 minutes?


Billy Burger...............................................................................7.49
1/2 pound burger with BBQ sauce, Swiss cheese & Canadian bacon

We should definately do d1 and d2 brackets.