> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # This is what a state championship basketball tournament would have looked like - URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/this-is-what-a-state-championship-basketball-tournament-would-have-looked-like/ - Published: 2015-03-31T17:41:28.000Z - Updated: 2015-03-31T17:41:28.000Z - Description: In less than 48 hours, New Hampshire's high school athletes transitioned from winter to spring sports. - Author: Joe Marchilena - Tags: Winter Sports, boys basketball, Division I, Division II, Division III, Division IV, girls basketball, state tournament, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44 ![How would Bishop Brady have done in a state tournament? We'll never know.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/jmd2final032115-bb-2.jpg) How would Bishop Brady have done in a state tournament? We'll never know. In less than 48 hours, New Hampshire's high school athletes transitioned from winter to spring sports. OK, so not all of them had to. But some did, with the Division I and II boys basketball championship games played last Saturday, March 21, and the spring season kicking off with tryouts on Monday, March 23. And in a lot of places, those tryouts and practices took place, not on fields and courts, but in gyms and parking lots. Sure, there are some teams that are able to get on their fields - mainly lacrosse teams that play or practice on turf - and get the spring season underway. But after the unbelievable amount of snow some parts of the state received this winter, the chances of all sports starting on time - tennis and track on April 6, every other sport on April 13 - being just a tick above zero. It's not always like this, but it is in many years, it is. Spring teams don't actually see their playing surface until games actually beging. So if the spring season can't fully get underway the week after the winter season ends, why couldn't the NHIAA hold a true state boys and girls basketball tournament that week? That question was first posed [here last year](https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/imho-time-to-crown-some-true-state-champions/), when we contemplated having true state tournaments for several sports. But basketball would be a great place to start, and it seemed like this season would have been a perfect example of why there should be a state tournament. As was discussed [earlier](https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/the-land-of-the-unbeaten-who-survived/), there were five boys and girls teams that finished the year undefeated. While the teams in the small-school divisions dominated for most of the season, there were times that the teams in large-school divisions didn't, making you wonder that perhaps those smaller schools would have had a pretty good shot at toppelling their larger opponents. It happened once. On Dec. 29, Londonderry and Pelham met in the semifinals of the Lowell Holiday tournament and the Pythons [won in two overtimes](http://rallynorth.eagletribune.com/localsports/teams/show/21205?game=52987&ref=nh-highschoolsports.com). So if Pelham, the champions of Division III, can beat Londonderry, the Division I champion, why couldn't other teams from other divisions cross over and play competitive games? Last week was the perfect time for it, and it would only take a little more than a week. Here's how. ### Boys Basketball State Tournament The teams competing would be the two teams that played in each of the four division finals, making a three-round, eight-team tournament, seeded as follows: - No. 8 Conant (D3-2) vs. No. 1 Londonderry (D1-1) - No. 5 Portsmouth (D2-2) vs. No. 4 Wilton-Lyndeborough (D4-1) - No. 7 Epping (D4-2) vs. No. 2 Bishop Brady (D2-1) - No. 6 Pinkerton (D1-2) vs. No. 3 Pelham (D3-1) With that seeding, teams that played in a final wouldn't meet again unless both advanced to the championship game. The schedule could have gone like this: Quarterfinals split over two days (Monday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 24), with a day off before the semifinals (Thursday, March 26) and a day off before the championship (Saturday, March 28). ### Girls Basketball State Tournament This would be a little trickier, especially since some of the teams played their final game back on March 7\. But the NHIAA is OK with football teams going three-plus weeks between regular-season finales and Thanksgiving games, so this shouldn't be a big deal. - No. 8 Gilford (D3-2) vs. No. 1 Londonderry (D1-1) - No. 5 Goffstown (D2-2) vs. No. 4 Sunapee (D4-1) - No. 7 Colebrook (D4-2) vs. No. 2 Coe-Brown (D2-1) - No. 6 Winnacunnet (D1-2) vs. No. 3 Conant (D3-1) With all the girls teams off last week, and to keep from overlapping with the boys games, the schedule could have gone like this: Quarterfinals split over Thursday, March 19, and Friday, March 20, while the Division I and II tournaments had off days. Then play the semifinals during the boys off day (Wednesday, March 25) and the championship game as part of a doubleheader. Ideally, all games would be at a neutral site, hopefully making travel easier for both teams, and providing fans with an opportunity to see all the games. Now if only there some way to make it actually happen.