Cooper's Army?

Who are we kidding? We all know what the big story was Saturday.

Maine fans flock to see Flagg, Duke beat BC

Fans made the trek from Maine to see Cooper Flagg and Duke beat Boston College on Saturday night; Flagg finished with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists.

ESPNESPN

"It's huge, the level of support, just to get to see them show up and support me means a lot to me. Just gives me a lot of confidence," Flagg said. "Being from Maine ... when I was growing up, it's easy to just not believe in yourself or just think you can't do that. I just want to keep proving that it doesn't really matter where you're from. As long as you stick to it and keep working, you can make anything happen."

Everyone was there.

As usual, Cooper Flagg delivered and then some.

Travis is right. If we're going to be doing this for another 15 years, we need to get our branding down. There could be t-shirts.

Coop's Troop? Flagg Something? I dunno.

We had a thriller in the County as Bri Levesque's layup with 6.4 seconds left gave Caribou a 1-point win over Hermon.

Aroostook County Hoops has the clip at their Facebook page.

Greenville's Liam Mason hit 1,000 points against Bangor Christian. Eastern Maine Sports spoke to him after the game.

Elsewhere:

Madeline Hill scored 22 and Liana Hartwell added 20 points and 12 steals as Valley blew out Pine Tree...Rajon Reed had 21 in Bangor Christian's win over Greenville...Jeremy Therrien had a game-high 21 points for Wells, but it wasn't enough to beat Jacoby Bardsley's 19 for Lake Region...Bryce Wilcox's 18 led Mount Abram to a win over Lisbon...Finley Cooper scored 24 for Islesboro, but they fell to a balanced Richmond attack...Valley's Fisher Tewksbury dropped 23 on Pine Tree...Braden Branagan had 14 in Winthrop's win over Madison.

This is from Friday, but it's another dunk technical, this time on Greely Kade Ippolito. This should jump to 12:39 in the feed.

You make the call!

Tonight's Leavitt/Spruce Mountain doubleheader is a fundraiser for Camp KITA. From the fundraising page:

Welcome to our new home, The Kita Center. For nearly a decade, you've known us as Camp Kita, a sanctuary offering a week-long summer camp program for children who have suffered the heartbreaking loss of a loved one to suicide. As Camp Kita, we've been privileged to guide and witness countless stories of resilience, growth, and healing. Today, we are honored to embark on a new journey. We're broadening our horizons and expanding our mission to better serve our community.

This is a fantastic cause, so if you're anywhere near Jay, this is a great use of your time and resources.

SMHS/Leavitt Basketball: Suicide Awareness Night/Camp KITA Fundraiser

DoJiggy

Speaking of fundraisers, tonight is also the annual Paws for the Cause game at Medomak Valley, also known as the "Pink Out Games" where Medomak wears special pink uniforms and everyone wears pink and they raise money for cancer research (I think. Definitely an anti-cancer event.)

LCTV.org will have the stream and I assume FrankFM will have radio.

This week on the podcast, I go over some highlights from the week, including Windham/Falmouth, Lincoln Academy/Oceanside, and go over the updated Power Rankings.

Smash that subscribe button.

Or you can listen on Apple podcasts.

Obviously, the Power Rankings are updated.

Power Rankings

This spreadsheet hates your team.

Maine Basketball RankingsLucas McNelly

As are the Tourney Odds.

Tourney Odds

Will your team make the tournament?

Maine Basketball RankingsLucas McNelly

We have the results of the Fitzpatrick Trophy, which for some reason doesn't get announced for 2 months after the season ends.

According to WMTW's Joe Bailey, no one has ever won the Fitzpatrick Trophy and Mr. Basketball, so that's certainly something to keep an eye on.

Up north, 3 legendary refs are hanging it up.

The Last Dance: Longtime Refs Take the Court One More Time

By Phil Stuart Three Downeast Board basketball officials with over 120 years combined experience worked their last game together on Dec. 19 at Gardner Gymnasium in East Machias when the host Lady Raiders of Washington Academy played the Old Town Coyotes. Wallace “Alvin” Hall of Gardner’s Lake, Walt “Candy” Cummings of Deep Cover, and “The Doctor” Kevin Barbee of Milbridge, each have had over 40 years on the basketball court, and all three are tournament veterans as well. Hall is the main reason that the trio probably will not be together again, at least on the court.

Machias Valley News ObserverDylan

This buzzer-beater is nuts.

Let's update the Wins Draft standings.

And finally

This is a big one.

After Bailey Breen took her talents to Montverde, it was commonly assumed that Oceanside would struggle this year--that's a lot of talent out the door, after all. And after a 1-2 start, that take seemed safe. But since then, the Mariners have won 9 straight behind the stellar play of Renee Ripley and Aubrianna Hoose. They're the highest scoring team in class B and can shoot the lights out.

They'll travel to Lawrence to take on Maddie Provost in the House That Cindy Blodgett built. No one thought the Bulldogs would struggle this year--and they haven't. They are flat-out crushing everything in their path and the only reason they aren't ranked higher is because they've played the easiest schedule in A North so far. I really don't think that means anything other than they haven't had enough Power Ranking points at their disposal to move up. Well here's an opportunity.

The Model's picks for the rest of today's game are after the jump.