The Merrimack Valley Sports Division IV mid-season snapshot
2015-01-27
Jordan Litts wants to lead Wilton-Lyndeborough deep in the tournament
By Dave Haley We start with Division IV as we will take a mid-season look at all four divisions in New Hampshire high school basketball.
This column has been, for eight years now, an annual look at each division at the half-way point of the season with the purpose of stopping to take a look around at where we stand today and are most likely headed in the second half of the season.
As I always do I pick the teams most likely to meet on the final Saturday afternoon of the season, hand out mid-season all-state picks as well as our mid-season Coach of the Year (highlighted by the year I picked Groveton’s Mark Collins who then promptly lost eight games in a row and subtly blamed me for it..).
I’ve added a new feature this year - the most intriguing team in the division and the reasons for giving that team the distinction.
We'll have a look at Division III tomorrow (if I still have electricity..) and the top two divisions next week.
If forced today to pick the two teams that will meet in the final:
Wilton-Lyndeborough vs. Epping
I came away from our highlights package, brought to you by NHsportspage team members Mike Pezone & Jennifer Chick, with a pretty clear impression of both Wilton-Lyndeborough and Sunapee. Ken Garnham’s team is starting to look like a balanced five man unit on the floor and you absolutely believed Garnham after the game when he told Mike Pezone he feels very strongly that this team has not peaked yet.
Jordan Litts was our pre-season player of the year and spoiler alert..he’s still sitting in that spot today. What’s most impressive about Litts is how he has put winning basketball games above wowing you with his scoring totals. Litts could have easily come into the season saying ‘I’m going to score 30 points a game and have everyone in the state google mapping Lyndeborough, NH to see what the fuss is about’ but instead he realized a one man team was only going to get him so far.
Newcomers Ty and Trey Carrier have gotten more comfortable by the week, Casey Lane is going to be an all-state point guard in the next few years and Connor Melrose & Duncan Rae just quietly go about their jobs. That’s a very strong rotation and they are led by a veteran coach.
I was talking to Littleton head coach Trevor Howard about Litts and he said he reminded him of his 2012 NHsportspage player of the year Sam Brammer. It’s the perfect comparison. Both players play very strong from the guard position and can rip rebounds away from bigger forwards. Both are fearless (Brammer the better perimeter shooter while Litts is better finishing at the rim) and lead their teams by example. Litts can finish in the paint against anyone but he won’t force it if you leave one of his shooters open in the corner. A year ago there was no one in that corner he trusted. That has changed.
As for the defending champs they need to be allowed their hiccups. Forward Alex Hackett left the team, Nick Padgett, a valuable rotation player a year ago, never came out for the team (let’s call that a mutual decision) and there have been the usual injuries and illnesses.
Here’s what they have; 1) Maybe the best center in the division in Brett Couture 2) a very good on the ball defender to wear point guards down in Tommy Bullock 3) media star Colby Wilson, who is learning life without the Jimmy Stanley double teams is a little tougher than expected and 4) a coach in Sean Young who has won a title and knows he is in a marathon, not a sprint. Jackson Rivers is still raw but he gives this team another rebounder next to Couture while Dylan Derosier (13.1 ppg.) is starting to really assert himself. This team has three guys who can go for 20 on you any given night, a good rebounding frontcourt and Bullock driving you nuts with the basketball in the your hands. That’s more than enough.
Over the next month and a half they need to figure out how to get Wilson better looks, continue to play through the post with Couture (he should touch the ball on every possession, he’s experienced enough to know when to kick it out) and Sean Young can loosen the reigns a bit with Derosier and let him starting exploiting the guy struggling to cover him. It’s all about tinkering with this group.
A year ago Epping won with a team that was fighting its reputation all the way to Plymouth State. Remember Jake West was suspended for the semifinal game and the Jimmy Stanley saga was the Deflate-Gate of Division IV…no coach within 200 miles of Telly’s was lacking for an opinion on that one. This is a hard working group that also seems to be far from its peak. The guess here is both Wilton-Lyndeborough and Epping figure it out by March and meet on the floor at Foley Gymnasium.
Most intriguing team in the division: Sunapee
Oh come on who else could it possibly could it be? I could write a 3,000 word column based on their body language alone.
We think we know what we have here: A very good coach and two of three best players in the entire division surrounded by inexperienced soccer & baseball players working hard to get up to speed in a trial by fire atmosphere.
You see Sunapee wasn’t afraid to keep their foot on the peddle when they were up 25 points on teams a year ago and thus there isn’t a team on their schedule throwing a pity party over the fact that Jesse Stiffler left for Newport and two thought to be rotation guys decided not to play. What it has left Sunapee with is two players who have to do not only all the scoring but more importantly, are too vital to place in harm’s way on the defensive end (in this case some official calling three fouls on either of them early on).
Issaiah Chappell & Matt Tenney can’t guard a Jordan Litts or a Colby Wilson man to man for very long because if they get into foul trouble Ed Tenney has to take them out. If that happens the double teams those two usually see would suddenly turn into the five guys from The Dragons who tried to guard Teen Wolf.
So where is Sunapee’s place in this race? They are a team likely to finish around 8-10 or even 7-11 (remember Tenney & Chappell missed the first three games of the season). That puts them at about a 12 or 13 seed. You think Groveton or Littleton wants this team coming their way in round one? No way, that’s a nightmare.
Allow me to set the scene…. You have a high seed playing at home in the first round and after missing your opening shot Chappell dribbles up the right sideline, pulls up from 25 feet and drains a three in front of your bench with a look on his face like he’s not going anywhere for the next 90 minutes.
That is the absolute worst case scenario and a very realistic one. Here’s another scary scenario; the Lakers get a combined 20 points from the ‘supporting cast’. That puts them north of 60 points and in range to beat anyone.
How will it play out? Is this a team with two elite players and a tough/hard-nosed supporting cast or are they simply playing 2 on 5?
We’ll know in the next six weeks but no one knows for sure today. Not even in that locker room..
Player of the mid-point of the season: Jordan Litts of Wilton-Lyndeborough
For all the well documented reasons above. We’ve seen him literally win a tournament game by himself last year…he no longer has to do that and he is making his teammates better in the process.
Coach of the mid-point of the season: The Big Smooth Lewis Atkins of Portsmouth Christian
We all love to analyze Epping, Derryfield, Colebrook, Groveton, Derryfield and Sunapee. Has anyone noticed The Big Smooth is 6-1 with wins over Epping, Kennett and Farmington (their lone loss to Farmington was with two starters missing)?
PCA still has a pair of games against Derryfield & Moultonborough plus a rematch with Epping to end the season but this is no mirage. PCA is pretty good and now that Atkins finally has a team of basketball players who want to get better he’s showing he’s pretty good too.
First Team All-State (First half of the Season)
Jordan Litts of Wilton-Lyndeborough
Issaiah Chappell of Sunapee
Matt Tenney of Sunapee
Sam Anderson of Derryfield School
Brett Couture of Epping
With apologies to: Corey Gadwah of Groveton, Sedrick McKinnon & Richard Davis of Colebrook, Colby Wilson & Dylan Derosier of Epping, Eric Bontemps & Paul Staude of Portsmouth Christian, Danny Brammer of Littleton, Ian Baker of Profile, Xenthios Cyr of Pittsfield, Jaret Bemis & Derek Maccini of Woodsville, Conner Bradway of Nute, Rob Rizios & Patrick McGinley of Derryfield, Riley Swedberg & Johnny McClay of Moultonborough, Trey & Ty Carrier of Wilton-Lyndeborough, Josh Woods of Lisbon and Devon Rivera of Lin-Wood.
Coming Wednesday: Division III
As I always do I pick the teams most likely to meet on the final Saturday afternoon of the season, hand out mid-season all-state picks as well as our mid-season Coach of the Year (highlighted by the year I picked Groveton’s Mark Collins who then promptly lost eight games in a row and subtly blamed me for it..).
I’ve added a new feature this year - the most intriguing team in the division and the reasons for giving that team the distinction.
We'll have a look at Division III tomorrow (if I still have electricity..) and the top two divisions next week.
If forced today to pick the two teams that will meet in the final:
Wilton-Lyndeborough vs. Epping
I came away from our highlights package, brought to you by NHsportspage team members Mike Pezone & Jennifer Chick, with a pretty clear impression of both Wilton-Lyndeborough and Sunapee. Ken Garnham’s team is starting to look like a balanced five man unit on the floor and you absolutely believed Garnham after the game when he told Mike Pezone he feels very strongly that this team has not peaked yet.
Jordan Litts was our pre-season player of the year and spoiler alert..he’s still sitting in that spot today. What’s most impressive about Litts is how he has put winning basketball games above wowing you with his scoring totals. Litts could have easily come into the season saying ‘I’m going to score 30 points a game and have everyone in the state google mapping Lyndeborough, NH to see what the fuss is about’ but instead he realized a one man team was only going to get him so far.
Newcomers Ty and Trey Carrier have gotten more comfortable by the week, Casey Lane is going to be an all-state point guard in the next few years and Connor Melrose & Duncan Rae just quietly go about their jobs. That’s a very strong rotation and they are led by a veteran coach.
I was talking to Littleton head coach Trevor Howard about Litts and he said he reminded him of his 2012 NHsportspage player of the year Sam Brammer. It’s the perfect comparison. Both players play very strong from the guard position and can rip rebounds away from bigger forwards. Both are fearless (Brammer the better perimeter shooter while Litts is better finishing at the rim) and lead their teams by example. Litts can finish in the paint against anyone but he won’t force it if you leave one of his shooters open in the corner. A year ago there was no one in that corner he trusted. That has changed.
As for the defending champs they need to be allowed their hiccups. Forward Alex Hackett left the team, Nick Padgett, a valuable rotation player a year ago, never came out for the team (let’s call that a mutual decision) and there have been the usual injuries and illnesses.
Here’s what they have; 1) Maybe the best center in the division in Brett Couture 2) a very good on the ball defender to wear point guards down in Tommy Bullock 3) media star Colby Wilson, who is learning life without the Jimmy Stanley double teams is a little tougher than expected and 4) a coach in Sean Young who has won a title and knows he is in a marathon, not a sprint. Jackson Rivers is still raw but he gives this team another rebounder next to Couture while Dylan Derosier (13.1 ppg.) is starting to really assert himself. This team has three guys who can go for 20 on you any given night, a good rebounding frontcourt and Bullock driving you nuts with the basketball in the your hands. That’s more than enough.
Over the next month and a half they need to figure out how to get Wilson better looks, continue to play through the post with Couture (he should touch the ball on every possession, he’s experienced enough to know when to kick it out) and Sean Young can loosen the reigns a bit with Derosier and let him starting exploiting the guy struggling to cover him. It’s all about tinkering with this group.
A year ago Epping won with a team that was fighting its reputation all the way to Plymouth State. Remember Jake West was suspended for the semifinal game and the Jimmy Stanley saga was the Deflate-Gate of Division IV…no coach within 200 miles of Telly’s was lacking for an opinion on that one. This is a hard working group that also seems to be far from its peak. The guess here is both Wilton-Lyndeborough and Epping figure it out by March and meet on the floor at Foley Gymnasium.
Most intriguing team in the division: Sunapee
Oh come on who else could it possibly could it be? I could write a 3,000 word column based on their body language alone.
We think we know what we have here: A very good coach and two of three best players in the entire division surrounded by inexperienced soccer & baseball players working hard to get up to speed in a trial by fire atmosphere.
You see Sunapee wasn’t afraid to keep their foot on the peddle when they were up 25 points on teams a year ago and thus there isn’t a team on their schedule throwing a pity party over the fact that Jesse Stiffler left for Newport and two thought to be rotation guys decided not to play. What it has left Sunapee with is two players who have to do not only all the scoring but more importantly, are too vital to place in harm’s way on the defensive end (in this case some official calling three fouls on either of them early on).
Issaiah Chappell & Matt Tenney can’t guard a Jordan Litts or a Colby Wilson man to man for very long because if they get into foul trouble Ed Tenney has to take them out. If that happens the double teams those two usually see would suddenly turn into the five guys from The Dragons who tried to guard Teen Wolf.
So where is Sunapee’s place in this race? They are a team likely to finish around 8-10 or even 7-11 (remember Tenney & Chappell missed the first three games of the season). That puts them at about a 12 or 13 seed. You think Groveton or Littleton wants this team coming their way in round one? No way, that’s a nightmare.
Allow me to set the scene…. You have a high seed playing at home in the first round and after missing your opening shot Chappell dribbles up the right sideline, pulls up from 25 feet and drains a three in front of your bench with a look on his face like he’s not going anywhere for the next 90 minutes.
That is the absolute worst case scenario and a very realistic one. Here’s another scary scenario; the Lakers get a combined 20 points from the ‘supporting cast’. That puts them north of 60 points and in range to beat anyone.
How will it play out? Is this a team with two elite players and a tough/hard-nosed supporting cast or are they simply playing 2 on 5?
We’ll know in the next six weeks but no one knows for sure today. Not even in that locker room..
Player of the mid-point of the season: Jordan Litts of Wilton-Lyndeborough
For all the well documented reasons above. We’ve seen him literally win a tournament game by himself last year…he no longer has to do that and he is making his teammates better in the process.
Coach of the mid-point of the season: The Big Smooth Lewis Atkins of Portsmouth Christian
We all love to analyze Epping, Derryfield, Colebrook, Groveton, Derryfield and Sunapee. Has anyone noticed The Big Smooth is 6-1 with wins over Epping, Kennett and Farmington (their lone loss to Farmington was with two starters missing)?
PCA still has a pair of games against Derryfield & Moultonborough plus a rematch with Epping to end the season but this is no mirage. PCA is pretty good and now that Atkins finally has a team of basketball players who want to get better he’s showing he’s pretty good too.
First Team All-State (First half of the Season)
Jordan Litts of Wilton-Lyndeborough
Issaiah Chappell of Sunapee
Matt Tenney of Sunapee
Sam Anderson of Derryfield School
Brett Couture of Epping
With apologies to: Corey Gadwah of Groveton, Sedrick McKinnon & Richard Davis of Colebrook, Colby Wilson & Dylan Derosier of Epping, Eric Bontemps & Paul Staude of Portsmouth Christian, Danny Brammer of Littleton, Ian Baker of Profile, Xenthios Cyr of Pittsfield, Jaret Bemis & Derek Maccini of Woodsville, Conner Bradway of Nute, Rob Rizios & Patrick McGinley of Derryfield, Riley Swedberg & Johnny McClay of Moultonborough, Trey & Ty Carrier of Wilton-Lyndeborough, Josh Woods of Lisbon and Devon Rivera of Lin-Wood.
Coming Wednesday: Division III