Always Kick It: Alex Mullin Joins the Offseason Kickoff

The Juniata offseason is officially here, but the Juniata Men’s Basketball Show is not slowing down. Tom, Biz, and Coach Curley welcome senior manager and four-year football placekicker Alex Mullin to the show for a behind-the-scenes conversation about what really keeps a college program moving.

Alex shares how he found Juniata, balanced football and basketball for four full years, and became an indispensable part of the men’s basketball staff. From postgame meal emergencies and practice prep to minute tracking, replay help, and life on the road, this episode shines a light on the work that rarely gets seen but matters every single day.

The guys also talk about the impact the podcast has had on Juniata basketball culture, what this team is capable of next season, the Landmark Conference chaos that sent Susquehanna dancing, and why the future feels very bright in Huntingdon.

Plus: big kicks, bigger stories, and one final reminder from Coach Curley — when in doubt, kick it.

Transcript

Officially the Offseason

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This is Americ Studios Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:03

This week on the Juni Adam Men's Basketball Show. This program is more than people can see just as a face. Like there is a lot more that goes on. These guys are close, they're a tightly knit group, and it is it's just like a family. Like you can tell that these guys care about each other and that these guys want to win this thing, not just for the program, but for each other.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

From the top, I'm Tom Frank. I'm Biz. Head Coach Greg Curley. And this is your Junior Adam Men's basketball show. Welcome, listeners. I'm Tom Frank, and I am joined each and every week by Drew Beskitt, aka Biz, and your junior at ahead men's basketball coach, Greg Curly, as we talk all things, junior atom men's college basketball. Fellas, we are officially are we officially in the off-season? Do you consider this the off-season, Curly? We are officially in the offseason. I didn't know if you uh considered this the off-season of school still going on. But I guess it I guess it's the off-season.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yeah, we we had spring break last week. Guys went home. We come in this week. We have uh individual meetings. Uh they'll test in a weight room on Thursday and Friday, and we'll begin our uh spring uh program uh on Monday. So that's where this is the off season.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

I kind of miss the anxiety of watching games every Wednesday and Saturday. And I call it anxiety because that's what it kind of felt like.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Imagine how the means you're invested, be lovable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Yeah, I can only imagine if I'm anxious what you're feeling like.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah, no, it's uh it's uh crazy. Um to you know, you I mean, like I told you, you get we wish you had the fix of the games, but right now we're kind of uh really focused on finishing up recruiting class, working with our guys uh identifying how to improve and coming up with the right plan for the offseason. So it's actually a pretty busy time. And uh then our attention will turn to like running summer camps and those kind of things, which uh is crazy, but that's how time flies, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Now, I will have to give a shout out to one of my other podcasts. Ooh. I do I do the podcast for the South River High School Hawktuk. Oh, the Hawk Tug. They're still they're still playing basketball right now, Business. Oh yeah? State championship game tomorrow night. Ooh. UMBC. Dude, are you I'll be there. Are you uh gonna go Hoosier style, get a couple buses? Uh they are bringing a significant number of buses. UMBC is sold out.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Are you doing the courtside? Do you have uh media credentials and stuff?

SPEAKER_02 2:40

I do not have media credentials. I I'd be sitting in the in the crowd with my kids. All right. That's awesome. I'm gonna be a fan. I'm gonna be a big time fan.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Oh, that's impressive. That's a huge.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

I wouldn't have thought at the beginning of the year that uh that that that podcast would still be rolling in regular in the season, and this one did not.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

Brings back memories, District 6 championship game, Tom. That's right. St. Francis University. State College Little Alliance took care of business.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Yeah. What was the final score that game? Do we remember? I don't, but we won.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

And Altoona didn't.

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Carly, you don't remember?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Nah, that was a long time ago. I don't I know we won, and that was the first one in 30 years or something at that time.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

That was what, 20? How many years?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

We won uh 25, 25 years,

Meet Alex Mullin: Four Years, Two Sports

SPEAKER_00 3:29

right? Wait, is this the 25th anniversary of that? I think that, guys, I think that would be 35 years, but nah, wait.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

Oh, 91. Yeah, I'm thinking of one. Never mind. 35 years. I think.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

35 years. I was wondering why we weren't celebrating the 25th anniversary. All right, before we go any further, we do have a fourth member of our show here today. Uh, Greg, Coach Curly. Let's do the uh do the introductions here.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

We're excited to do we as as promised. Uh as promised, we have uh Alex Mullen. Uh he's a senior,

Listener Question: What Four Years of This Show Built

SPEAKER_00 4:04

uh, he's a manager for us for four years, also plays kicker for the football team for four years. Ooh, I want to get into that. He's a Bel Air, Maryland guy. Went to the John Carroll School. Um, and again, super excited to have Alex with us. Uh, we'll have him jump in here when you guys are ready. Do you know the Prince of Bel Air?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

I have heard of it.

SPEAKER_04 4:25

He is the Prince of Bel Air. Hey.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Ron Bel Air.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Take it. Run with it, Alex. Run with it. All right, Alex. We're gonna get into a lot with you, but before we get to all that, you could now partake in the list. We have a good listener question. Oh, to get to get us kicked. This is a very this is a very good question.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

I'm gonna give uh Timmy D a shout-out. Great question. He goes, he goes, guys, you've been doing this podcast for four years now, which is kind of crazy. So, Alex, you kind of started when you were a freshman, yeah, all the way through your senior. What's your take on how this has impacted the team, the alumni, the culture of Juniata men's basketball?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

I'll definitely say that it is a great impact, uh, especially from the alumni and the people who are outside of the program specifically. Um, it kind of brings in a lot more engagement from family, friends, uh previous players, any alumni from the school. Um, kind of gives them a little bit of a background understanding of like what the kind of things that might go on within the program that a lot of people might not actually see based just from our games, kind of gives them a little bit more of like the understanding of the culture, the mentality that goes behind some of the things that we do, and just gets them a little bit more involved with the program than just being bystanders and watching from the stands.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

And the piggyback off that, even for me, it has allowed us to see the amount of thought that goes into every detail of everything that is going on, from the scheduling to the recruitment to game situations to between games, practice, give them rest, don't give them rest, off-season workouts, like the amount of stuff that goes on that nobody realize realizes, whether you're a part of a D3 program, a D1 program, or any kind of program, it's it's kind of cool to get that kind of insight.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of moving parts that people don't see.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

I I mean, I would just say from our perspective of coaches, and I've mentioned it to you guys a lot, I think it's uh obviously been a platform to get a message out, uh, to reinforce what we're about, uh, to maybe give some behind the scenes looks looks of what we try to do. Um, it's been an incredible platform to maintain connection of our alums. Um it's just a touch point consistently. Those guys look forward to it, the stories they hear, be able to have the alums on. Um it's been, you know, uh immeasurable the impact. I think it's helped uh sustain our culture through some tough stretches and some good stretches, right? Uh, because there's a chance to um, you know, talk and let everybody know the progress that's being made when sometimes it doesn't look that way or um you know help sustain us. And then the kind of excitement you guys have created around a lot of different events and things, right? It makes the palestra game more special. It makes the alumni game more special. Um that's felt by the guys in our program. Like they know kind of the excitement and weight behind the alumni game or how big that Palestra game was. Um, it makes them realize people pay attention and people care. And that's a one of the most powerful things there is in terms of the motivation and progression and progress that you can have.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Biz, just imagine what happens when we get the drum. I mean, not there, man. We just have to like use the drum. But if we get a drum that is actually the podcast drum, then that's that's that's when that we've reached our uh maximum impact.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

Well, hey, we already uh provided the name for the gym. That's big, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:18

That is big. Yeah, I kind of want a little underneath the the nest, like maybe we autograph it or something. Oh, hey, man.

unknown 8:26

You know?

SPEAKER_03 8:26

Gym ball is open, baby. I got a sharpie. Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

That's true. I got a nice silver or maybe a nice gold.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

Oh, gold, yeah, that max that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Nice, nice gold. Yeah. Yeah. Well, hey, it's it's also been fun to do. Now, are we like going to be considered grad students and now? Do we get heck do we get maybe a uh what do you call it when you get a celebrity honorary degree? Is that thank you? All right. I mean, I don't know. I think that's kind of well deserved.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

I mean, I was gonna need an honorary senior night for uh your four years of

Why Juniata: A Kicker Gets a Phone Call

SPEAKER_00 9:00

the program. Honest to God, yeah. Your four years of service program, I'll be happy.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

This is the year for it, this is the year for to do it because you had besides Alex here, you had no other seniors. We red shirt. I feel bad for the guy. This finally graduated. This finally truly graduated.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Hey, that curve, man. It took a while to kick in, but I'm good.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

You're good. So, Alex, you are a senior. You got we gotta roll back here though. Like, tell us a little, like, why in the world did what what made you come to Juniata? Was it football?

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yes. So I in high school, I was looking to play college football, and the way I've heard about the school was actually one of the assistant coaches at the time came and visited the school looking to recruit football players. And at the time they didn't know if they needed a kicker or not. So I went to a meeting with him, talked with him a little bit, and told him what position I played, and he said, I'll keep in contact with you. And from there on, after a little bit, he found out that the kicker that they had had the previous year had transferred out, so that they needed someone to come in. So he reached out to me, I set up my visits, came up, loved the school. It came down to two choices

Soccer Kid Picks Football

SPEAKER_01 10:18

for where I was gonna go, and I decided that just based off of the experience that I had with my visits with a lot of the guys that were here, they just kind of made me feel at home and it made me feel like a bit more part of a family than where I was looking the other place. Alright. So I decided to come here and have enjoyed my four years.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

So did you you in high school that did you play multiple positions, or did you say, I'm gonna kick this ball and I'm gonna go to college to do this?

SPEAKER_01 10:45

I only played kicker in football. Did you play soccer too? So Yeah. So my freshman and sophomore year, I played soccer. And sophomore year, I was at during my entire high school career, I was also the manager for the basketball team. And one of the assistants for the basketball team was also the assistant for the JB football team. So he reached out to me my sophomore year and says, We don't have a kicker for the JB team. Would you be interested in trying out for it? And I was and I said this would be a good experience for me to kind of try something new, just kind of go out there and give it a shot. And I will say I wasn't the greatest at it to start off. But start somewhere. Exactly. And with the soccer background that I had, it gave me a bit more of an edge than a lot of people had, and I loved doing it. And after COVID hit, I kind of had to make a tough decision with timing and uh obligations and stuff, whether or not if I wanted to continue with that multi-sport during the fall thing with playing soccer and football in the same season, or if I wanted to play strictly football. And I decided my junior year to strictly stick with football and from there on made a college career out of it.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

I think it's a good decision. I think the two greatest positions in all of sports are a backup quarterback and a kicker. Biz, do you agree or disagree with that?

SPEAKER_03 12:10

I mean, I can't disagree. What about the punter, too, man? I think you got to lump the punter. Nah, because here's why the punter is not in that.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

You don't want to see the punter. Like if you're punting, that means you didn't do something. If you're kicking, that means you're you're you're trying to score or you're kicking off. Then did you do you do both? You kicked off and you did the field goals?

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Yes. So I was the place kicker.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Place kicker all the way around.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

All four years.

SPEAKER_03 12:34

Like uh, did you start year one?

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yes. So all four years. My freshman year, we did not have any other kickers. So I was kind of just thrown into the deep end my freshman year of college and had to adapt very quickly to the pace of the game since uh it is a very huge gap difference from high school to college football.

Three Tackles and the Blocked PAT That Cost Him a Month

SPEAKER_03 12:56

Oh, so like timing, like getting the kick off, and like you had to go faster.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Timing had to be fat, timing had to be faster, I had to be more consistent. The uprights are also two and a half feet more narrow on each side. So it is a much narrower target for me to aim at. So I had to make sure I was much more consistent, and I also had to make sure that I was physically in shape to be able to take a hit if I needed to, since that was my next question.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

How many career tackles?

SPEAKER_01 13:26

Yeah. I I believe I have three. All right.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

I love it. Well, you gotta tell the the real tale, right? Don't you have your own recovery?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yeah, so junior year, it was our second to last game of the season. We were playing at Keystone, and I went out for, I believe it was my third PAT of the game. It was in the third quarter, and they ended up uh our left edge missed his block and let a guy come right around and he blocked the ball. I ended up having to try jump

Biggest Kick, Longest Kick, 58 in Practice

SPEAKER_01 14:03

on it to keep them from taking it back for the extra points. And in the process, I ended up having one of the defensive guys drive their knee into the side of my head. Oh. Oh. So I ended up with a concussion for about four weeks.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

Oh. Hey man. Nothing safe on a football field, Thomas. Yeah, I mean, it's football, right? So what's uh that's cool. The biggest kick you've ever made and the longest kick you've ever made.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Yes. Uh the biggest kick I actually would say was in high school. It was probably my last kick of my career in high school. Um, we were playing a school card called Archbishop Curly. Oh, and we were down seven points with about a minute twenty to go in the game. We ended up making a huge drive back and scoring with about a minute ten. And to be able to tie the game, I had to make the extra point because prior to it we had missed a two-point conversion, so we didn't want to go for the opportunity again. And we ended up I ended up making the kick to be able to tie us and keep us in the game. Unfortunately, we lost because of their Kemper hitting a 48-yard field goal to win it. But that kid ended up going division one playing for Maryland.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

I was gonna say that's a big kick for high school.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

48-yard, yeah. So no no walk off.

How He Got Into Managing, and Dad's Bucknell Connection

SPEAKER_03 15:29

You didn't have any walk-off uh field goal winning, no. Oh unfortunately, I didn't. Never had the opportunity to. What about your longest one then?

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Longest in game was 41 yards. All right. That's pretty important. What could you get? What do you think you could get? You think you could get 50? My longest that I've ever hit in practice is 58. Oh, 58. All right. I like it. I like it too.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

Yeah. Wow, that's pretty exciting then.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

So what what made you get involved then? I mean, you you managed basketball when you were in high school. Is that kind of what drew you to do it to do it uh once you got to college?

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah. So I had managed four years in high school, and actually to just getting in managing in general, um, my freshman year of high school, I had the one of the assistant basketball coaches sent out a school-wide email saying that they were in need of student assistance. And my dad actually, uh, this is kind of a funny story, was a manager throughout his time at in college. And he was actually a student manager when Carl Danzik was an assistant coach at Bucknell. Very interesting. So there's a little bit of a connection there. So after the after the Scranton game, my dad came was came to that one and kind of had a little bit of a catch-up chat with him since it had been probably about 30 years since he had seen him.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Wow. Wow, that's kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

But my dad had suggested to me, he said I look he loved it when he was a student, and he said it's a great experience. It helps you with a lot of different fundamentals, time management, organization, kind of just like some leadership skills to be able to keep yourself on track and kind of just make sure everything's the way it needs to be, and working a little bit behind the scenes with basketball stuff, because like I grew up with basketball, grew up around it, never was the greatest at the sport, so I never really was able to play it, but I still love the sport enough where I was like,

What a Manager Actually Does

SPEAKER_01 17:33

I want to kind of hang around this and got into it, loved it, and then continued on through college. Now, do you get this isn't like a work study thing, you don't get it paid for this, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Or do you?

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Uh they I was employed by the school for college.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

So I got I got some compensation for it, but I mostly did it for like even if I wasn't, I would have still I would have still done it just for the enjoyment of it, how much I love doing it.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

All right. And you still loved your time, even though you spent four years with Coach Curley, I'm guessing, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:05

So when you showed up for the first day, was there competition? Like how many, how many guys came out for this role and and did you get it, or how how did that work?

SPEAKER_01 18:15

For the managing, to be the manager, yeah. So my freshman year, we had two other managers. Um I had to pick up, kind of pick up very quickly how to do things. Um it since there was a lot more moving parts in college than there is in high school. And I had to learn very, very fast how to be able to do a lot of different things, uh, keeps like keeping some of the stats, uh being able to make sure that a lot of the equipment was out for practice, a lot of the food ordering stuff which I hadn't done in high school. And from there on, I was able making sure that the guys had all their post-game meals sorted out was a big thing that I had to make sure it was done.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

That would be big on my list, anyhow.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

But so you did you've done it for four years. Who you're now your your cohort in this right now is also named Alex, correct? Yes. And so what what year is he? He is a freshman. Oh, he's a freshman.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

So Curly, what are you gonna do here? You're losing your senior, you got a freshman.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

You got what are you gonna have? Tryouts? I mean, the great part is like Alex Parsons will take over here. He is uh uh Alex Mullen has broken him in, so he's got him training. Um and so it makes Coach Hager and I a job much, much easier because um there's not the training uh curve. Uh, but but we have both of these guys trying to work on it, asking some guys. Um, it's a big commitment, and uh we're excited uh about Alex's future. But uh yeah, well, I mean I I said it uh senior night, and I'll say it again. There is no replacing Alex Mullen right now. So uh we're not even trying that. Um but yeah, we're we'll still be looking for some more help to see what we can do. Uh we're blessed to have Alex coming back next year. Um, and he's been taught well, the investment these guys have made in the program, how much they put in, how much they care. Um, you know, I mean it's really uh phenomenal, particularly in this day and age, you know, like service to others and doing more for others. That's not um how a lot of kids are wired. And uh I think it just shows how special these guys are and how fortunate we are to have.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

I mean, it is kind of a huge role, especially uh at your level where you only have one other assistant. So having like two guys, like how how involved are you in what I mean, like their day-to-day stuff? Do you lay it out for them or how how does that how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Well, he so uh Coach Hager uh handles most of that, but to be honest, um a lot of times second half of the year, uh Coach Hager's recruiting a lot of times. So a lot of the practice dudes um, you know, Alex is in there a half hour before every practice. Um he helps with the setup, asks any questions about that, where do I need them to help? Those guys both will both jump in if we need help running drills at that end or whatever we need. Um, you know, we always you know give him a handout or something before practice for guys, and he'll take care of that or post the practice plant. Um he's handling our travel. Uh uh uh particularly, we talked about the meal planning and stuff. So that's a big job with those guys and what we're trying to do. A lot of times, um, those things are we make adjustments based on when the walkthrough is. Do we need to eat before we leave? How they help us uh organize that. They'll be you know at the nth hour getting a sheets order in so we can pick up breakfast and they'll get it for us while we're in the walkthroughs. Um it's kind of anything you can imagine. Uh and then honestly, um they remind us of the things that need to happen and what has to happen and what what what we need to do instead of the uh with the with uh respect to like practice organization, those things. These guys will be in a lot of the coaches' meetings before or after practice, too. Uh you know, one of the things we used we drew on with Alex is obviously um he understood. The inner workings of a team and has been a big part of it. And you know, he was a four-year college athlete. So a lot of times uh I would run stuff by him. I mean, how have you guys handled this in football? What are you seeing here? What do you see with our team? Where are we? Um, you know, particularly the last two years. Um, but uh so like, yeah, I mean, they're they're part of the staff. Um, and then Alex Parsons, same thing. Alex was a uh high school athlete, uh, played multiple sports, has a lot to draw on from that, takes a big interest. So uh we try to include them um into those kind of things. And honestly, the perspective of a student uh and a student athlete where they are um is valuable. Uh and they come at it from probably the most objective angle. They're sitting there watching every practice and every day. Um and Coach Hager and I obviously have different roles and different perspectives, but uh they provided a lot of insight for those kind of things. Um and it's just to have guys that are there, good to have guys that are there for one reason to help the program and help the program be successful. Um and you know, that's not always the case with every person, and it shouldn't be. Uh, there's different roles, but I mean it uh we've really tried to tap into that stuff uh to help us do uh our job and be better as a team as well. So they really, really made a different contributor to that stuff. Um, a lot of times if we can't see everything going on in practice or don't know what's going on or get a feel for what's going on, those guys are on top of it or add an idea or see that stuff. We'll use them sometimes to communicate with the trainers and practice. We need help or what happened there. Hey, can you get a detail? Uh both of them in-game uh with the replay stuff. Um you've seen some of the stuff now on the Division I stuff where the guys behind the bench are looking at the iPad to see replays and stuff like that. Those guys both would take those responsibilities. And then uh one of the big things they do for us, and and Alex really kind of had this as a senior guy had the responsibility of that, but they keep they log the minutes in the game. So um, and it's actually more complicated than you think. So a lot of times I'll be like, hey, how many minutes has you know, Biz played? Right? Like, who's been in the longest? Um 40-minute guy. Yeah, that's right. Um, but and I, you know, and and we I want those answers pretty quick because it might be a dead ball or whatever, we have to get somebody in. Um, and like that's

The Nick's Pizzeria Save at Catholic

SPEAKER_00 24:24

I I'd probably use that um in terms of statistics in a game more than anything else. That's invaluable to us uh to have an idea how long have guys been, what kind of run have guys been in. Um sometimes, you know, have they scored six points in a row? When's the last time we had that? Um so there's and they also do shot chart for us, uh, which gives us kind of real-time information. Um so do all the freaking work. What do you what are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 24:49

You need about five more Alex's man.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

And we'll be right back. And now, back to the show. Hey, so Alex, you you travel with the team. Yes. You gotta have some stories for us. Like give give us some of your favorite uh road trip stories or or or curly-isms. Um, you you gotta have some.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Uh I will say there was one that actually happened this year which was a bit of a stressor, but was able to get it sorted out. Um, it was actually this year at our game at Catholic.

SPEAKER_02 25:18

We were Well, I already know what's gonna you're gonna say because I was watching the stress happen. I was there for that game.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

So we were in we were in warm-ups getting things getting ready for the game. About 30 seconds before the buzzer goes off, before they start uh lineups and national anthem, I get a call from our post-game meal saying that they don't deliver at the time that we wanted them to, and was telling us that they could deliver at 7.30, even though we needed the food by 8.45. So I had to make about 18 different phone calls within a 45 minute span. I missed the first 17 minutes of the game and was able to sort out a post-game meal with the local pizza shop to be able to get us food delivered at 9 o'clock for when the guys finished their finished the game. And these guys, the guys I ordered it from were like some of the most helpful guys ever. Like they sorted out everything. They said, no problem, how many, how many pizzas you need. They got it all sorted out. And then there was a mix-up where we forgot one of our guys needed a I thought you were gonna say we forgot one of our guys. No, so one of our guys couldn't have dairy. So I had to call the restaurant and be like, is there any way you could add wings to it? And the restaurant said, sure, no problem. We can add it for you guys. Don't worry about the cost at all of those. We'll add it right to your order. And these guys were supposed to close at nine o'clock and they stayed open until 9 15 getting our food order to get it delivered to us. What was the name of the place? Give them a shout out. It's called Nick's Pizza. Nick's Pizzeria.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Nick, Nick's Pizzeria.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

In Washington, D.C., right? Yes. Oh, yeah. Here's it. Here's the whole thing of that. I I I wasn't aware of any of it, right? So we get on the bus and the food. That's what you're supposed to not suppose. I mean, right. That's that's the sign of a good one, right? You didn't even know. And uh then Nick explained, hey, there's a mix up or whatever. Pizza was there, man.

SPEAKER_04 27:26

Never speaking.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yeah, and that's uh yeah, that stuff um you know, we couldn't have handled that. I mean, it just makes uh it it makes us better, it makes the experience of our student athletes better, right? Like they feel taken care of, and um it helps uh attitude approach and enthusiasm and sustains that stuff. And I like try as much as possible. I I do um use these guys as examples of of like putting the team before yourself and how much of an impact guys can make in every role matters and the value guys bring. And uh uh we we do have a long line of really good managers. Um, and you know, we're at Elizabeth Town and Wade Brandsetter's there, and he was part of Coach Hager's group as a manager. He's a chiropractor now. That's cool. And his wife, he still comes to every game, and Travis Raup does the same thing. Neil Rager, who we had on here before, wound up being an assistant coach. So um it's a long line, and Alex is every bit as good as of him. He's the first guy that's been a four-year guy that was a two-sport guy the whole way through. Now, I think Nathan Pugh did it uh for a couple years. He played soccer as well. Um, but uh Alex uh to do both of that, you know, he's getting home, he'll tell the stories. They were doing 6 a.m. lifts for football his entire uh spring, his junior year, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Um all three years, freshman, sophomore, and junior.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

So when we would go to Catholic, we get home at two o'clock in the morning, right? And he gets up and goes to a six a.m. lift. I mean, like, you want to talk about commitment and dedication and what our guys now we tried to smarten up and he talked to his coaches after that that like, hey, if I gotta go do this, I make up my lift that day because it's just not uh the health great.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Wouldn't be a great lift, I would think. I want to get back to the Catholic meal situation because I want to tell my perspective on this one. I was leaving that game and I saw the pizzas and the wings coming in, and I was really hungry. And I would I almost grabbed those wings because I saw them on the slide out. Now that I hear the story, I'm glad that I didn't grab the wings on the way out because I was like, eh, you know, I'm part of the program. I grabbed the wings on the way out. It would have been terrible. I didn't know there was a dairy situation and all of that, so I would have felt I would have felt wings from the program.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Gosh darn it. Well, yeah, I'm part of the program, babe. That's a good point. Yeah. All right, Alex. So what what do you hold on? I got uh two questions. One, uh, you know, Coach Curly from time to time we hear through the grapevine, you know, make make kick people out of practice who aren't performing. Have you ever been kicked out of practice by Coach Curly? Thankfully, no. That would have been bad. There's there's a fear that everybody's gonna get kicked out occasionally, but then question number two if Coach Curly were to get thrown out of a game and Coach Hager's now the head coach, is that would that have moved you up to the assistant? Is that the hierarchy,

What's Next: Software Engineering at Aberdeen Proving Ground

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Curls? Does that work like that?

SPEAKER_00 30:19

We couldn't do it. Mullen would call for an onside kick. I tell him every time I see every time I walk in, I said, we're always kicking, man. We're never going for it. We kick every time. And that's what I'd say. That's the difference with us. We always kick in our office because of Alex. You know, uh and he would call the wrong stuff, you know, he'd try to directional kick or something like that. And we're just trying to what that's what we're doing here.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

Maybe it maybe it'll work. You never know. You never know.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Well, Alex, Alex, what what do you what do you what's next? You gonna stay in the in the athletic space or are you going somewhere completely different?

SPEAKER_01 30:54

So for starters, so as of after I graduate, I have already signed an offer letter to work at a military base called Aberdeen Proving Ground. I'm gonna be working as a software engineer developing technology for uh communications and navigation technology for the U.S. Army. Huh. Well then. Sounds impressive.

SPEAKER_03 31:14

Well, dumber, I should say. That's outstanding, man. That's impressive.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Congratulations. But I will I will be possibly staying in a little

What This Team Can Be Next Year

SPEAKER_01 31:25

bit of the sport field. Um it's still in the works trying to figure out the details of it, but there is a potential that I will be going back to my high school to help as a specialist coach for the football team there.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

That'd be great, man. Oh, hey, keep the money warmed up, man.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

You're not trying to get into podcasting out.

SPEAKER_02 31:45

I was gonna say, I was just thinking maybe this maybe this is our future replacement right here. He's got he's a little bit younger than us. He seems like a natural. All right, so you gotta tell us a little bit about you So you've been with this team, the current team. What what do you see what what is this team capable of next year in your mind?

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Just from the correct steps that these guys have taken in the past two years, I mean, we went from having a program of being a having a bunch of having all conference guys, probably one of the best basketball players to come through the school and chase. And then we had fr went from that to having pretty much uh not many upper class standings and a very young team. And uh the fact that we were able to uh turn a season around from uh my junior year last year to this past season, where even though it might not have been the outcome that we wanted wins losses wise, uh I can we can see that there is a huge uh difference in mentality, in performance, in that work ethic. The guys uh we can see that the guys really want to win and they're just trying to find those uh final pieces to be able to put it all together, be able to stay consistent, be able to finish off games strong, and be able to get that outcome that we're looking for. That's pretty spot on.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Yeah. All right, if you had to throw a prediction down, this is a early, early, early prediction for next year. This is early. We go it is early, but biz, we gotta start right now. We got we had 10 wins this year. How many wins do we get to next year without knowing schedule, without knowing anything? Total just throwing it out there.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Uh based off of what I've heard from the recruiting class that we're gonna be having come in, and just based off of the work ethic that the guys have and how I know that some of these guys are really gonna put the pedal to the metal next year to turn the thing turn things around. I think it is a possibility that it could turn into at least a 15 to 18 game season.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

I like it. That is what I wanted to hear, Biz. That's

Susquehanna's Run and How Deep the Landmark Is

SPEAKER_02 34:08

what gets me going. That's getting me excited for next year.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

I am excited for next year, but everything he said, you can see the turnaround at the end of the season, man. You can see those last two games were yeah, two wins, but they I think they were big momentum-building wing wins.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

I think there's a huge possibility that there could be more. Just those big games are gonna be the big deciding factors of whether or not we can take those steps to go from being a 15-win team to a 20-win team.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

Yeah. Well, hey, they did beat. Here's what also gets me excited Susquehanna, number 16. They rallied from 11 down to beat number four Wilkes, 76-72 to win the landmark conference. This is a team that was 9-9 in conference. They were 16-13 overall. They won three road games and they won the conference title.

SPEAKER_03 35:02

And I believe if um if I'm not mistaken, we've uh we beat both of those teams once in the regular season.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

This isn't cute. The other crazy thing that I don't think a lot of people realized, the reason Susquehanna got into the tournament playoffs was because we beat Moravian.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

You are if we didn't win our final game, Moravian would have had a better record than Susk and they would have and they would have gone in.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

That is right. So Susquehanna gets in because of Junietta, wins the landmark conference, gets in the NCAA tournament.

SPEAKER_03 35:38

I mean, it's that it's that easy. Do you get a gift basket or anything from them, Carl's?

SPEAKER_00 35:43

I did get a few texts from a couple different coaches that Coach Marcenti owes me a beer. But uh I think he does.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

I'm thinking he is all of us a beer, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

That's a credit to those guys, and that that's a heck. I mean, that accomplishment to win three in a row on the road just tells you kind of the culture they have and the kind of job they do as a coach. Uh, you know, they I think uh they had some guys out earlier, they got them back, and and when they were a whole team, uh there's no question they're that good. And then I think it just keeps uh speaks to the depth of the league, right? Um you know, the four teams that we had receiving votes this year were being ranked in the top 25, uh, they were not one of them. So that's the team that won our league. The team they played was Wilkes, who did not get any votes and wasn't ranked. They were in the finals. Um, and so if you think about that, we have our two conference finalists were outside of the four groups that were ranked in the country. So um I think right now, like based on the datacast numbers, I think our conference is eighth out of I think 44 conferences in the country um in men's basketball. Uh, I think that kind of uh has has proven out. So uh, you know, I we we have to the other side of that is like we can talk about what we want for next year, but we better understand who we're playing against. You're you're in a you're in a tough conference. I mean, that's we had nationally

NCAA Bids, Scranton Over Pitt, Elite Eight Picks

SPEAKER_00 37:00

ranked teams that couldn't make it to the conference finals. Um Moravian had maybe the best player in their school history, their all-time leading scorer, and a guy that's on the national watch list, and they missed out on the playoffs. Uh so um we we have to really understand the work we have to put in, where we have to go, but it's full of opportunity, right? If you can take care of business and do that, you know where you stand and what you know where you are in the country. And I think that's what constantly tell recruits that's the opportunity to play here, and that's the difference, and that's what's cool about it.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

So in the NCAA tournament, Susquehanna got in, Catholic ended up getting hit. Did anybody else get in?

SPEAKER_00 37:34

No. No, we only got two.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

You got two, and Catholic made it to the second round before getting knocked out by I think Tufts in the second round.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

Yeah, they got beat uh the second round. Uh Susquehanna got beat in the opening round. I I think a little bit of that eventually the stuff's gonna wear out when you have to caught up beating and it just caught up, and you could kind of see that.

SPEAKER_04 37:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:53

Um, I think if we had a couple other teams make it a little further, the upsets actually might have kept us from beating three. Um but uh still uh very few conferences in the country get in more than one uh with the way things are set up. I was gonna say I think one other team or one other conference in the region got three teams in. Centennial got three in, we got two. Um so yeah, I mean it was uh uh uh really good for the conference. It shows the depth of the conference and it also shows when we played well and we could play with those teams what our potential is and where we can go. Uh we gotta put the work in between now and next year, and uh gotta get fortunate. We gotta keep pushing, we gotta make sure we keep improving. Let's get to work.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

Hey, speaking of on a landmark conference note, um Scranton women are steamrolling their way through the uh where where are they at in the four now, I believe. In the final four? Yeah, they so we're in the final eight in the men's. Dude, they beat them beat the final eight. Scranton women beat Pitt. Like D1. That's right, they did do this.

SPEAKER_04 39:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

If you remember at the Palestra game, we were talking to about the game. Which I love.

SPEAKER_03 39:05

Yeah, that's great. I congratulated all of them. Yeah. Anytime Pitt can lose. That is that's a remarkable. I mean, that is though. Think about it. Like a yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Yeah. Alright, so in men's, we're in the final eight. I want to get your guys' opinion here. Here's our final eight. I want an I want a champion. I want a champion from from all of you, all of us. Yeah. We got Trinity versus Tufts. We got Mary Washington versus is it University of Chicago? Is University of Chicago a D3 school? I thought they were D1 for some reason.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

Were they a D1? UAA school with Hopkins and his dad's. Okay. Then we got Emory versus Illinois. Hopkins is actually in Centennial. They're UAA with like Emery, Carnegie Mellon, NYU.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

Okay, so Emery's still alive. And they're with Illinois Wesleyan. Then we have St. Thomas and Christopher Newport. And if I'm if I'm right, Christopher Newport didn't Christopher Newport win it last year?

SPEAKER_00 40:00

No, Trinity. Trinity won.

SPEAKER_04 40:02

Trinity won.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

Trinities won uh lost in the finals and then they won last year in the championship. So they've been to the finals two years in a row.

SPEAKER_04 40:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

If you're asking who the favorite would be, it would be them. Uh now Tufts and Trinity from the I believe in the same week. So uh you know that's gonna be they're gonna know each other and be super familiar, but I would think Trinity's still the uh the odds on favor to win. Uh but those are eight pretty darn good teams. Uh if you remember last year Kathle was in at the same round, so again tells you where we are. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, those are eight really good teams. I guess I would just go with Trinity because they've done it and they've done it most consistently.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

All right, so we go ahead. We got Coach Curly down for Trinity.

SPEAKER_01 40:44

Alex, who are you going with? Uh since the basketball for us has ended, I haven't followed as much about it. None of us have Alex. So I've I've been following a little bit to hear my reasoning for my sports.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

That's the first that's the first time. That's the first time Biz even heard some of those schools. So just go along with that. Hey.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

I heard of a few of them. But anyway, continue. Just based off of the numbers for how it is, I probably have to go with Trinity as well.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

You're going Trinity too, playing it safe. They're both playing it safe, Biz. I'm not safe, Gang.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

I'm going with the the school where uh one of our fellow State College alumnus, Chris Soup Campbell, pitched

Alex's Message to the Program

SPEAKER_03 41:27

one of the only no-hitters in uh Mary Washington history before transferring back to Green State. So I'm going with Mary Washington.

SPEAKER_02 41:35

Biz, I'm gonna take the team that Mary Washington's gonna lose to in the final in the final game. I'm going with the University of Chicago, and my reasoning for that is I thought they were a Division I school up until about five minutes ago. Nice. So I'm going Division I, University of Chicago. All right.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

Well, we should see how we've been if they're Division I you would think. You never know, guys.

SPEAKER_02 41:58

All right, we got to end with two things here. Number one, Alex, it's your floor. You're the senior here. What do you want to tell what do you want to tell the parents of these players, the players, the alumni, the guys who are gonna follow your footsteps?

SPEAKER_03 42:13

Lay it out there. This is gonna be forever on the internet.

SPEAKER_01 42:18

I'll just say that the f the four years that I've been here, it has been such an incredible experience. Uh being with Coach Curly, Coach Hager, all the guys, getting to grow and know the guys from the four years uh from my freshman year till my senior year. I mean, just being able to even as a manager, I've gotten so close with a lot of the players, been able to spend time with them, get to know them, and it is this program is more than people can see just as a face. Like there is a lot more that goes on. There these guys are close, these they sp they're a tightly knit group, and it is it's just like a family. Like you can tell that these guys care about each other and that these guys want to win this thing, not just for the program, but for each other.

SPEAKER_03 43:13

I like that. I mean, I don't think it gets any better than right there. And hey Alex, team uh team gold has a spot for an alumni manager, so I would like to uh connect with you right now.

SPEAKER_02 43:24

Yeah, you just you're grabbing them right away. I'm not gonna wait around. Four years, yeah. Four years I think I think you should be part of the draft. All right. I don't think you just get a manager, you don't just get these people. Why not?

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Well, we're gonna have to look into this. If you don't mind me backtracking just one small little step, we're talking about the Susquehanna make it into the conference playoffs. It was a little bittersweet for me because for football, Susquehanna's is our big rival. I will say this thankfully, I get to end off my career. With a winning streak against Susquehanna. All right. There you go. It doesn't matter to me what sport it's in. I get to win, I get to end on the winning streak against them. And there's nothing better than that. Now we agree with you on that one.

SPEAKER_03 44:11

What are they? Are they the Riverhawk people? Is that what they are? No, they're the Royals.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

No, they're the River Chickens. The river chickens.

SPEAKER_03 44:19

Now Scranton's the Royals, which is weird because no royalty ever lived in Scranton. Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. Scranton's the Royals. What am I saying? All right. I like that.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

All right, fellas. Well, what what's up? What do we have on tap? We got to get into our

Merrick Studios Plus

SPEAKER_02 44:32

alumni's. We gotta we we got a lot. We got a lot to figure out. We're in the off season.

SPEAKER_03 44:38

The player test. What do you send us the player test? Tom and I'll get in the weight room and we'll record it. We gotta get in the weight room.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

I I just hit the weight room again. I started going.

SPEAKER_03 44:47

I got some supplements coming. It's over.

SPEAKER_02 44:50

Ooh, I took supplements for the first time recently. I can tell. I'm not sure if I'm reacting well to them. I'm a little I'm a little jumpy.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

Oh wait, now you need to touch for PEDs on the uh Yeah, don't be testing anything down here.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Hey, I do want to mention to this though that you guys haven't heard this yet. This is something for the fans of the show. We are rolling out. We're rolling out something special here across the network, not just Junietta. We are rolling out a subscription model for Merrick Merrick Studios Plus. Let me tell you a little bit about this, guys. Merrick Studios Plus is gonna offer exclusive access to live recordings. We're gonna have guest audiences on this show, potentially. Uh it's gonna have early access to shows, additional content, and much, much more. So look for that coming very soon. You can check it out at We ARAmericstudios.com, the official home of the Junior Adam Men's Basketball.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

Do we uh as hosts do we get do we have to pay for a uh a membership tonight? I bet you got you get free access.

SPEAKER_02 45:51

I'm not like curly, I'm not making you pay for Flow Sports. I'm giving you free access. You can listen to yourself all day. That's fabulous.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

I don't make I don't make anybody pay for anything. That's just the deal I live with.

SPEAKER_02 46:03

Yeah, I'm just throwing it out there, you know. Maybe VIP, he is he is a VIP. He's a VIP. But yes, people who are listening to the show, you can get access to be a live studio audience member and see everything that we mess up on. You had no idea what we were dealing with at the very beginning of the show. Alex can hear one guy, can't hear another guy, I can hear him, he can't hear me. It was a good little stage acting for when it's all said and done, it's gonna be smooth.

SPEAKER_03 46:28

Just like that, nobody knew there was a pizza issue because Alex took care of it. You're you're the Alex of this podcast, Tom.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

I appreciate that. Took care of it. I appreciate it. All right, fellas, until next time. Remember, send us your thoughts and follow the show on Instagram at Juniad Basketball Show. Subscribe to the Juni Adam Men's Basketball Show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and full video, and wherever you listen to podcasts. And until next time, I'm Tom Franklin. I'm Biz, Coach Greg Kerr. I'm Alex Mullen. And that is Alex Mullen. All right, go. Congratulations, Alex. Bravo. Alex, I'm fine. I am so glad we finally got you on here. We've been asking to have you on here for years. Coach Curly said, nah, nah, we don't want to we don't want to have him on yet. He's gotta he's gotta serve his time first.

SPEAKER_01 47:18

You've had you've had another person in behind the scenes asking for me to come on a lot too. We have.

SPEAKER_02 47:23

We'll give a shout out to your, I think it was your dad, right? Yes. Yeah, he's many times.

SPEAKER_01 47:27

Avid listener. Fabulous. I I love him for that.

SPEAKER_00 47:30

I love him for that. Because remember, one in doubt, kick it, man. Always kick it. Always kick it. Kick it.

SPEAKER_03 47:35

I mean, if you got Alex, you know, if I get a 58 yarder, he's my guy.