Jan. 9th Games

A lot of good match ups on this cold and snowy January Friday:

Alvirne at North: The Broncos with a quiet 3 - 0 start and a tough North team that will be in every game. A toss up.

Salem at Bedford: 2 teams that certainly will be in what I will call the 6/14 Log jam. Winner gets to climb over a couple of more logs at this point.

Central at Memorial: If this game is 50% as exciting as the holiday tournament game on Dec. 26th then it'll be a good one. I don't think Central will let Memorial get an early 18 point lead and try to play catch up again. If Kabongo rests his arms on his thighs in double figures then Memorial loses.

BG at Merrimack: It's always a big game when these 2 rivals meet. With both teams under 500 and searching to climb a couple of more logs you can chalk this up as another close game.

Trinity at South: I'm presuming South has to get a couple more players heavily involved in their offense besides the soph sharpshooter Frechette if they want to get a victory over Trinity in this one.

Pembroke at Pinkerton: The starting lineups in this game at tap will be bigger than a lot of college games played in NH. The most interesting thing to watch early on will be if Pemby settles for Moet 3"s or the PBR blue collar 2's.

Spaulding at Winny: Nice rivalry game. Winny is still sewing their young squad oats while Spaulding is looking to have a break out season led by Berry.

Timberlane at Windham: I had to check in with the Rte 125 basketball guys. Windham is making some serious noise in D2 so far this season while Timby needs to turn up the volume a little more.

Girls:

North at Alvirne: A nice match up which should provide a close margin.

Memorial at Central: A note this game is part of a girls/boys doubleheader at Memorial tonight. The girls game is at 5:30 pm and the boys game taps shortly after. This game is a pick em. Not too much to choose between these 2 rivals.

Oh Oh, Pembroke has moved up to D1 this season, but they're dropping in the Concord Monitor "pound for pound" rankings

I would love to get a couple of comments from Coach Alosa either on or off the record to find out how he feels about being ranked behind the Concord girls' cross country skiing team or the Coe Brown girls' track team




Pound-for-pound high school rankings

By TIM O’SULLIVAN
Monitor staff
Friday, January 9, 2015
(Published in print: Friday, January 9, 2015)
POUND-FOR-POUND HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS

Team

1. BISHOP BRADY BOYS’ HOOP (7) Beating Pembroke over the holidays and a 3-0 start in D-II vault the Giants to the top.

2. BISHOP BRADY GIRLS’ HOOP (10) The Giants claimed the Cap Area Holiday title and are 5-0 in D-II.

3. COE-BROWN GIRLS’ HOOP (2) A holiday loss to D-I power Bedford nudges the Bears (5-0) down one spot.

4. CONCORD GIRLS’ X-C SKIING (3) Bitter cold postponed the season opener for the six-time defending champion Tide.

5. COE-BROWN GIRLS’ TRACK (1) Recent sixth- and second-place results drop the Bears, but they’ll be back.

6. JOHN STARK-HOPKINTON BOYS’ HOCKEY (5) The Generals sit alone atop the D-III standings at 4-0.

7. PEMBROKE BOYS’ HOOP (4) The Spartans lost during the holidays, but they’re still 3-0 in D-I.

8. WINNISQUAM BOYS’ HOOP (6) The Bears (4-1) won the Lakes Region Holiday Tournament then lost to rival Franklin on Tuesday.

9. CONCORD WRESTLING (NR) A team win and five champs at the Keene Minickiello Tournament move the Tide into the Top 10.

10. HOPKINTON BOYS’ X-C SKIING (NR) The Hawks tied powerful Inter-Lakes at Bretton Woods on Tuesday.

Others receiving votes: Bow girls’ x-c skiing, Brady boys’ Alpine skiing, Merrimack Valley boys’ track By TIM O’SULLIVAN, Monitor staff

Alvirne 3-0 @ North 1-2: Interesting match-up. Broncos are out to a perfect D1 start, coming off a big win at Memorial. Not convinced they are better than a .500 team. North could even their record tonight.

Salem 1-2 @ Bedford 1-2: After an opening night win against North, Salem has dropped two big ones. Bedford, coming off their first W at South, gets the nod.

BG 1-2 @ Merrimack 1-2: Rivalry game. Too early in the season to be sure about anything, except that this is a match-up of contrasting styles. In points per game BG scores 58 and gives-up 66. Merrimack 44-49. They have held their three regular season opponents to 10 points per game less than their averages. The 84 points that Exeter dropped on BG gets you scratching your head.

Concord 0-2 @ Londonderry 3-0: The trend will continue. Londonderry looking ahead to its trip to Exeter on Saturday, may go deeper into its bench. Might be closer than expected.

Dover 0-2 @ Keene 0-3: It’s a long ride for the Wave. Gives fuel to the idea of divisions and restructuring. Flip a coin? I like Romps.

Central 2-0 @ Memorial 1-2: The return to Memorial where there was a lot of fun and a big Central comeback in the QCIBT. Also a lot of fun last March at UNH in the semis. I will take Doc and the Little Green. They learned more from the comeback than Memorial did from the loss.

Trinity 2-1 @ South 0-3: Mazz and his boys need a win—have BG, Exeter Londonderry, and Merrimack coming up and could end January 1-8. I think that they will get the W tonight in a close one.

Pembroke 3-0 @ Pinkerton 3-0. A semi-final preview? Should be a good one. Should be a close one. I believe Pembroke comes away with the W.

Spaulding 3-0 @ Winnacunnet 0-3: Spaulding is well-drilled. They can score. A tune-up before traveling to Pembroke next week? They will not come in sleeping. Spaulding wins by 12.

to clear up some confusion on the NHIAA website:

The Central vs Memorial girl/boy double header is 100% at Memorial and 100 percent starts at 5:30 p.m. Tonight

Alvirne @ North- North has been playing good basketball, but unable to close games out late. Alvirne is looking great, but I believe they come back down to earth tonight. North

Salem @ Bedford- Battle of great basketball minds in Fitzy v. McLaughlin. Salem in a tight one

BG @ Merrimack- I love Rivalry Basketball! Saw BG play Monday they have some talent, but need more confidence. Merrimack is playing good ball right now despite their 1-2 record. Merrimack in a close one.

Concord @ Londonderry- The only thing that can stop the Lancers in this one is themselves. I believe they lost this same match up last year around the same time. If the Lancers keep focused they should be able to keep their winning ways going.

Dover @ Keene- How long of a bus ride is that? Google says about an hour and 50 minutes. A long that ride will definitely put Dover to sleep. Also, anyone that has played or coach Division 1 basketball knows Keene is always tough to beat at home. Keene

Central @ Memorial- Memorial will end the 30 game win streak tonight. They are still bitter about the opening round of the QCIBT. Memorial

Trinity @ South- South figures out a way to stop Walsh and Testa and sneaks out with a close win.

Spaulding @ Winny- Winny is too young to handle the experience that Spaudling brings into this Rivalry game. Spaudling runs their offense like a finely tuned machine. Spaulding

GAME OF THE NIGHT: Pembroke @ Pinkerton- The battle of the redwood trees in Derry. Both teams are undefeated riding a great start to the season. Pembroke has managed to sneak out of games with Ws, Keene and North. Tonight they are tested with a talented, team in Pinkerton. Pinkerton can match their height and they have great guard play. Pinkerton wins.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150110/SPORTS21/150119965


http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150110/SPORTS21/150119969


http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150110/SPORTS21/150119964


http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150110/SPORTS21/150119963

Pinkerton had a huge win vs Pembroke. After watching the highlights and hearing/ reading more about it the score does not represent how dominate they are. But will their size continue to dominate the league? I think it has a good chance with the solid guard play they have in Baker and Rizzo.

Londonderry had a dominating win over a weak concord team. Londonderry is a team to reckon with. With potential POY Cody Ball and a potential all state player Mark Corey and Jake Coleman they will be tough to beat. Coach Stanton has changed how I view the lancers



These two teams are my two favorites to win it all this year.

Welcome to the Forum insidescoop


It does seem Lond and Pinkerton are distancing themselves from the middle pack early in the season. Alvirne? Undefeated, but the combined record of the 4 teams they've beaten is 3 - 12. The Bronco jury is still sequestered.

Spaulding at 4 - 0 is intriguing. Their 4 - 0 record is a little more impressive than Alvirne's 4 - 0 record. They have a 1st team all stater in Berry, the Red Raiser system and Coach Cronin. They play at Pembroke and host Central in the next 2 weeks. This will tell us if Spaulding is ready to step up to be a Top 4 team this season or fall into the 7 to 14 Log Jam.

Central is still Central. It is interesting to see their revolving door is starting to be similar to Memorial's. Akot, who was impressive early is out. Kante who was out early came back last Friday and was impressive against Memorial.

I look at teams in the 7 to 16 range right now and think it might take a long time if not to the last night of regular season play to sort that group of teams out.

Central will be a top team no doubt about that. They are good with Kante and Martin but how deep are they? I am really looking foward to them playing Pinkerton this week. (might be pembroke and pulling a brain cramp) if they can go out and put up a fight against a team with that size where thye have little. I will be impressed.

Spaulding is interesting to me as i have not seen them. Berry is going to have a good year but he is all they have from what i have heard. I might be wrong but how far can one player truly take you? the good teams will put their best defender there and hold them then the normal 20 points is gone and a struggle. I have seen this happen to many times.

And as far as alvirne time will tell.


Also for memorial whats the deal with maughn? is he 100% gone for the season or should we be expecting a return half way through the season to bring them to the promise land?

Maughn is still awaiting the decision whether he plays this season...... Limbo at it's finest.

Word is tha Gopp comes back in a little bit. Depending on how long it takes him to work into the lineup he can give Memorial double figures, rebounding, 3 to 4 blocks/game & much needed added depth for the Crusaders.

If Maughn comes back put Memorial in the Final Four with permanent marker. If Maughn doesn't come back then Memorial could be one and done...... Or 2 and done.