It’s Finals Day.

Yes, it will seem strange to wrap up the Divsion I and II boys and girls basketball seasons before we even observe Presidents Day but that’s a subject that’s been beaten to death. Whispers are the NHIAA will tack on two weeks to the season next year as a compromise.

But today is all about the players, and the rivalries that will be in the spotlight at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym.

The Division I boys 10 a.m. game features two incredibly talented teams in Trinity and Goffstown, the Pioneers with a local flavor of the Bikes, coach Keith and standout player Tyler from Merrimack. The only thing is you’ll have to somehow make it to Durham by 10 a.m.to catch it in person.

In the 1 p.m. game, the local flavor broadens, with the Souhegan boys seeking their first title since 2004. The Sabers have come out of nowhere, with head coach Peter Pierce taking advantage his team’s athleticism to overcome inexperience and be the dominant Division II team all winter.

The Sabers, led by 6-8 Johnny McBride and guard Matt Canavan are one of the best stories of the winter.

Then we get into the meat and potatoes. Bishop Guertin and Bedford girls basketball, playing it again.

It’s one of the best rivalries in the state, in any sport. It really hit a new level when Brad Kreick took over the Guertin program and won four straight titles.

The programs are always linked. They play each other early in the season and then eye each other rest of the way from afar – like the U.S.-Soviet Cold War of decades ago – until that inevitable post season confrontation.

It’s what makes it fun to do this job, what makes it fun for the fans, and the players. But you wouldn’t find anyone from Cardinal circles to say it was fun losing by 18 to the Bulldogs in last year’s title game. But the best thing about that was it was a great player, Bedford’s Isabella King, playing perhaps her greatest game in the best situation, for a championship.

The look, though, in Guertin guard Brooke Paquette’s eyes said it all after the Cards beat Pinkerton in the Division I semis this past week in Exeter. Asked about seeing Bedford gain, the words “redemption game” were uttered. Make no mistake, that loss has fueled Paquette and her teammates all season. Make no mistake, Bedford is just as motivated to make it two straight titles.

“It’s absolutely a really strong rivalry, but it’s a healthy rivalry,” said Kreick, who was part of some good Nashua-BG rivalries as a Panther football and hockey player in the 1980s, said. “Kevin (Bedford coach Gibbs) and I talk all the time but not this week. The kids all know each other.”

That’s what makes a rivalry like this so great. Like we’ve said in this space in the past, it’s memorable of the Nashua-Londonderry girls basketball rivalry from the John Fagula Panthers days.

Those finals were played at Lundholm as well, but this is the first one at UNH in a long time. Lundholm always plays a part in title games because it’s a bigger college floor. High school players aren’t used to it, are often intimidated, and it takes a while for shooters to get into rhythm. That’s why first half scores are always so low.

Kreick has always had his team in between the semis and finals practice on a bigger floor once, and they did so the other day locally. Previous finals have been as SNHU, also a bigger college floor, but as Kreick said, “Just the way it’s set up at UNH, it seems bigger.”

As Pierce said, “I’ve seen enough high school basketball there to know it will have an impact on the game.”

With BG, a team that relies a lot on the press, the wide open spaces of Lundholm may not be to its liking. But we’ll see.

It’s why they play the games. And with these teams today, we’re glad they are.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.