Player of the Year..So Far

My nomination for Player of the Year is Milford's Jamie Holder. Doesn't matter what division. He is one player that has an all around game. He can score, pass, and rebound. He also is a very good defender. He doesn't get the respect that O'Loughlin does, because his points average is usually lower and we all know how scoring sells. Many players who will be nominated for POY are strictly scorers. I would also like to give a shout out to Mikey Mitchell, there may not be a better big time shooter in the state. He hit 3 straight 3's last night in the 3rd quarter that was the true dagger in the Goffstown Grizzlies heart. I have seen this kid not hit buzzer beaters, but he does hit shots that put games away, so there are no buzzer beaters.
The only way Milford doesn't repeat is a couple things, rebounding for Milford is always a problem, they were out rebounded last night. Stagnant offense is often a problem. Too much one on five. As always and I don't get it, Milford, other than Mitchell is a bad free throw shooting team. Some team may try the Hack A Shaq in the early rounds of playoffs. It may just work with a team that can't run or shoot with the Spartans. It is so strange to me that kids can knock down threes, but can't hit free throws. Milford would have cleared 100 last night if they could shoot better than 35-40% from the line. Of course a couple missed dunks hurts too.
Milford is the Number One team in the State by far. Not saying they would go undefeated in DI but they would be a Top 4 seed. Another reason why I don't understand why they don't get the attention they deserve. Specifically WGAM. 10 miles away from Nashua and they always take a backseat to the Nashua teams that are struggling this year (except BG). It does boggle my mind.

Holder is a good pick at this point in the season. Tough to argue.

Others to consider include:

Connor Green, BG - Leader, scorer, rebounder, distributor, he does it all for the best team in DI.
Sean McClung, BG - High intensity player, athletic, the most dangerous offensive player on the best team in DI.
Stephen Spriou, Pelham - He's only leading all of NH with a 24.4 PPG average, top 3 team in DII.
Curtis Arsenault, Berlin - Hard working blue collar kid who rebounds, scores, leads and is unstoppable for one of the top teams in DIV.
Patrick Welch, Pembroke - Probably not going to go to a Freshman, but has there been a better scoring 16 yr old in recent memory? Lighting it up to the tune of 21.1 PPG and kept Pembroke in the hunt as usual.
Mike Mitchell, Milford - Every train needs a conductor, and without MM Jr. Milford is not undefeated. If Holder or O'Loughlin win any postseason honors (duh they will) the first person they should thank is Mitchell.
Mike O'Loughlin, Milford - The debate between Holder and the Big O can go on forever, but the deal here is he helps Holder as much as Holder helps him. Kid scores, defends, rebounds and is most teams #1 guy to defend when matching up against Milford (from what I hear Coach Alosa would challenge that last statement - he thinks its Holder).
David Madol, Memorial - Has anybody kind of slipped into nowhere land more than Madol now that he's not at Trinity? you dont hear much about him but he's still the most dangerous and talented player, athletically, in Division I. Scary matchup for every team.
John Wickey, Central - There aren't a lot of bonafide Centers in Division I, but Wickey's one of 'em and he's 'a good one. Everything flows through him and he'll have a chance to get Central a title this year while averaging 17.8 PPG.
Dimitri Floras, Merrimack - Another floor general who really makes his team go, but he also scores to the tune of 20.6 PPG.


I think Milford gets plenty of press here...WGAM's main audience is Southern NH, while Milford falls there, I think sometimes they get overshadowed by the "big market" teams. That said, Dave Haley had a great 1/2 hour segment on their evening show after the win in Souhegan where he pretty much said they were the best team in the State.

I'm suprised nobody is talking about Kamahl Walker. New state, new team, new opponents, no problem. Runs the PHS offense, a knockdown shooter, good defender, and deadly dribble penetrator on a young team that many didn't believe would only have two losses at this point.

/Portsmouth bias

// But I ain't wrong!

1380TheSportsAnimal wrote: I'm suprised nobody is talking about Kamahl Walker. New state, new team, new opponents, no problem. Runs the PHS offense, a knockdown shooter, good defender, and deadly dribble penetrator on a young team that many didn't believe would only have two losses at this point.

Only those that have felt his wrath know about him so far! I've never seen him play, but he's obviously a reason why PHS has had more success than initially anticipated.

There's a lot of deserving players out there that haven't been mentioned - Adrian Edgerly of Newmarket, Ben Hill of Pittsfield, Torrey at Mascoma, the list goes on...

I will admit I have only seen Walker play 3 times. Two of the times I saw him he got into foul trouble and when he sits, the entire Portsmouth team struggles. Portsmouth struggles to bring the ball up court if he is not in the game. Not saying this is his fault, but he needs to stay out of foul trouble.
I would say he is more of an MVP than a POY if you get the difference. Portsmouth is a completely different team when he is not on the floor. I also am not saying I would give him MVP, but he is better classified there.

Kahmahl is a good young talent but i think he found out how good he really was when he played Milford this season and was a non factor as Holder and Mitchell held him to eight points in the game and on the offensive end had their way with him anytime they wanted. POY in my opinion is an all around player which does things on both sides to help their team win. I completely agree with Boxout with that statement and on the scoring sells statement too. So i guess that's what intrigues me about Holder because he's not only a threat to score twenty or thirty points a game but he's a lock down defender and someone you could easily argue as the best defender in the state. I look at the Milford team play and they do all feed off of each other like no other team i've seen out there in long time. Holder seems to be able to bring that one extra play making ability consistently during games that seem to change the flow of the game. So it's easy for me to agree with boxout assement of him. I also like Green of BG and Madol Of Memorial. With that said i am a little stumped on Madols year so far? I thought he would dominate on both ends of the floor this year more consistently and that's not what i've seen at all. Especially with a kid like Morgan who is also loaded with god given athletic talent. When it comes to Connor Green its about his conditioning and staying healty. He's a big frame with a gimpy ankle at times which certainly doesn't help his cause. But he has been playing much more consistently as of late. Should be interesting to see who gets it but all these players mentioned above are definitely worthy of it.

Last year if you ask me who POY was for D2 I thought it was Mike O, this year it may be Jamie Holder if anyone can pry it away from Spirou who has taken a young team and done so much with them. No doubt Spirou has the numbers and does everything for his team. However Jamie has done similar things for Milford. He is creeping up on Mike O for leading scorer for Milford he continues to rebound like a power Forward,defend the other teams key guy and even though he doesn't have the ball in his hands as much as Mitchell continues to have key assist as well. He has to be knocking on Spirou's door for POY.

I think it has got to be Spirou. Kid can do it all and i think he means more to any team than any other player in d2. Holder and O'loughlin hurt each other's chances significantly I think, but when it comes down to it and I need points idk who i would pick between holder and spirou..

You make some valid points KG with Spirou but for me i think if your saying who i want to have the ball in the last seconds of a game and you need points i would chose the player who can get to the rim and or create the best shot off the drive and that by far would be Holder he's a pure slasher and can rise up big time. Spirou relies on mostly screens to get his shot off or down low post moves that can be handled by another kid his size with decent quickness and to me that's the huge diffence between the two. Plus if you had the lead and needed to stop the other teams best player i'm sticking Holder on them no questions asked.

I've been giving it some thought this week. If I had a vote right now for D1 POY it would be:

John Wickey

Of all the games I've seen this year he has impressed me the most with his overall game. He has the O, the D, rebounding, team leadership and makes his team mates better.

My other candidates would be Green and McClung. It is tough for some one to win POY when there are 2 team mates that average around 20/game. They have a tendency to over shadow each other when votes come out. Is this fair to either Green or McClung? No, but it's reality.

David Madol. An interesting year for him. He has disappeared in a couple of games I've watched. In a couple of other games I've watched it seemed he could score at will. It has been an inconsistent year for him even though Memorial is at the top of the standings.

Dimitri Floras. He is having a good year, but he is too young and I think in the long run the suspension he had earlier in the year will hurt his chances.

The beauty of talking about POY is the fact two of my top 5 candidates for POY will be playing against each other this Friday at 7 pm at Memorial. A great night of basketball on tap for Friday at Memorial:

5:30 pm Central at Memorial girls. Senior night for some very special senior girls at Memorial.

7:00 pm Central at Memorial boys. #2 hosting #5. Last year they played a double OT game in the regular season that had more twists and turns than an Agathie Christie novel.

A special night of basketball at 1 Crusader Way for sure.

I'm with Chikid and KG in D2 - Pelham has gone way above and beyond what I think anybody could have expected and it all comes down to Spirou. He is the leading scorer in all divisions and has done it with all of the opposing defensive attention singularly focused on stopping him each night. Makes the season he is having all the more impressive. Not to mention he's a great passer / rebounder / defender and add into the equation how young this Pelham team is and it's hard to imagine how he wouldn't be the odds on favorite to win it.

D1 is much more difficult - but if I had to pick right now, I'd be with Tuesday and Friday and go with Wickey. He has been the leader of that team start to finish and has been asked to do it all. He's been the only real consistent scorer all year long and even with that teams have not been able to stop him. He's having a very impressive season as well - he's my front runner right now.