Summer League Thoughts - Pre Pre Season Top 8

Well, I'm usually looking for the fairest way one team can accumulate more points and be declared the winner on the court...... working within a judicious adjudication of the interpretation of the rules between the lines.

Moles and Birdies, what is this The Wild Kingdom?

My efforts will be focused on Prep Hoops this coming year...too hard to ignore some of the best basketball this country has to offer in our own back yard.

Brandon Len from Souhegan is a nice player with some nice upside. I do not see any D2 but saw him at the Nashu'a tournament last year. Nice release, fundamentally sound. He needs to workon his left hand some more. I can see him going NESCAC.
As far as the best guard in the ste, not happeniung. I think if Barr stays in Exeter he not only will be the best guard but could be the best player in the state.
Gendron at Merrimack, Preston at South are better players than Len.You m ight also be able to add the guard at Memorial whois going to be a sophomore.
Sleeper player could be theLunn at BG.Toscano is ;underated and if he can get the bal;l to Jeff he will be a factor.Lunn has great hands and was overshadowed by some of the players on lst years team. He will n ot score 20 points agame. The will need to get him some help up front and change the offense from the flex set up.

As reported by NH Notebook, Matt Barr is transferring to Cushing Academy, so if he is there he won't be in the discussion for best/one of the best guards in NH high school basketball.

Merrimack is going to be smaller this season with the loss of Tyler Gendron and Jeff Gianelli. Eric Gendron, with his size, might have to play more of a small forward for them. Given their lack of paint talent, Gendron will probably be asked to utilize his talents more in the paint area.

You said sophomore guard at Memorial. I presume you are talking about Omaru Kante. If so, Len is a much better shooter than Kante. They are pretty close in the penetration department. They both have a good handle. Len is a much better defensive player. Kante has to work on cutting down turnovers and being a leader. In these 2 areas Len far surpasses Kante at this point. If you are talking about Sophomore Kabonga he plays more of a small forward for Memorial than guard.

I will put Preston in the mix. He is primed for a big season as is South. I saw Len play 4 times this summer (including the 50 point game he had against Milford) and he had outstanding games in every one. That was a good enough sample for me to hold firm in my belief that Len is definitely one of the top 3 guards heading into this NH high school basketball season and could arguably be the best guard when all is said and done.

3 others that need to be in this discussion:

Dickson- Central
Marquis - Concord
Coveney - Londonderry

Let's not forget that players like Kabongo, Gendron, and Pelletier are forced to play forwards at their schools, but each of them is truly a guard. Kabongo, depending on his growth, may stay a forward, but Gendron and Pelletier project as guards at the next level. I'm sure there are a handful of other players across the state who are in the same situation. For me, it comes down to looking at a players skill set to determine their true position. With that being said, Len, Gendron, Jacques (West), Lloyd (John Stark), Marquis (Concord), and Pelletier (in no specific order) would be at the top of my list for guards.

I truly believe that Kaleb Marquis will be the best guard in D-I when all is said and done. He basically plays each game without more than a 1 minute breather.

He plays with great intensity and can shoot both short and long range jumpers. Great defense all over the court. He has a great chance to lead D-I in scoring. My guess is 20-25 pts per game. And the Dickson kid is truly an excellent player, but my vote goes for Marguis.

If Barr goes to Cushing with Joseph(what a backcourt) he would have wait an additional year to go to Bentley. Do you think the extra year would present a better opportunity for an education and D 2 ball than Bentley????

Maybe Gendron will play the swing 2-3 positon but he is in my opinion a better prospect, and I think Preston will have a great opportun ioty to show what he can do with Mucciolli gone .

Carr is indeed headed to Cushing, according to the profile on his Twitter profile.

I would not put coveny in this group. He needs to stop turning the ball over. Dickson and Len are the real deal.

Amc: You make a valid point about players having to play out of position to help their teams and their programs. With the flood of prep school transfers and the fact the center position is almost non-existent in NH high school, guards will have to play forwards and forwards will have to play center. It is what it is. When I rank guards though, I can't think about what would happen if that forward played guard. If a guard has to play forward for 4 months to help his team be successful then in my mind that player is a forward for the season. What they project to do in college can't come into my mind for this season.

Welcome littlegreen. With all due respect, I don't think we can put Len and Dickson in the same sentence or paragraph. Dickson has good upside for sure. He has to get stronger with his body. He has to cut down on mistakes and turnovers. His 3 ball is getting more consistent. We'll see as the year progresses. Len is in the top paragraph of HS guard talk for NH. There are maybe 3 to 4 others I would put in the same paragraph as Len.

I don't want to open up a can of worms, but Pfffffffft, here I go. One could argue that Central is the top team in D1 heading into this season. One could argue Pembroke is the top team in D2 heading into this season. If all the players from both teams tried out for one team you could make a strong argument at the end of the tryout selection the starting backcourt for this team would be Rene Maher at point and Patrick Welch at the 2 position. I'm just saying these two Spartans, especially Welch, would work their way into discussions of the best guards in the state.

my top 8 in D-I as of right now...

1. Central
2. Spaulding
3. Winnacunnet
4. Trinity
5. Salem
6. Memorial
7. South
8. West

Nice Top 8 Jeremy but.......... I would switch Winny and South.

No BG? Well, Migs probably likes coming into the season without being on the Internet radar. Now, don't tell any one, but I heard Migs might have a secret weapon this season who is big and might be able to play. Ssssshhhhh, don't tell anybody and you didn't hear it from me.

South might not be as deep as they seem, rumors are Tarvez and Wyatt both might not play.

goldenbear wrote:South might not be as deep as they seem, rumors are Tarvez and Wyatt both might not play.

Which is why I won't even think about a basketball top 10 until I've talked to some coaches and understand who's even trying out. Just because they played last year or played pickup ball at open gym with their teammates doesn't mean they're playing this year. Lots of intangibles occur over the off-season so we'll see what actually shakes out.

Goldenbear - you are full of rumors these days huh?

Unlike other bears, GBear must hibernate in the spring/summer and wake up late fall for his winter activities