Mute Button Mayhem & Must-Win Mindset

It’s been a full-blown Juniata hoops roller coaster—complete with birthday banter, casino misfortune, winter travel chaos, and a broadcast that somehow forgot it had sound. Tom Frank, Biz, and head coach Greg Curley open the show celebrating Biz’s birthday before diving into a great listener mailbag question:

If the Palestra were closed next season, and the show had full control, where should the Landmark Conference host a weekend showcase—any venue, anywhere?

From there, it’s all basketball. The crew relives the electric Palestra win, breaks down a statement upset over Elizabethtown at the Nest, and unpacks a frustrating road loss at Moravian that featured delayed travel, strange rhythms, and Tom going full customer-service warrior on FloSports until the volume magically returned (discount secured, dignity intact).

Coach Curley delivers a candid breakdown of what’s holding this team back—and what could unlock a real run down the stretch: edge, focus, and consistency. Game balls are handed out, Cooper Sharp cheese continues its undefeated season, and the guys preview two massive road games with the message crystal clear: stop getting in your own way, handle your business, and bring the edge—every night.

Transcript

Cold Open

SPEAKER_02 0:00

This is Americ Studios Podcast. Hey football fans, you could win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement events. In person in Canton. How do you kick this off? Grab Snapdragon Apples at your local store, then go to Snapdragonapple.com for official rules and enter. No purchase necessary. Ends February 28th, 2026. Open to U.S. residents 18 and older, void where prohibited.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

I'm Tom Frank. I'm Biz, Ghost Greg Curly. And this is your Junior Adam Men's basketball show.

Biz Turns 53

SPEAKER_04 0:37

Welcome listeners. I'm Tom Frank. I'm joined each and every week by Drew Basket, aka Biz, and your junior attack basketball coach, Greg Curley. We talk all things, Junior Adam Ed's College Basketball. Fellas, we got a lot to recap. Oh, it's been a bit of a roller coaster the past seven days. But first, we gotta say happy birthday to our esteemed co-host, Drew Biz Basket. Thanks, boys. Happy birthday, Biz.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

One year older, one year wiser, they say. Now, did you do anything exciting last night? Uh, you know, went out to a nice dinner with my lovely fiance, and then uh proceeded to uh check my luck down at the Old Rivers Casino, which 53 is starting off not a lucky year, we'll say, boys. You're 53? Well, yeah, you're 52. I know, but that's your 53 seemed way older than 52. Well, I guess, yeah. 365 days, they say.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

It was a lovely day.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

All right. I like it. Yeah. Well, fellas, we had a we had a great Pilester win over Goucher. We had we followed that with a big upset win versus Elizabeth Town at the Nest. Win streak. And then a bit of a frustrating loss at Moravian on Saturday. But before we get into all that, and we look ahead to this week's two big matchups, like coming on Wednesday and Drew on Saturday.

Mailbag: Pick Your Venue

SPEAKER_04 2:02

We got to hit the Junietta show mailbag for a listener question. We had a really good question come in here today. All right. Now it's from John D, but I cannot confirm if this is the same John D that we know or not. Which by the way, yeah, I think we need John D as a guest one day.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

We'll get John D as a guest.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

We need him when he's at his height of frustration. I know his people. All right. You have to you have to connect with his people. But here's the question. Fellas, if Katie came to us, the show, as the sole decision makers this offseason and said Palestra is gonna be closed next year, name your venue where you would bring the landmark conference for a weekend showcase anywhere. Where would we go?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Anywhere. Anywhere. I mean, do we want to like stay within the conference boundaries here or what hey, there is no limits to this question.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

Whoa. I think it's a good question. I I haven't I had an immediate answer. Well, you know what? I gotta think.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

So go ahead and fire your immediate answer off. My immediate answer is recall. Uh, you stink. That's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_04 3:11

Rec hall. I mean, how fun would that be to be at rec hall to do what we did at the Palestra? I mean, it's the same architect. Same architect, but it would it would have some like hidden meaning for us.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

So it wouldn't mean I'd be all over that. Yeah. Curls, man. Rec hall, what do you think?

SPEAKER_07 3:29

See came up in my mind for us, that would be really cool. I mean, I think for kind of any of the basketball folks, I mean, I thought of like Fog Allen, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Cameron Indoor. All right. Any of those Madison Square Guard? Madison Square Guard. That's that's what I'm gonna do. Biz needs to be at Madison Square Guard. Biz, you need to be there. That's where Biz needs courts out square guard.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah, it's about a venue that can hold me, I think, right? We're gonna keep taking this to the next level, Biz. That's where you need to be. I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah, wearing my uh coach, authentic Coach Warren uh pullover that I got after that. I like that. It feels it's warm. I can see why you're warm, Biz.

SPEAKER_04 4:09

That's why I can't it is probably cold there in Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Yeah, it is. Yeah, that's a good the Madison's Yeah, the garden. Square Garden's a really good one. All right. That wins, but recall is certainly sentimental.

SPEAKER_04 4:21

Well, Biz, we need we need a third option from you.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Oh crap. What about the old on the parquet floor of the old Boston Garden? You'd have to bring the the the the court back? Well, they still have the parquet up there, don't they? Do they still have it? But I don't think it's not the original. It's gotta be in storage somewhere. All right, all right. Yeah, Boston. That'd be good. Parquet floor. Celtics, baby.

SPEAKER_04 4:44

Come on. All right. All right. That's three good answers from the John D question, who

Palestra Afterglow

SPEAKER_04 4:50

we may or may not know. All right. We had the palestra a week ago. Exactly a week ago. I was on the road in the car. I hadn't left yet, actually. 914. Aren't you lucky? Yeah, I hadn't left yet. So it was a special day. We last spoke when we were all leaving the palestra, which I gotta thank Katie again. I I it took me about five steps to get to my car. And I was on the road.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

That was unbelievably top-notch. Two times in a row, man.

SPEAKER_04 5:18

Two times.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Red carpet comes out. She runs a fantastic show there. Bravo to Katie and all her uh helpers. All her people who we don't know their names. You guys do well with VIP treatment. You guys do well with suits you guys. We lean way into it. We're really good at dealing with it. We even uh hired an executive producer who obviously isn't working today.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Anything eventful on the trip back for you? I haven't talked to you since we both left. Who me? Nah, man. I just stayed awake. Got back about one o'clock in the morning. Did you really? Went to bed.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

Yeah. I was I was home before the end of the uh the the night cap football game. Once again, congratulations. How was the bus ride back with the bus ride curls?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Everybody must have been jazzed. Talk to us.

SPEAKER_07 6:10

City line at night coming out of Philly was pretty cool. Guys obviously in a good place, good mood. So yeah, it was fun. I mean, those are the good ones, right? Those are the good bus trips.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Now, did the uh the other Eagles uh debacle play into uh the mood of any of your players since some of them are down from the Philly area?

SPEAKER_07 6:27

Uh I think a couple guys were were bummed out, but uh I think kind of the day being at the Palestra, finishing it the way we did, uh I think spirits just stay high. Yeah. That was a great day.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

It was a great day. I got a I got a number of texts from people who watched the show, and we're we're a little bit in in amazement that how we went from this little podcast that people heard we started a couple years ago to that. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

It's definitely people are catching notice. They are catching notice. We have uh, you know, there's plenty of alumni's parents that still listen to the show, which is cool. Shout out to all of them. Yes, because I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, I mean, they're every week. Grandparents, even.

SPEAKER_04 7:11

Yeah. I like it.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Well,

Elizabethtown, 79-71

SPEAKER_01 7:13

we are an entertaining sort.

SPEAKER_04 7:14

We are, we are. Well, then we followed the momentum a little bit into Wednesday night. There is a great, great photo. I'm gonna give credit and then I'm gonna attack them later. But there's a great picture on the Juniata basketball page recapping the Elizabethtown game that says it all. So, Biz, if you haven't seen this picture yet, you gotta check it out. All right, I have not. It's a very good one. Actually, you know what? I'm gonna share my screen real quick because we can do that now. Wow. Yeah, I wanted to show you this. This is a great picture. Can you see that? Oh, yeah. That's just a great picture right there. That says it all. That says it all about a heck of a win on Wednesday that I gotta believe has a little bit of momentum into it. Right. Right? We came in there, beat them 79-71. Ty led the way with 24 points, three rebounds and a steal. Jaden Bigler added 12 points, nine rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Hurley added 10 points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal. And Malcolm Griffith had 10 points, eight rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a rebound. And then I think one of my new favorite players, Trey Young,

"That's a Win Streak"

SPEAKER_04 8:20

added 11 points, six assists, and a steal and a block. How do you feel, coach? You you that two in a row. So it was uh what we're trying to do.

SPEAKER_07 8:30

Yeah. Uh you know, I think the first thing we talk about after is that's a win streak. You know, it's uh been a while, which is you know, tongue in cheek. I mean, we're you know, happy for the guys with that, but I think wishing we're there a little bit more often, get to get used to it. But I I thought we really played well. And it goes back to if we played well, play together. We, you know, it takes us what it what it took for us to win the Blester game, it takes us to win the Elizabethtown game. Thought we showed uh a lot of toughness and grit, a real determination uh to win. I thought we played well, exceptionally well together. Uh we complimented each other when we do that, when everybody's firing on all cylinders and we're connected and together, but we can be awfully good. And I thought that showed up. The Elizabeth Town's a very good team. Very good. I thought we played both ends of the floor well, which has been something that's been a challenge for us. And we came in, you know, you could tell there's an edge and a determination and a focus. And and it was like I said, we wind up winning by six or eight points. It becomes the Juniata. When we win, it's kind of how we win. It's and that that was a really important step. So yeah, it was a really great team win overall. I think we had five guys in double figures. Mm-hmm. Whenever we do that, that's one of our goals and what we're trying to do whenever we do that, uh, we're generally successful.

SPEAKER_04 9:44

It definitely does seem like when you got guys, when you have more guys in double figures across the board and not leaning on one guy or two guys, the team overall just seems to be in the mix better.

SPEAKER_07 9:56

Yeah, I mean, that's how we're that's how we're uh built. Five guys of threat on offense is yeah, we talk about all the time. Uh balance is really important to us. And so it's balance and playing both ends, balance and scoring, balance and guys got to contribute in a number of areas. You know, we don't, you know, kind of a jack of all traits is what we want guys to to influence and impact a different group. And that's we think the collective uh within that allows us to kind of uh be successful against sometimes uh some situations where there may be more individual talent or a different guy can do that. I just think that's the best way to play basketball. I think it's the way the most successful teams are built. And then it goes back to kind of the core of who we try to be. I think it teaches what it's supposed to teach and the lessons uh that this is all supposed to be about in the end, and the stuff that really matters over time is built on teamwork and guys playing together and complimenting each other. And we've really tried to be consistent with that and what we do over time and build a system that we don't just talk about that stuff, we mean it. But sometimes when we're not in that space, we're not mature enough to be in that space, it you know, it also can hurt us because we

Closing Time

SPEAKER_07 11:03

rely so much on each other.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

So uh take us through the end of the game because they they started to creep back, and that was a theme that you saw probably more than you wanted to about they creep back and then they end up creeping over the top, but this time it didn't happen. So talk about the end of the game and what you saw from the guys to job.

SPEAKER_07 11:23

Yeah, I mean, obviously they're gonna push back. They have a couple exceptional individual scores. You know, Austin Fennarelli is one of the best scores in the league. So, you know, it's tough in those games because they can just give it to guys and they're gonna go quickly and just attack. And those are pretty tough defensive situations. He got loose for two threes late to kind of cut the the uh difference. But I tell you what, we did pretty well. We got a couple free throw rebounds to keep possessions alive. We scored on a couple out-of-bounds scenarios or situations. I thought we really executed very well on the stuff that we've worked on and consistently got the kind of looks or got the free throw line that we wanted. They started fouling a little earlier than we probably would. Um, we weren't perfect there, but we made enough free throws. We handled the pressure pretty well. We didn't turn it over there close on one, but you know, we got possession. And then, like I said, we made uh the plays we needed to to win the game, including the stop, you know, we needed to to win the game. And most of the time, you know, you don't have to be perfect at the end of the game. You just have to be tough and smart, and you have to be consistent like with effort and focus. And I thought we did a good job. We didn't flinch, you know, you can't overreact, but you at the same time you have to be locked in and focused and just kind of stay within that pocket. And we did a good job of that. And so, yeah, it's kind of how you want to draw it up. Right. I mean, that was a good back and forth basketball game against a really good team. From the start, you know, they were making plays, we made plays. It uh, you know, it's the way it should look in a landmark game, and we went toe to toe, and I just thought in the end, execute a little bit better down the stretch and played well. But it's what we said, you know, we need um we need everybody cranking and playing well for us to be at our best. We have to find out

Proof of Concept

SPEAKER_07 13:00

uh find out how to be do that consistently. I think we took a step this past week. We were way more consistent in that uh throughout. If you add up all the possessions over three games, we've made a huge step in that. I thought yesterday was a little step back in that area, but um I thought through through uh Sunday and Wednesday, that's the most consistent we've done that stuff. And uh number of com, you know, just the edge our guys played with, and you can see the fight and the determination that they were playing to win and determined to win, and collectively everyone was chipping in on that. I still think with our youth a little bit, we tend to get into ourselves a little bit and worry more about what's going on with us, um, you know, and our struggles, failures, or successes, and that influences the things that we can do regardless. And uh that's not what mature, successful teams look like. They do the things that they can do regardless all the time. And then when they have those those kind of special nights, then it puts you over the top with ease. And when you're kind of where you usually are, you're gonna be really consistent. And when you're a little less, uh the focus on those small things gives you the ability to sustain and make enough plays to get out of there. And we just haven't consistently gotten there yet. But I thought that was the closest we've been to that. Again, a little disappointed in our response to that yes, but um, you know, it again when we're talking about the E Town game, that was a really good outcome and good success. And um, and again, it's another glimpse of the of what we think we can be as a team and where we're heading. I think it confirms again the progress we've made, and it's continued proof of concept that if we do X, Y, and Z, we can do this against anybody, and that that I think played out.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Yeah, I think you needed to you needed to see it. The guys needed to see it. You obviously know what you're looking at, but the guys needed to see it, and I think they got a taste, and now they can go back and look at something to reference, to be like, oh, here's where we need to be. And uh yeah, I thought it was a great, great couple of games step for the team.

SPEAKER_07 14:51

Yeah, I mean, we had uh short preparations for the second two games this week because of you know, one day prep pretty much because of three-day week. Um, and to handle that on Wednesday, I I agree. Uh it's also just a feel. This is what it feels like, this is how you go about it. This is the focus you have to have, the energy you have to play with, the connectedness you have, uh, you know, the concentration levels that you have to have. I thought we were able to sustain that. You know, we talked about playing 40 minutes, but actually over 80 minutes, we we really sustained that, probably the highest level that we have. And now moving forward, you know, the ri the challenges on the road and some big challenges with travel yesterday, those things all kind of eat away at your focus and your ability to stay locked in on that stuff, and that's where the maturity and the tougher teams uh once the ball tips up, are able to move past that stuff and lock in on what they need to do. Um, and uh so hopefully, you know, having proof uh and evidence and experience and feeling that builds confidence. And confidence comes from comes from doing and the work it took to get to those points. We showed some film clips of some of the plays we made in the Elizabethtown game, and it might be multiple passes and a nice cut, and the ball finds a guy, and it looks exceptionally easy, like the scoring and the things that we did, and that's generally when we're in good shape. When it when the ball just finds the right guy and it's a relatively simple play to finish things when it's not more complicated than it needs to be. But the work it takes and the connect, you know, and the the teamwork and the chemistry and the execution and the selflessness it takes to make those plays can go unnoticed, but it's built over time. And so we're making progress with that stuff. But it again relies on everybody being locked in and focused every day and being focused on the team success and winning

Moravian: No Volume, No Plow

SPEAKER_07 16:33

and our next steps as a group.

SPEAKER_04 16:36

And then Saturday happened, and I'm gonna tell I'm gonna say this. I was frustrated out of the gate. I sat down. Let me tell you what happened. I sat down, I put the game on the big screen. Bez, you know, you were always saying you put it on your big screen. Oh, yeah. So I I put the game on the big screen. Me and my son were gonna watch it. No volume, completely muted. I was watching an absolutely silent game. Now, most people would just put up with that. I did not. I turned my computer on and I started this going after Flow Sports on chat. I actually got somebody on chat and just kept going at them and going at them and going at them for the whole first half. They did get the volume on for the second half, though. So I will give them a little credit. Wow. But uh for anybody listening that went through the same thing, I had your back. I was on there going after them. They gave they gave me $10 off my subscription. Did that plus I got the volume back on. But then but then my frustration turned to the this crazy run that Moravian had at the beginning of the first half. What happened? What happened? They just started hitting threes like crazy and got up by about 20. Well, they got a second half. First half. Second half, I guess they first have second half, yes. Yeah, the first half.

SPEAKER_07 17:53

First of all, they do I mean they they shoot over 35 threes a game. So that's uh I uh again, I think sometimes people it this is not unusual. This is how they play. Um but no, we uh first of all, you know, the game started half hour late. Um okay. So I was wondering why it was late. Why why wasn't it? So there was a snowstorm in that region and 78. Honestly, it was some very, very difficult travel. About a two hours and 45 minute trip took us three or four hours, four hours and fifteen minutes.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Wait, where are these? So we had a what's that? Where's it where are they?

SPEAKER_07 18:27

Where are they located? They're in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. So the snow actually hit like right in the Lehigh Valley area. So there was no snow at all through Harrisburg, which is two hours, and then the last hour, you know, took us two and a half hours. We were on some back roads paralleling, old 22 paralleling 78. If we were going the other direction, we would have been stranded. The tractor trailers and stuff were stranded. Um, I mean, our our bus did a great job, believe it or not. The Bloomsburg basketball team was on the way to play Cootstown, and their bus ended up in a ditch. They actually crashed. Holy oh man. So this was way worse than I thought. Yeah, it was very difficult travel, very difficult. And it was one of those we were far enough into it, there was no choice, you couldn't really turn around. And if you followed the weather report, it's supposed to be like two and a half inches, but there wasn't a plow anywhere. It was crazy. And usually in those regions, they're pretty prepared. Yeah, they're pretty good usually. But even people there were just saying in town was crazy. Their best player, Marquise Radcliffe, was actually late to the game because I think he commutes right now. He's he's and he lives like in Pottsville, and he had a hard time getting there. So there wasn't there weren't many people there because of this change. Wait a minute, did he miss part of the opening, the part of the game? He didn't start with the game. Yeah. Dude, that's how there's a lot. Um, I mean, again, uh I think uh people just show up and think games just happen, and when you're on the inside of it, um there's some real challenges, it's real life. And and that, you know, like honestly, uh I mean I text Janet there, like just getting there would be good right now. It's we gotta get there because there's a couple hills here. I don't know if we're making up in the bus. We're on back roads.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

Hey, what happens if let's say you didn't get there? What what happens in in that? Is it just a suspended game? Do you guys forfeit? Like what what happened?

SPEAKER_07 20:19

Yeah, I mean, we probably would just play when we could get there, or it would just depend. Um thank God we didn't have to find that out. Yeah. Yeah. We've been in some situations, so I mean, over the years, people forget winter travel, all bus travel, day of stuff. And usually there's a bigger winter storm warning, so we would adjust game times or come the night before, but this wasn't one of those, it just kind of caught up just in that little region, and it was the region you have to go through. Matter of fact, like on the it was kind of like in the Cootstown area on either side of it, but but once you got to Bethlehem, um uh east of Bethlehem was was better and west of Cootstown was better. Um, but so we we got

Almost

SPEAKER_07 21:00

there um and then had our we they they were gracious enough we moved this start time to 2 30. Um and um so we we got our our regular warm-up. But you know, there was some delays and I just we handled it okay. Um, but we just didn't play as we weren't as sharp, we weren't nearly as sharp as we were the first two games. And I mean, I don't think either team was, to be honest. I don't think we got Moravian's A game. And I told you guys, like, I I think we have to have our A game every night, and if we have our A game every night, we'll catch some teams when they don't, and we'd probably win those games. I I think they didn't have their A game, and obviously they didn't have their A player for seven or eight minutes. Now we did outscore him the second half, so when he was there, I I don't know how it impacts stuff, yeah, but he couldn't have been in rhythm or himself either.

SPEAKER_04 21:47

He didn't look like he was in rhythm the whole game. He didn't look like the best player on that court like he typically does. Right. I mean, it was just a weird game. And then and then the fact that you you did come back, like I will say, my son finally. Got up, he's like, I can't watch this anymore. And he walked away. And I jokingly said, They're going to come back and win this game. And then uh you you almost did. You came back. You were within three, I think, with what about maybe six seconds left, or what I don't know what exact timing, but they missed the three throw, had they missed the second one.

SPEAKER_07 22:15

Uh and then we in that stretch, we missed a three, and then we got in a break away. Uh-huh that would have got would have would have put the game, I think, at four points with like two minutes left. And uh so we had our opportunities.

SPEAKER_04 22:27

You had some you had some open looks at some of those threes that just didn't fall. And that that could have either tied it up, got you within one or two.

SPEAKER_07 22:34

Yeah, it was yeah, but it goes back to we just you gotta play all the plays, right? Yeah. Right way. And you watch that game, and it wasn't the way we had played earlier in the week. And a lot of controllable things in that. Um, they're very, very good. They're one of the longer, more athletic teams in the league. Um, watching on tape coming in. Um, they are an uh uh an upper half uh team. They have the the the uh scoring. I mean, uh Cratchard, number 12, and uh Porter Kelly number 11. Uh and Radcliffe are three of the best scorers you're gonna find um in the league without question.

SPEAKER_05 23:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 23:10

Um uh Kaminsky could really shoot. I mean, they're their uh Baez 4 is a division two transfer who can really score two. I mean, they're very they're loaded and super talented, and when you watched, you knew that. What I will say is I I I when we're there playing them, you watch on tape sometimes how you gonna do it. I thought um we were fine. I thought we could do what we wanted to, you know, needed to do. We just couldn't consistently do it. You know, we start the game missing a blockout. I mean, and that's all we worked on. Guys don't even aren't focused on it. I thought Radcliffe intimidated us a little bit inside for stretches, which makes no sense as many games as we played against guys like that. When we settled in, you know, we outscored them in the paint 46 to like 23. Now they're three-point heavy. Um I just I was just disappointed. Um, I thought our immaturity showed up again. Now, it could be the course of events, but the game started and you gotta play, and they had to deal with stuff. And and that's the maturity. It's like, man, you went through all that. Like you got two choices. You go through all that, now you're gonna show up and play, right? Like, I mean, what the heck? We're gonna pay the price here no matter what. And then you get locked in and focused, or you don't. I just I I thought it it was not good juniata for stretches, and you could see it in there, and you've seen the not good, uh, and we've seen the good. And uh, but then there's it I mean it's it's mind-boggling because you might see two or three really good defensive possessions in a row, and uh then all of a sudden we just break down and lose focus. You might see the same thing on offense or hand on their pressure. The pressure was killing me. Yeah, because you guys usually handle that pressure pretty well. Um and it's we were we were fine for large stretches, and then somebody wouldn't do what they need to do, or we would lose uh focus mistakes like drop a ball or not not shorten a pass or the stuff we worked on, and that's just the concentration, focus, small things, the maturity piece. Yeah, I I just I

Decide What Team You Want To Be

SPEAKER_07 25:03

I wasn't I'm not pleased with the performance yesterday. Really, really disappointing on the heels of what we did. Uh, and I think this group just needs to decide what they're gonna do because we're farther enough into this now. Like I can't say we waved the magic wand at them on on on Monday or you know, a Sunday or Wednesday. They just collectively showed up motivated, focused, and ready to go. I didn't think we had a great practice Friday again. You know, we prepared well before the others. We gave off Thursday, we did a little light shooting, they're on break, but we didn't come in and we lose some reps. And honestly, we played like we practiced again, just just some mind-numbingly frustrating like where are you throwing that one? Or why aren't you cutting it? You know, like it's just crazy, you know, just yeah, um, literally lazy plays and some and then we didn't defend again. So you're seeing it top-level offensive team. We give up 80 some points, and but we defended in small stretches, and then we didn't. The transition becomes a problem all of a sudden for us. We we have that sometimes, you know, we're pretty focused, locked in, and we're communicating alert and listening, everything. Then sometimes we just don't feel like it. We didn't we didn't hear it now, and it's all kind of convenient based on how we're feeling in the moment and what's going on, and I think a lot of it's immaturity, and guys felt a little off because of what's going on instead of being mature enough to work through it and understanding there's things you can do and you have to do. I think we let it impact us a lot. Um, but we are getting to the point we can talk about learning lessons in time and all this stuff as much as we want. We're gonna be what we're gonna be if guys, you know, when we this week shows us which team do we want to be um and what team do we want to be consistently because you're gonna be one of them. And uh yesterday just isn't a good choice. I just really, really disappointed um in in how we performed and probably this is one something to get away from. And like, you know what? That was a tough circumstance. They're a really good team. They played well. We actually fought in there, we did pretty well. I think the farther I get away from this one, the more frustrated, disappointed I am. Uh and even with all of that, we're there and have chances, right? Yeah. But we didn't capitalize on those. We didn't capitalize on those.

SPEAKER_03 27:02

And we'll be right back.

SPEAKER_07 27:03

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SPEAKER_04 27:53

You know, the interesting thing I think too is last year I felt like, you know, we were we we were going and there was little little little ups and downs, right? But it was consistently not great. This year, there's been such wild like highs and lows that you can see there's a great team here. Yes. But the consistency, which we talked a lot about in the in the last show, is is what lacks. And if we can get that consistency there, that focus, this team could be really good. And and I think this week coming up, you're right, is gonna tell a lot. Because you got you got a game, I think, uh, on one Wednesday, which we're gonna get into, which which you got to win. And let's dive right in because our

Scouting Report: Lycoming

SPEAKER_04 28:31

scouting report is presented by Snapdragon Apple's Monster Crunch Legendary Flavor. Find Snapdragon at a local grocery store, the official Apple of the Junietta men's basketball show, which it's the official apple of the only team still rolling right now with the loss of the Buffalo Bills. Um our Eagles now sit at 5 and 10, 2-6 in conference. We go on the road this week to face Lycoming on Wednesday night, followed by Drew on Saturday. Here's what we know a must-win on Saturday. A must-win on Wednesday. Lycoming is having a tough year, and we can't make it easy on them. They're 4-11, 08-0-8 in conference. Elizabeth Town gave it to them on Saturday, 86-66. Probably they're probably still a little bit pissed after losing to the Eagles. Uh they came into the game scoring 70 points a game. By the way, by the way, if I may attack Moravian announcers for a minute, Biz, did you listen to any of this game when the volume finally came on? I did. I was doing birthday things, so I apologize. They kept ripping on us for the past two seasons, and we're insulting our points per game, which I want to point out, we're at 75 points per game, which is not bad. They kept talking like that was the lowest in the in the conference. They were dead wrong there. All right. But anyway. A new team in our list, then. A new team on my list, yeah. Anyway, a liecoming on Wednesday, and then a tough Drew team on Saturday, who sits at 12 and 3, 6-2 in the conference, and a daunting, it's always a daunting road trip to New Jersey, especially after everything I just heard. Yeah. Um let's break these day these games down. Liecoming. You gotta win this one. You gotta win them all, so I don't I don't I don't really change.

SPEAKER_07 30:13

And you gotta steal a few of those. Listen, Lyco, if you're watching their scores, uh, how much different than us are they? They're in every game. Yeah. They're losing by five or six. I mean, they're they actually have a bunch of individually talented scores. They've I think I said they they I think watching and following some of their box scores, they've had some interruptions here. They've they've seemed not to have their lineup or any consistency with their lineup for the last month or so. I think it almost looks like well, and and and their head coach, Mark Linebaugh, didn't didn't coach one game, so my guess is probably illness. And uh so you know, Isaiah Valentine doesn't play in their in their Moravian game and then comes back and plays at Scranton and he is 31 and they lose by six to Scranton who just beat Cafe yesterday.

SPEAKER_05 30:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 30:58

So and that's the one. I did know this. That's crazy to me. I mean, that well, that first of all, that's they were in the same spot as us the last two years. They have a lot of experienced guys. It is not crazy to me. There's Scranton, and so people forget. My comment to the Moravian announcers is we had beaten Moravian eight straight times before the last three, so they don't know much about history. So I agree with you. Yeah, I mean, and well, I mean, we got to do something about it, but I our guys now need to get some of that edge too. We gotta knock this stuff off. I mean, I think we're giving too much credit. I had to talk to those guys, like, what are we talking about? Like, you know, we do the math like uh little league, like, hey, we can't beat state gas and oil because they got whoever, you know what I mean? And it's like that that's not that's not the mindset of the good teams and the guys that we've had here. That's not what competitiveness is. And honestly, we've been made our program off guys that came here and said we're gonna do something people think we can't, and that's where I'm gonna be at my best.

SPEAKER_04 31:58

And um I mean, the reality is you guys can be anybody in this league if you play well. There's not anybody on here, Scranton, Catholic, all the way down the line that you can't beat any given night.

SPEAKER_07 32:12

Like to me, you're talking about and you're talking about the best, our top five, six, seven teams. I mean, Ratcliffe's one of the best players in the country. He's on the watch list to be one of the national players of the year. I mean, right now we're talking about as good a team as there are in the country. And I don't understand why your mindset as a player and as a group wouldn't be, why don't we be one of those? Like, that's that that's the opportunity when you're a competitor and in a challenging situation. Like, here is the outcome of this. Like, my gosh, if we just get this right and we're consistent on it, where where can we go and what can we do? Um, but that has to be internally driven from players. We can only emphasize that enough. You know, there there should, we shouldn't, but what we said, like as I said, it I say it all the time. We can lose to everyone and we can beat everyone. Now we have lived in that space for 20 some years. The bottom line is some of the teams in our league, it's gonna be hard for them to lose to some teams because of just who they have if they show up and and just just do some things. They don't even need the group. They they they can do that. Um, I think there's uh a kind of a nobility and there's a greater opportunity to do it the way we do it. And I also think there's some protection if you can do that consistently. Um, it gives you uh even more opportunity. We have to take that step, and guys could consistently have to take that step and demonstrate we can take take that step. Um going to Lycoming, it'll be their Super Bowl. They need a win. Those kids deserve it. I I know some of those guys, we've recruited some of them. Like they they got some hoopers that work their butt off. There's probably not a better person or guy than their head coach. And when we get into who deserves to win and be successful, it's like we got that doesn't even exist. Like they deserve the win, we deserve the win. So now all that stuff goes out the door. You got to play the game the right way, and you got to go win the game. And so that's all it is. And we we have to be up to that and do that. We need two great days of preparation. We need to go in there with every bit of edge we have. You're talking to a team that hasn't won a road game in two years. So, like, I mean, the the what we have to do to go win this game is play our best, clearly, because everything else has not been enough. We just aren't responding, you know, and that's again another road trip. It just can't seem like it's too tough for everybody all the time. Like, you you gotta be able to come through this stuff. I mean, everyone travels, everybody has challenges that show up in a season. We can't be surprised by it. Uh, but again, I think sometimes when internally, that internal perspective, like, I'm the only one. No, you're not the only one going through that stuff. It's challenging and hard, and it doesn't mean we're not, but you got a game and you got teammates, and we've got the other end to play, and you can block out right now or not. Like, and at some point you stack all the reasons where I missed that shot, so I can't get back. Well, why? And that's the immaturity piece. So honestly, where we sit, had we gone and taken care of business and played well yesterday, whether we won or lost, I would be in a better place, probably about this. But I think you're right, man. This is as much as it's their Super Bowl, it's a huge one for us to see where are we going as a group right now. But beating them for us is just as hard as it would be to go to Scranton and win. And we better understand that and not get into the utter garbage about it. We have to have enough humility if the and that and that's what frustrates. I mean, the game's given us enough humility here lately. Like we should just be a hungry group. But that's why when there was an opening yesterday, if you're that hungry, man, you go through all that stuff and you and you and you jump on it. And uh, we got to do something better as coaches to get more of this out of guys. And that's my frustration. We gotta do this. So bottom line is I'm just worried about can we come back with the right mindset and focus uh tomorrow or Monday, have two great days of practice. Um, and then you know, we also can't put too much on it, whether, like I just said, we it's gonna take us the same to win any game. So they're all the same. So we it's it can't be the end all be all that if we don't beat these guys or we beat these guys that that we're something or we're not. We've been through enough of that now, too. We know that's not the case. Right, right. Like, like not none of that's gonna define us.

SPEAKER_04 36:12

You do need to go in there though with an edge. Like you guys gotta want it, you gotta go in there. Like, I want I want Belger just to like the first time somebody goes up for a layup and put them into the wall.

SPEAKER_07 36:21

Well, we don't. We need a little edge though. Like, we need some toughness. We can't be able to. Well, you said it right. I don't, we weren't tough enough to win the game on Saturday. Yeah, yeah, it's a consistent theme. Like a lot of the external environments make us tougher, you know. Like you go to the playstyle, everybody's there, great energy's up. Now we're tough. And now this is, you know, when we're on a Saturday game in front of five people wherever, do we have that kind of extra, do we have the guts and the toughness to do it? When we have to come to a practice, you know, after a day off, whatever, and it's break, are we, do we have the toughness and the investment to do it? And uh, it is not like a physical knock you on your butt toughness. It's the mental and emotional toughness and consistency to give what you need to give, regardless of what's going on. And I think we all know that part of that is maturity. As you mature, you become way more consistent in all those areas, you're less up and down with that stuff. But we're getting to enough games with a lot of guys that maturity needs to be demonstrated here, and we need to be able to do this. You know, the other transition, we're going back to class this week. How do we handle that? Where does our focus go? Stay off the street. Um uh well it's Martin Luther King Day, so it's day first tomorrow, and then uh Tuesday, I believe cook classes start. Um, so uh it can give us energy, um, it could take it away. Um, it you know, what are our habits daily? Um, are we getting the right rests we need to do? Are we doing that stuff? So um I but they just I mean, they have length and size, they'll probably play some zone. Um, they have guys that can get going and scoring, their confidence away from being good too, if that makes sense. So um, you know, they've been really close. Um honestly, if you draw it up, I think I said this last year, they deserve the win. I mean, they're good kids. I know those kids. Like they're really good kids. They work hard. Um, they've been on the short end. There's some talented guys on that team, like Valentine and Pardot are as good a scorer as there are in the league. And they've just come up on the short end so many times of close games that if we get into the karma and who deserves this and who deserves that, I mean, honestly, on this one, I don't know. You know, would we win out on that or not? So that's why that doesn't really it never hold holds up. It's who plays better, how we approach it and what we need to do. We just need to get locked in on process stuff, which was not good Saturday. Um, and when we are, and we just go play the game the right way. And we talked about it the Palestra Honor the basketball gods, play the game the right way, play it with respect that it deserves, uh play with the integrity that it needs, the commitment and the belief. It just play right. Good things happen. I don't think we played right or prepared right. Uh, and we're close. Oh, it's close better than it was before. Well, better is not good enough. Like you can control the preparation. And I'm not talking about performance, I'm talking about the preparation, the approach, the mindset. You can control those things. And we just consistently make poor choices on what to do in those moments, and things become the priority. I think we get in a little bit to ourselves and how we feel in a moment. And when you're on a team, you you you give up the luxury of doing that. You have obligations and responsibilities to others, and you need to stay focused on those and those moments, and good things happen. And when we've done that, it's beautiful basketball, it's great to watch. We aren't doing that. It is painfully tough to watch. And Coach Hager talked to the team briefly yesterday. He's like, we just got to get out of our own way. Like we just continually get in our own way.

SPEAKER_05 39:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 39:48

And you can see, and you see one guy do this one moment and the next they can't. Um and they just and again, the kind of angst here is more frustrating that they are capable of doing it. They do it consistently. I do believe they want to do it, but they got to go do it. Like players, like they have to go do this consistently together. And so that's the challenge of this next week. What they saw this week, and I sent them something last night. Hey, overall, good week, uh, but we need to refocus, re-energize, and come back determined together, you know, to prepare and approach things the right way, defend and rebound, like like build off of this week and now decide what team you want to be, right? Like, buddy starts with a preparation or attitude, and and you got this home stretch here. You got 10 games in front of you. It's a simple schedule now. You play every Wednesday and Saturday for five weeks. And whoever it is, wherever it is, it cannot matter. We have to show up and play our best. And sometimes our best won't be enough. And but everybody can live with that. But we need to go play our best. And I just don't think we come out and give our best all the time. And I don't mean like you see us playing hard, like we give effort, but the focus and kind of that depth of concentration and a little bit more consistently, and quite frankly, getting over ourselves and our struggles or our challenges, our insecurities, our lack of confidence in certain things, that there's no way you can have it when one game, your confidence is sky high, you're killing it, right? And we come back the next game and something goes, and nothing's, I mean, there's there's nothing going on. They it's just that internally you could see guys in their struggle, and uh they gotta take that step. We gotta take that step. We gotta figure that out as a coach. We gotta figure out how to give them that kind of confidence and ability to do that. But if you don't have confidence coming out of Sunday and Wednesday, it's a hard one to understand. Ten games to go.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

And you know, we're in this thing. The top six get in. Yep. We are right there. Like we are two games back from being with that group that has four wins. We show up this week, we can make a big big step forward here. It's gotta be a mindset. Mindset. We gotta go into like homing and kick some butt. Yes. Take care of business. It's a business.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Take care of business.

SPEAKER_04 42:00

Go in and take care of business.

Game Balls and Cooper Sharp

SPEAKER_04 42:02

All right, Biz, before I forget, which I sometimes do. Yes, you do. Game boss. Speaking of, look what we got. Now, Biz, you didn't uh you didn't you didn't try to play basketball in the snow in that, did you? I did not.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

We do have a court in our uh little complex, but no, this is just an inside ball, Coach Curly has informed me. Yeah, he yelled at you for that. He did. All right. So let's see here. Players of the game. The Elizabethtown game seemed like it could be just, you know, a pretty obvious one. I mean, on paper. All right, I know you would, but you're not me. So, I mean, hey, listen, 24 points, Ty Kozak, man. I mean, do I ship him this ball and just give it to him? Not so fast in my turn.

SPEAKER_04 42:48

Can I just give him a little credit? And I don't like to give too much credit to guys because I don't like to get him up or down. But to me, man, Ty plays with a little bit of edge, and I love that.

SPEAKER_07 42:57

It seems like he's trying to get into that. I really took some steps this week.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Yeah. So Ty, great game against Elizabeth Town, 24. I mean, it's beautiful, but you know how I am with the grit guys. Wait, you so you're not giving it to Ty? Not for this game. No, I am gonna give it to Malcolm Griffith. And why you ask? I do ask why. Eight boards, four assists, one steal, one block. I mean, that's the kind of guys that you gotta have that are gonna make the other guys better, right? Right? He does it all. So Malcolm Griffith, E Town Game Ball. All right. And then uh the Moravian Game Ball does go to Ty Kozak. You're welcome. Listen, this can't be like chalk all the time, right? It'd be boring. We're all about content here at our uh, you know. So let's uh get Ty's uh stats here. This is great for talk radio, my man. All right, Ty. 7-13. We had four boards, five assists, and a steal. We need to get him a block or two here, one of these games. 23 points, man. So Ty, like you said, Ty seems to be starting to get to that elevation level to get that, you know, to be that that one guy. Not that you need to have that one guy, but it helps during crunch time.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

So Ty is nice to have a guy though that can take that ball and take it to the hoop whenever he wants.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

Yeah. And he does take it to the hoop a lot. Yeah, he does. There you go. Malcolm and Ty, you got the game.

SPEAKER_04 44:34

I'll have to get our leaderboard together. I kind of lost track, but I will get that to you, Biz.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

I think Ty's winning, leading the leaderboard. I think he is too.

SPEAKER_04 44:42

Yes. All right. Ty, you gotta get these guys other guys fired up. I want that edge that I see in Ty across the board. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

You know what? The cool thing is, like looking at this at a high level, like, you know, God willing, this is gonna be the team, you know, this year. It's gonna be basically the same team next year. Like, this is where this is the time you position yourselves for, you know, those those next couple year run where everybody, God willing, is gonna be together. I want to run right now.

SPEAKER_04 45:13

Exactly. I want to finish out six and four the rest of the way, and I want to be in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Let's get to that sixth seed, man. You never know what happens when you get in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_04 45:24

Yeah. All right, Curly. You got some work to do. And flow sports, you got some work to do too. Wednesday game, better have volume, or I'm I might lose it. Yeah, you might lose it. I might lose it. I might go to their headquarters.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

This is gonna be bad. Oh, by the way, that little rap I made this morning. Cooper Sharp American Cheese. Thank you very much. Cooper Sharp. We need Cooper as a uh best cheese.

SPEAKER_07 45:49

I I believe it or not, I didn't listen back to the uh Lestra. I don't usually listen to these episodes, but I wasn't on that. So as soon as I come up, I turn it off. But I'd like to hear the alums and when I when we're doing our thing, like uh that's cool to hear from those guys.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

You you have built a machine, curls.

SPEAKER_07 46:06

You really have a machine, yeah. I understand that you are a big Cooper Sharp uh cheese fans, so that was not anything I knew about you two guys, but now I do. And I will probably have to test that out at some point, probably the next five-week window.

SPEAKER_04 46:23

All right. I might have to get some Cooper Cheese and bring it with me for the alumni game.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Oh, I'll bring cheese. Yeah, Curly, you're you've got for your hospitality of letting us stay, we're gonna load your fridge with Cooper cheese. We gotta figure out how to get it. It's the greatest cheese ever made. Oh, like it it takes American to the just next level.

SPEAKER_07 46:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:44

Can't wait. Cannot wait for the cheese. Tell Jen to clear some room out. Big blocks again. Your kids are gonna, you're actually if it's good and they like it, you're gonna have to ship. You might be in trouble. Yeah, Tom, you're gonna be a cheese shipper. Yeah. Yeah. I just ship my cheese.

SPEAKER_04 47:05

All right. Well, we're getting closer and closer to some big games. We got alumni coming up in Curly. There's been a lot of uh text messages about the Catholic game. I think we're gonna have a big crowd at the Catholic game. Yeah, you might have to you might have to comp me quite a few tickets, but we'll talk about that later. Hey, can uh Merrick Studios fly me in for that? We might have to, Biz. We might have to. Sweet. Yeah, especially if we go on a run here and we uh have a streak going into that game. All right. Yeah. All right, folks. This season's getting fun. Yes, sir. It's getting fun. We're getting a little energy back. See it. We can see it. We need to get an edge. We will bring the edge as a podcast, and the team's got to bring an edge on the court. That's a good way to say it.

SPEAKER_07 47:46

I mean, we do. We have to play with an edge all the time.

SPEAKER_04 47:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:50

We absolutely did. On Monday and Wednesday, and we did not on Saturday, one through whoever. And uh we gotta get that. You gotta bring it every single day. That's gotta be stuff that fuels you. I mean, like, that's that's competition in a nutshell, and and that piece of it. Uh the rest of the stuff is just noise, and you get focused on that stuff and get things happen, and we gotta get focused on that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

Tom, that's your like email address or something, isn't it? Tom on edge. Tom on edge. I'm always on edge, business. Oh, you are, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:18

Especially if there's not a lot to keep me off. That is Tom on Edge. Let's let's take that theme. That's right. All right, folks. Mike Kutch out there, John D out there. Send us your thoughts and follow the show on Instagram at Junietta Basketball Show. Subscribe to the Junietta Men's Basketball Show on Apple at Spotify, wherever you listen to the podcast. And until next time, I'm Tom Frank. I'm Biz Getting Edge and go straight through it. Go Eagles. Let's go. Wednesday. I want a blowout.