The Neighborhood Fundraising Division III Mid-Season snapshot
2015-01-28
Dana Bean and Franklin have been a surprise team in Division III
By Dave Haley We take a look today at Division III at the midway point of the season.
If forced today to pick the two teams that will meet in the final:
Pelham vs. Campbell
I’m well aware this is the safe pick but it’s also the only pick that really makes sense.
Let’s start with our pre-season #1.
At 9-0 Matt Regan’s team is averaging 68.6 points per game and allowing just 41.1. A closer look though tells you it’s a lot more one sided than that. Regan is calling off the dogs early and trying not to embarrass people. Pelham led Raymond 45-15 at the half & Monadnock 54-10 and sent in the reserves in the third quarter.
Pre-season player of the year Keith Brown is averaging 20.8 ppg. and is doing that while often playing only two quarters a night. Ryan Cloutier is putting up 14.2 in the same amount of playing time while David Rogers is playing stellar defensively. Ryan Rondeau has become the third option offensively and Dylan Silvestri is doing everything you need to win games. Any coach in the state would find a spot for Sylvestri; you win a lot of games with kids like him.
The underrated and overlooked facet of this team is their defense. Conant looked to the casual observer (or some guy watching on an iPhone 2,000 miles away) like they were trying to slow the game down but in actuality they were waiting for a good shot and rarely could find one. Pelham switched so well defensively that Pete Tarrier thought they were playing a match-up zone. This is an elite defense.
Teams though will try to take the air out of the ball when we get to the tournament. Berlin, Campbell and Conant have showed in the past that they have the discipline to do that. My gut instinct tells me that when Winnisquam and Newport face the Pythons in the coming weeks (Pete Tarrier will be covering the Winnisquam game) both teams will try and play at a faster pace to see how they stack up. Newport likely feels like they can score with Pelham and Winnisquam goes in with a good amount of curiosity. Londonderry is the highest scoring team in Division I and Pelham outscored them, so let the world beware as they say.
What Campbell has going for it is a clear idea of who they are. John Langlois has done a very good job (he took over for a very good coach Pat Roye who was also one of the best in the division) and knows what he has. Campbell is going to set the pace, they are going to throw multiple defenses at you and run plays for their #1 option (Bergeon) until you stop it. When you do they are going to counter it by reversing the basketball and getting players like Andrew Smarse and Kyle Shaw involved. Justin DiBenedetto does a nice job handling the ball and Harrison Vedrani is going to push you off your spot on the low block and many times is their most valuable player on the floor. It’s a team where the pieces seem to fit nicely.
As for other contenders to get to the final Saturday of the season:
Berlin has gotten production as usual from an Arsenault but it is freshman point guard Evan more so than power forward Levi. It is still the elder Arsenualt who holds the key to this team: when Levi is dialed in and under control he is a terrific rebounder and defender. He has been hampered with a knee injury (which goes all the way back to the pre-season) that has kept him out since the Kennett loss. His return will be a major boost to this team.
Nick Foder has played very well at center while Tommy Gallagher is a very underrated guard and Dustin Moore is the glue guy who plays defense & can score when left alone. The issue with Berlin is their schedule, who have they beat? A five point win over Franklin (vastly improved but also benefitting from a weak schedule) is their best win of the season. Overall the record of the Mountaineers opponents this season is 18-44. Dave Morrisette is doing a good job & winning games as he takes over for Don Picard but there is still an awful lot to be learned about this team. The second half, with games against Winnisquam, Gilford and Kennett will tell us more.
Winnisquam is ten points better than Gilford, Campbell is ten points better than Winnisquam and Pelham is ten points better than Campbell. That’s your very simple line to the top. This is a good basketball team. The second half of the season brings with it match-ups against Berlin, the aforementioned showdown with Pelham and rematches with Franklin & Gilford. We’ll know exactly where this team stands come March.
Most intriguing team in the division: Newport
Which brings us to the last of the major contenders…
Newport wanted Conant, they got them, and they couldn’t beat them on their home floor. That’s not to say we can bury the Tigers. This is a tough bunch and they are well coached. Two years ago when a pair of sophomores led this team to the Final Four at SNHU it was natural for them to envision one or even a pair of titles behind Andrew Houde and Spencer Coronis. An early first round exit a year ago changed that outlook and this is the team that seems most perplexed about Pelham walking in the room.
Last season we talked about Epping holding it together on & off the floor all the way to March. With Newport it comes down to this; when the ‘you know what hits the fan’ do the one pass 22 footers with a hand in your face habits re-surface? I can tell you from talking to a lot of coaches in this division that people are dubious that those habits have been completely erased..
Player of the mid-point of the season: Keith Brown of Pelham
Brown is the best offensive player in Division III but here’s another facet of his game that doesn’t get enough attention. In a 56-45 December win over Campbell teammate Ryan Rondeau started out the game covering Campbell all-state forward Zach Bergeon. Rondeau picked up a couple of quick fouls that forced head coach Matt Regan to change his original defensive assignments. Before he even had time to make the decision Brown spoke up and said “ He’s mine. I’m covering him.” And that was that…Brown held Bergeon to six points over the next three quarters of the game.
Co-Coaches of the mid-point of the season: Matt Regan of Pelham and Rich Otis of Franklin
Matt Regan has the best team in Division III but it is about how they play the game as much as it about the talent on the floor. This is a disciplined team on both ends of the floor and Regan learned under one of his mentors Jim Mulvey, what to look for and focus on when you scout. The truth is if you are bringing your team into a game with only a vague sense of what your opponent does your are playing checkers while they play chess. Coaches like Eric Saucier, Regan, Dave Chase and formerly Don Picard, know what your favorite sets to run are, your best out of bounds play and how you attack pressure. They’ll take that away. That is good coaching.
As for Rich Otis at Franklin….do you know the easiest way to get kids to buy into what you are selling them as a coach? Win games.
When I sat in on the last 20 minutes of a Franklin practice back in December (Franklin is raising money through Neighborhood Fundraising) this was a team that didn’t know how to play man to man defense (they had been a zone team in the past), weren’t comfortable sharing the ball and weren’t exactly happy about all the sudden changes.
A month later this team moves to the beat of point guard Kenny Torres, runs the offense through Dana Bean in the post and puts Bruce Carey in good position to score. Defensively they play you tight and funnel everything to their 6’8 center. Simple, smart and nine games in….very effective.
First Team All-State (First half of the Season)
Keith Brown of Pelham
Zach Bergeon of Campbell
Andrew Houde of Newport
Jared Stauffeneker of Mascenic Regional
Ryan Cloutier of Pelham
With apologies to: Colby Malo of Raymond, Dana Bean & Kenny Torres of Franklin, Spencer Coronis of Newport, Christian Serrano & Torrey Martinez of Winnisquam, Zach Mattos of Kearsarge Regional, Luke Luneau of Hopkinton, Josh DeGrenier & Brandon Ford of Conant, Dillon Dow of Inter-Lakes, Nick Foder of Berlin, Ryan Rondeau & Dylan Silvestri of Pelham, Ryan Murdoch of Fall Mtn., Harrison Vedrani of Campbell, Andrew Cashe of Mascoma, Spencer Deland of Farmington & Matt Ehrenberg of Bow.
Game of the Week coverage returns tomorrow night when The Great Jon Kesty and I cover Laconia at Gilford
Pelham vs. Campbell
I’m well aware this is the safe pick but it’s also the only pick that really makes sense.
Let’s start with our pre-season #1.
At 9-0 Matt Regan’s team is averaging 68.6 points per game and allowing just 41.1. A closer look though tells you it’s a lot more one sided than that. Regan is calling off the dogs early and trying not to embarrass people. Pelham led Raymond 45-15 at the half & Monadnock 54-10 and sent in the reserves in the third quarter.
Pre-season player of the year Keith Brown is averaging 20.8 ppg. and is doing that while often playing only two quarters a night. Ryan Cloutier is putting up 14.2 in the same amount of playing time while David Rogers is playing stellar defensively. Ryan Rondeau has become the third option offensively and Dylan Silvestri is doing everything you need to win games. Any coach in the state would find a spot for Sylvestri; you win a lot of games with kids like him.
The underrated and overlooked facet of this team is their defense. Conant looked to the casual observer (or some guy watching on an iPhone 2,000 miles away) like they were trying to slow the game down but in actuality they were waiting for a good shot and rarely could find one. Pelham switched so well defensively that Pete Tarrier thought they were playing a match-up zone. This is an elite defense.
Teams though will try to take the air out of the ball when we get to the tournament. Berlin, Campbell and Conant have showed in the past that they have the discipline to do that. My gut instinct tells me that when Winnisquam and Newport face the Pythons in the coming weeks (Pete Tarrier will be covering the Winnisquam game) both teams will try and play at a faster pace to see how they stack up. Newport likely feels like they can score with Pelham and Winnisquam goes in with a good amount of curiosity. Londonderry is the highest scoring team in Division I and Pelham outscored them, so let the world beware as they say.
What Campbell has going for it is a clear idea of who they are. John Langlois has done a very good job (he took over for a very good coach Pat Roye who was also one of the best in the division) and knows what he has. Campbell is going to set the pace, they are going to throw multiple defenses at you and run plays for their #1 option (Bergeon) until you stop it. When you do they are going to counter it by reversing the basketball and getting players like Andrew Smarse and Kyle Shaw involved. Justin DiBenedetto does a nice job handling the ball and Harrison Vedrani is going to push you off your spot on the low block and many times is their most valuable player on the floor. It’s a team where the pieces seem to fit nicely.
As for other contenders to get to the final Saturday of the season:
Berlin has gotten production as usual from an Arsenault but it is freshman point guard Evan more so than power forward Levi. It is still the elder Arsenualt who holds the key to this team: when Levi is dialed in and under control he is a terrific rebounder and defender. He has been hampered with a knee injury (which goes all the way back to the pre-season) that has kept him out since the Kennett loss. His return will be a major boost to this team.
Nick Foder has played very well at center while Tommy Gallagher is a very underrated guard and Dustin Moore is the glue guy who plays defense & can score when left alone. The issue with Berlin is their schedule, who have they beat? A five point win over Franklin (vastly improved but also benefitting from a weak schedule) is their best win of the season. Overall the record of the Mountaineers opponents this season is 18-44. Dave Morrisette is doing a good job & winning games as he takes over for Don Picard but there is still an awful lot to be learned about this team. The second half, with games against Winnisquam, Gilford and Kennett will tell us more.
Winnisquam is ten points better than Gilford, Campbell is ten points better than Winnisquam and Pelham is ten points better than Campbell. That’s your very simple line to the top. This is a good basketball team. The second half of the season brings with it match-ups against Berlin, the aforementioned showdown with Pelham and rematches with Franklin & Gilford. We’ll know exactly where this team stands come March.
Most intriguing team in the division: Newport
Which brings us to the last of the major contenders…
Newport wanted Conant, they got them, and they couldn’t beat them on their home floor. That’s not to say we can bury the Tigers. This is a tough bunch and they are well coached. Two years ago when a pair of sophomores led this team to the Final Four at SNHU it was natural for them to envision one or even a pair of titles behind Andrew Houde and Spencer Coronis. An early first round exit a year ago changed that outlook and this is the team that seems most perplexed about Pelham walking in the room.
Last season we talked about Epping holding it together on & off the floor all the way to March. With Newport it comes down to this; when the ‘you know what hits the fan’ do the one pass 22 footers with a hand in your face habits re-surface? I can tell you from talking to a lot of coaches in this division that people are dubious that those habits have been completely erased..
Player of the mid-point of the season: Keith Brown of Pelham
Brown is the best offensive player in Division III but here’s another facet of his game that doesn’t get enough attention. In a 56-45 December win over Campbell teammate Ryan Rondeau started out the game covering Campbell all-state forward Zach Bergeon. Rondeau picked up a couple of quick fouls that forced head coach Matt Regan to change his original defensive assignments. Before he even had time to make the decision Brown spoke up and said “ He’s mine. I’m covering him.” And that was that…Brown held Bergeon to six points over the next three quarters of the game.
Co-Coaches of the mid-point of the season: Matt Regan of Pelham and Rich Otis of Franklin
Matt Regan has the best team in Division III but it is about how they play the game as much as it about the talent on the floor. This is a disciplined team on both ends of the floor and Regan learned under one of his mentors Jim Mulvey, what to look for and focus on when you scout. The truth is if you are bringing your team into a game with only a vague sense of what your opponent does your are playing checkers while they play chess. Coaches like Eric Saucier, Regan, Dave Chase and formerly Don Picard, know what your favorite sets to run are, your best out of bounds play and how you attack pressure. They’ll take that away. That is good coaching.
As for Rich Otis at Franklin….do you know the easiest way to get kids to buy into what you are selling them as a coach? Win games.
When I sat in on the last 20 minutes of a Franklin practice back in December (Franklin is raising money through Neighborhood Fundraising) this was a team that didn’t know how to play man to man defense (they had been a zone team in the past), weren’t comfortable sharing the ball and weren’t exactly happy about all the sudden changes.
A month later this team moves to the beat of point guard Kenny Torres, runs the offense through Dana Bean in the post and puts Bruce Carey in good position to score. Defensively they play you tight and funnel everything to their 6’8 center. Simple, smart and nine games in….very effective.
First Team All-State (First half of the Season)
Keith Brown of Pelham
Zach Bergeon of Campbell
Andrew Houde of Newport
Jared Stauffeneker of Mascenic Regional
Ryan Cloutier of Pelham
With apologies to: Colby Malo of Raymond, Dana Bean & Kenny Torres of Franklin, Spencer Coronis of Newport, Christian Serrano & Torrey Martinez of Winnisquam, Zach Mattos of Kearsarge Regional, Luke Luneau of Hopkinton, Josh DeGrenier & Brandon Ford of Conant, Dillon Dow of Inter-Lakes, Nick Foder of Berlin, Ryan Rondeau & Dylan Silvestri of Pelham, Ryan Murdoch of Fall Mtn., Harrison Vedrani of Campbell, Andrew Cashe of Mascoma, Spencer Deland of Farmington & Matt Ehrenberg of Bow.
Game of the Week coverage returns tomorrow night when The Great Jon Kesty and I cover Laconia at Gilford