Bishop Guertin's Tyler Mackey, right, and Nashua South's Alex Hulfachor hope to help guide their teams to long tourney runs next week. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Bishop Guertin High School boys basketball coach John Fisher issued a challenge as he chuckled at the question.

Who can win the Division I boys basketball tournament?

“I double dare you to be right,” Fisher said. “This is almost as complicated as picking the NCAAs. It could be something as simple as one kid gets COVID, from one team.

“Or, it coud be as nutty as everybody (beats) everybody, and No. 10 is the state champion. That’s how this is, there’s so much parity right now. It’s going to be

really good.”

The same can probably be said for both the I and Division II tournaments which get underway this coming week.

The Division I preliminary round will be Wednesday at the home of the higher seed in what is a 15-team tournament with one team getting that coveted first round bye as the regular season wraps up this weekend.

The quarterfinals are next Saturday night at the higher seeds, and the semis will be on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at a site to be determined.

The Division II tournament starts Tuesday with the prelims at home of higher seeds, then quarters next Friday, same deal. The semifinals are at Oyster River High School next Tuesday.

The finals are part of a quadruple-header with the girls at the University of New Hampshire on Sunday, Feb. 20. The Division I boys are bright and early at

10 a.m.while the Division II game follows at 1 p.m.

Who will be there? Let’s try to figure that out:

DIVISION I

Locally, there are two major contenders, Nashua North and Fisher’s defending champion Cardinals.

The Titans have overcome a lot to be one of the state’s top teams, including the injury losses of key players Jack Sullivan and Thomas Laurendi. A lot has fallen on the shoulders of scorer Trevor Labrecque and point guard Jayden Montgomery, but they coud get some help from freshman sharpshooter Parth Miglani, and Derek Finlay had a 20-point night on Wednesday.A lot of players will need to come of age in the tourney atmosphere, but this is a resilient team.

The Cardinals, another top team, finally found some consistency with a nine-game winning streak as junior guard-forward Matt Santosuosso got his basketball legs. They have a lot of pieces – shooter Luke Anderson, forward Javari Ellison, guard Tyler Mackey – but they will likely now go as Santosuosso goes. But if they don’t shoot well, they will have problems: witness their loss to Portsmouth this past Wednesday.

How good is Trinity? The Pioneers’ lone loss before the end of the week was to Goffstown, so now the question also has to be asked how good the Grizzlies, led by point guard Rob Baguidy, are. Friday night’s scheduled matchup with Goffstown at BG would give us a lot of answers there, and many think the Grizzlies, when healthy are the most talented team. But the Pioneers have a Merrimack feel to them with scorer Tyler Bike and head coach Keith Bike, both from the local town. Plus a great home court advantage for the first two rounds.

“Trinity is just so lethal,” Nashua South coach Nate Mazerolle said. “It seems like they have kids come out of the bleachers who can shoot it. Really can shoot it.”

The other contenders? Pinkerton, which started off on fire until Nashua North handed them their first loss last month, and Portsmouth.

Darkhorse? Why not Nashua South? The Panthers at midweek had found their stride, are ending the season on a solid note, as freshmen Josh Caruso and Alize Roig-Cortes have developed nicely along with sophomore Zac Castonguay to go with 6-8 senior Rhett Medling. The Panthers are likely one team no one wants to play. “We’re playing our best basketball,” Mazerolle said after his team won its fifth straight this past Wednesday.

Manchester Central, fighting for the last spot, might be another tough first round opponent. Meanwhile, it would be nice to see Alvirne’s Brendan Graham and Merrimack’s Jack Tarleton to get a postseason chance. The Broncos were long shots at week’s end, but Merrimack looked like it would come up short.

“The seeding is getting in place, the tournament’s getting in place,” Central coach Sudi Lett said, his team in that race with the Broncos for the last spot. “To win it all? You’ve got to be healthy. I think it’s going to be similar to the NBA bubble. The healthiest team will win, I’m thinking. But we’ll have to wait and see.”

THE PICK: Goffstown. We closed our eyes and took the dare

DIVISION II

Two teams will likely get byes, and right now it looks like the Souhegan Sabers plus Lebanon, which beat Souhegan in Amherst.

The Sabers are soooo for real. They have the height in 6-7 Johnny McBride. As he goes, it seems, so go the Sabers, who when they’re clicking have a nice one-two punch with him and junior guard Matt Canavan. The Sabers opened a lot of eyes after bouncing back from the Lebanon loss to get wins over two other potential favorites, Pelham and Pembroke. Not easy.

It’s just a different year, it’s been a funny year,” Souhegan coach Peter Pierce said. “Everybody’s schedule is compressed. I think health has a lot to do with it, who’s going to be healthy at the end. Not only just with COVID, but with ankles, elbows, all that stuff.”

“I think there’s like six good teams,” Lebanon coach Kieth Matte said, “and a bunch of teams that can beat any of us. It’s a really interesting year. We had really close games with Laconia, Milford, Coe-Brown, Merrimack Valley, those teams in the middle. And then we (beat) Souhegan. I don’t know.”

The Raiders go as far as their defense, led by Jackson Stone, and a driving offense paced by Cole Fabry, both seniors. That experience is key.

Pelham, led by senior Jake McGlinchey, certainly looked good, 12-0 before losing back to backs to Souhegan and ConVal. Very athletic, they’ll still need to beat the iron to get that confidence back.

A team that would be tough early is Milford, simply because the Chuck Urda-Ryon Constable Spartans will play you hard. They had a realistic chance at one of the last couple of spots at week’s end.

But locally, all eyes will be on Souhegan.

“This team needs to grow,” Pierce said nearly two weeks ago after the Sabers’ lone loss, at home to Lebanon. “They’re not done growing yet.”

They may grow all the way to reaching a college – UNH – and taking home a trophy on its floor, Lundholm Gym.

THE PICK: Lebanon. Eight

seniors.