Part 2 - Live From the Palestra: Guinness, Grit, and a Statement Win in Philly

We are back for Part 2 of our LIVE event from Philadelphia—quarter-mile from the Cathedral of College Basketball—and things escalated quickly. From pregame pints and cheesesteaks at the New Deck Tavern to press-row seats at the Palestra, this episode captures an all-time Juniata hoops day.

The ball tips and Juniata delivers a wire-to-wire statement at the Palestra. Postgame reactions, press conference audio, Player of the Game honors, and reflections on what it means to win the right way in one of the most historic gyms in basketball.

This one’s part road trip, part roundtable, part love letter to Division III hoops—and 100% Juniata energy.

Transcript

Part Two: Live From the Palestra

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Welcome listeners. I'm Tom Frank, and I'm joined each and every week by Drew Beskett, aka Biz, and your junior attack basketball coach, Greg Curley, as we talk all things, junior atom men's college basketball. We are back for part two of Live from the Palestra. Guinness, grit, and a statement win in Philly. Let's dive right in as we pick up from the New Deck Tavern.

unknown 0:22

Hey!

New Deck Tavern, Cooper Sharp, and the Cheesesteak Rules

SPEAKER_07 0:26

We got a big crowd here. We got people on this side. We got people once go. How do you like this? This is like this is awesome. We went for the we yeah, I mean, we blew out 2003. We were like this. 23. Now we're like this. Well, hey.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

I have to say, my family, as you know, we're all from Philly. Yes. It's our first time here, and we are overly impressed. Like, this place is over. This is our newest cheese steak.

SPEAKER_08 0:50

This is our new spine.

SPEAKER_04 0:50

It's hard to tap cheesesteaks in Philly, you know. You got the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_08 0:53

What did you think of the cheese day?

SPEAKER_04 0:54

I got the chicken cheesesteak. It was phenomenal.

SPEAKER_07 0:57

It was phenomenal?

SPEAKER_04 0:58

Oh my god, it was phenomenal.

SPEAKER_07 0:58

Yeah, we thought already. I was real impressed with the uh sesame sea bread.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Yes. Well, is that and the cooperative? I'll tell you what the secret is. Oh, the Cooper cheese. The Cooper Cheese. 100%.

SPEAKER_07 1:12

The only reason I ordered. So here's a little, all right. So here's a story about a cheesesteak experience for me in Philly. Okay. Right? So I came in, obviously I'm not here a lot, but I come in and you know, you do Gino's Pats, whatever. Yeah. I mean, that's all we know from State College. Got it. So I go down to to Pat's, right? Because I prefer Pats over Gino's. That was a better steak. I go in there and you know, I ordered uh cheesesteak with American. I didn't want the, you know, I want American. Yeah. So I go up and the guy hands it to me. He's like, there's cheese whiz all over. And I'm like, I want America. And the guy's like, no, you didn't. I'm like, dude, no, I ordered it. He's like, no, you didn't. I'm like, he reluctantly gave it to me, but I'm like, uh, I got cheesesteak Nazi on that one, man. Yeah, you did. But the Coopers.

SPEAKER_05 1:56

Cooper's cheese, that's what it's all about. You win with

First Ever Parental Guest: Ty's Mom, Mary

SPEAKER_05 1:59

Coopers.

SPEAKER_07 1:59

Yeah. But anyway, I digress. Yes. Welcome back.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

Thank you.

SPEAKER_07 2:03

Introduce yourself first.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

So I'm Mary Lapatina. Uh Ties Parent. Ty's parent. All right.

SPEAKER_07 2:10

And thank you for coming. You are our first parent. You are the first parent parental guest. Parental guest.

SPEAKER_04 2:15

And I would say, my family, like we're all big followers. We still listen to you guys. That's awesome. That's what we want. That's what we want.

SPEAKER_07 2:22

We're going to build it over the years. So much fun. So now is this your first uh Juniata game post-Tah? Or I mean post uh live, yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 2:31

We've been watching. We still have to watch it. You have been watching. My parents still have Flow Sports. Oh, yeah. We all still wait. Yep. We fight over who has the login because now Tyler wants to use our login. That's outstanding.

SPEAKER_07 2:41

You didn't hear that Flow Sports. I still like to watch the stuff.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

We're still the same household, so they're only one TV. Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 2:48

And what do you remember from the first game, the first time your son got to play in the Palestinian?

SPEAKER_04 2:52

That's a big thing for you guys, especially in the police. My husband and I both went to Philly Schools, Catholic school. So we went to so many of the championship games here, plus all the Ivy League schools in this area. We're both big college like basketball fans. So to be able to be in that environment was so cool. That is cool.

SPEAKER_07 3:11

All right, so who is the biggest basketball player you saw from your Catholic high school games? Because a lot of guys came through.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Like who is the guy you remember that I'm gonna be honest, this is you're asking the wrong girl. You asked my husband and my son, they'll be able to tell you. But I mean, um we follow Roman basketball, Roman high school. There's a ton of guys that came through there. And Tyler could name you any kid, any high school, like to this day. I don't even know how he stores it all up in his brain. I just I just follow along.

SPEAKER_07 3:41

Did you ever see Kobe play here?

SPEAKER_04 3:44

No, I did not. But we we grew up like right down the street from a school, so we knew we knew of him, but I don't think I was ever actually at his game now.

SPEAKER_08 3:53

So what

Life After Juniata (Shout Out to Bree)

SPEAKER_08 3:54

what's life like now post Junietta?

SPEAKER_07 3:57

Oh, it's sad. Did you keep up with because you guys had a really tight group of appealers?

SPEAKER_04 4:03

And we still are, and we we text all the time, we talk about the team, we still talk. Tyler's girlfriend plays for the women's basketball, so we're still following the girl. I'm still following Junietta on the girls, which is interesting. I've never followed the girls' basketball, but now I'm in.

SPEAKER_08 4:17

How are the girls doing this year? I don't even know.

SPEAKER_04 4:19

Doing okay. We're doing okay. His girlfriend is having shout out to Bree. Bree's having a phenomenal year. She's got 500 rebounds, she's on her way to a thousand points. She's having a great year. And I keep telling her senior year, have fun. It's been fun. So we've been following along, talking to the parents. We're all excited, we're all gonna try to come to the alumni guest. Yes, you are.

SPEAKER_07 4:38

We've got to be there at the alumni game. That's our plan.

SPEAKER_04 4:40

Go to the muddy.

SPEAKER_07 4:41

Yeah, well, we definitely gotta stay over then. Yeah. We're debating right now our draft picks. Okay. Because we gotta figure out who to pick from these the newest guys. Yes. Yeah. So

Alumni Game Draft Board: Ty vs. Mason

SPEAKER_07 4:51

it's a it's it's a big thing.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

It'd be really weird. I would love to see Ty and Mason on the same team, but I don't think I'm saying that's not. It'd be kind of funny to see them play. They already know each other's like secrets, so it's good.

SPEAKER_05 5:01

They're gonna definitely be playing against each other. Tom's got the first pick, so he's got some pressure. Oh, okay. I'm gonna be checking both those guys out, maybe in the shootaround. Well, I'm gonna say, well, no, they're gonna know before the shooting.

SPEAKER_04 5:12

Mason has not been on a court, and Tyler's been playing, so Tyler's on two teams this year. Just won the championship for design.

SPEAKER_07 5:22

Yes, they were. All right. Yeah, yeah. So, what's it like coming back? You're back at the plaster, you're gonna you're coming, not you're not watching your son play, you're just coming back here to see the game. Exactly. It's got a little less stress, I would assume, right?

SPEAKER_04 5:34

I remember being so nervous last time. So nervous. So

Eagles Picks and the Goucher Sweatshirt Count

SPEAKER_04 5:38

it's definitely come different to get to come and watch it and just have fun. Yeah. But you know, have Eagles on right now. That's that's that's a whole nother stress because we kind of gotta follow that and the game at the same time. That's a little bit of stress.

SPEAKER_07 5:51

I don't think that's gonna be a prop for the Green Eagles. I don't know about the Green Eagles. I don't know. San Francisco's way too hurt, man. Okay. I'm liking that. Kutch is a uh San Francisco fan, by the way. Talk to us about the Niners, man.

SPEAKER_06 6:07

You know, when you look at it, it's looking like Eagles. You got the whole game. Like to hear it. The fans are crazy here, and the Niners. East Coast, West Coast, especially on defense, the Niners are hurting. I heard they called you to play linebacker, but you declined. That might help them. No, they could use anybody at linebacker. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 6:23

Yeah. All right, what give us your predictions for both games?

SPEAKER_04 6:26

Eagles for both.

SPEAKER_05 6:27

Eagles for both.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

Eagles for both. Absolutely. They're gonna have a big enough cheering section here.

SPEAKER_05 6:31

They are gonna have a good cheering section.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

We're on home turf for us. We are on home turf, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 6:36

You're gonna have a big crowd, man.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Uh yeah, this is awesome. You guys really did a great job advertising it. Yeah, it was fun. Well, thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_07 6:44

Where is Goucher? It's in Baltimore. Outside of Baltimore. Nobody's coming up here from Baltimore. I don't know. We're gonna have the crowd, man. We're gonna see. I haven't seen a I haven't seen one Goucher sweatshirt yet. No. I've seen Catholic, I've seen Susquehanna, I've seen Drew, I've seen Juniatta. Yeah. That's it. Yeah, see, Goucher.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

A ton of Philadelphia Eagles.

SPEAKER_07 7:03

A ton of Philadelphia Eagles. Go, Birds. We're still trying to find a new football coach, so they're not gonna make it. Yeah, yeah. Uh well, thank you for joining us yet again.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_07 7:13

It's all full circle, so we'll see you again in the next two to three years. Absolutely. I'll be here. Fantastic. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Thanks, guys. Oh, you've

Enter Michael Kutch, Executive Producer for the Day

SPEAKER_07 7:23

been always a pleasure. Kutch, just slide over. We would be we would be terrible people if we didn't bring in and miss to introduce our executive director for the day, Mr. Michael Kutch. How are you?

SPEAKER_06 7:36

Welcome to the program. I'm happy to be here. This is fantastic. I'm a longtime listener. I love you. I'm a longtime friend. Yes. Obviously. You know all the backstories to all of this stuff. I do. That's one of the best parts of the show. Every inside joke I get. There's a lot of inside goods. Yeah, there are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 7:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 7:53

Yeah. So what do you think? Are you and now have you followed? I guess because of Curly, we've all become Juniata fans. Sure. So what's your take?

SPEAKER_06 8:01

Well, you know, I've got the benefit of a little expert wisdom. People sitting here giving some good feedback, right? A little more than I knew. I know a little bit, and I kind of filled it in. Alright, so Juniatta's got their shooters, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:15

They got some shooters.

SPEAKER_06 8:16

But they lack the experience, they lack the consistency. But they see a three-point win.

SPEAKER_05 8:22

Three-point win.

SPEAKER_06 8:22

Yeah, I think a three-point win. One of the guests here said 11 points. I'm not feeling that, but I think it's going to be close. Junietta, it'll be close. But Junietta will win, and I'm standing by three. Yeah, you know, three.

SPEAKER_07 8:33

I think that's what they need. They need a game where they're down like two or three points and they come back and win, and then I think this is a catalyst game. That's right. So Kutch, we'll have you on. We're going to have a free game, pre-game, like right before the game.

SPEAKER_08 8:50

We will have a halftime show and we will have a post-game show.

SPEAKER_05 8:54

So now that you're in, you're going to be you'll be part of helping us pick the MVP of the game.

SPEAKER_06 8:59

But Tom, I gotta jump back to something here. Now you

The Grudge: Running It Up, the Chris Webber Timeout

SPEAKER_06 9:02

guys asked me about the alumni. But I'm gonna call you out, Tom.

SPEAKER_08 9:06

Why am I getting called out?

SPEAKER_06 9:07

Now hold on. You're talking coach. You ran it up on Biz, correct? Yes.

SPEAKER_08 9:10

I did run it up on Biz.

SPEAKER_06 9:11

And what happened? It was dirty. He came back. You fueled him. I didn't do that. Now every coach knows you don't run it up. Now the question is, can that fuel Biz for two years? I don't think so. I think that's where you're where you're about to find out.

SPEAKER_07 9:26

I think it was, I think it was it was luck. Now, anybody who actually came to the game, walked away from that game, realizing I I blew it. I should have won that game. No, you're full of crap. You tried to cheat. How did I try to cheat? Timeout? You didn't have any timeouts left? I had the bonus timeout. Dude, there was a team. There should have been a team. Chris Weber. And then you get you get the ball at half court. What are we in the NBA? I mean, come on, man. Are we putting

New Rule: Everybody Gets One Red Flag

SPEAKER_07 9:52

together any uh any different rules for the game? I have a rule. I think, oh yeah, we put we put together a little different thing. I want to hear this. I think we each get a red flag this year. Alright. And at any point in the game, you can throw that red flag and I can force you to shoot the free throw, or you can force me to shoot the free throw. Oh, I like this. I like this a lot. Oh, look what just came to our station. Thank you so much. What do you think of that rule, Cutch? Alright, I like that.

SPEAKER_06 10:21

I love it. I wanna, yeah. I wanna see Biz at the foul line. I want to see you at the foul line. I like this. I like it a lot. I didn't think I was gonna like it. I can't. I didn't want these things invented, but I do like that. You got me on that.

SPEAKER_07 10:34

I can abide by that. I think we're gonna have a few more rules as we get closer, but that's one of them. Dude, you make up rules all the games go. I know, but I I like to have some, you know, things around us here.

SPEAKER_06 10:43

Yeah, what else? What's going on?

Throwback Pub, Vintage Gear, and Kutch's Honest Feedback

SPEAKER_06 10:45

What else do I got? On the game today? Just on life. Yeah, life.

SPEAKER_07 10:48

We have listeners who know you.

SPEAKER_06 10:50

You know, one thing that I'm loving today is this pub. It's got, okay, so it's got, it's a throwback. We got the throwback. We got the brick, we got the old wood, and we got the energy. Yeah. We got the people here. Dude, I love this place. I love this place too. It transfers perfectly to the Palestra, which is all the same adjective. That's a great point.

SPEAKER_07 11:11

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_06 11:12

That's a great point. So you guys picked a great place today.

SPEAKER_07 11:15

How did we not get this guy on soon? I don't know.

SPEAKER_08 11:18

He's brilliant. I don't know. But it has been great. We've had a lot of people at a lot of Juniatta people out here. A ton of Catholic people had rolled in after their game.

SPEAKER_05 11:26

I haven't seen one Drew. I have to admit though.

SPEAKER_07 11:29

She was over there with a nice sweatshirt and I almost stole. I see a lot of Eagles fans who wear the same, very similar Eagle. Yeah. So I'm getting a little confused. I might, I might think I've seen more Juniatta people than I see because they all have Eagles.

SPEAKER_06 11:41

Is this considered throwback Eagles? Because this is old. That's that is an old? Wow, that's really old. What year did you get that shirt? It probably is ten years old. Maybe more than that. It might be more than half. It might be more than that.

SPEAKER_07 11:52

When's the last time you were in?

SPEAKER_06 11:54

About that. About ten years ago. About that. About that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 11:57

Well, then maybe now that you're executive producer, he needs to come up for the alumni game.

SPEAKER_06 12:02

I wanted to show that I'm hurting on gear. I had to wear my vintage Eagles gear, which means I need an up. I need a reflection or something. I need a refresh.

SPEAKER_05 12:09

Well, we we keep asking Coach Curley for a refresh every day.

SPEAKER_07 12:12

I don't know. We did get a text yesterday what our sizes were. He didn't ask for shoe size, though. No.

SPEAKER_08 12:19

I was kind of hoping we would get some kicks as well.

SPEAKER_06 12:21

I mean, we did get a nice. That'd be nice.

SPEAKER_08 12:24

Yeah, it would be nice. I want a full uniform.

SPEAKER_06 12:26

That'd even be nicer, but I'd be kind of odd.

SPEAKER_07 12:29

Dude, it would be odd. No, we can wear a uniform. Hey, they this conversation all the time. We are gonna have to wear uniforms if we throw the red flag and we have to go into the game. Oh, that's true. Well, hold up.

SPEAKER_06 12:40

Wait, but let's think about this. Basketball is like one, you look at the sports, like the manager and baseball wear some. Basket, they wear a suit. Now they wear warm-up. They don't wear a uniform. No, no, no, but it's a good thing. Well, that's a question, though.

SPEAKER_07 12:56

You're just talking about sweat, like warm-up. No, but I'm saying, what if I have to go in and shoot the free throw? I gotta be in full gear because, hey, wait a minute. What if I miss the free throw? You gotta play defense until somebody calls a timeout. Now, you might be able to call a timeout because you're the coach. No. So you could call the timeout. I'm letting you run, buddy.

SPEAKER_06 13:16

I feel like you're working the kinks about on this, on the fly. But I kind of like this because I'll be honest with you.

SPEAKER_07 13:21

If I go back on defense and I get to play off, if I touch that ball, there's no chance I'm not shooting. That's awesome. From anywhere on the floor. I'm gonna tell my team to give you the ball.

SPEAKER_06 13:31

Are you gonna have like double knee pads and I know. No.

SPEAKER_07 13:34

I'm not like this.

SPEAKER_05 13:35

I'm in perfect health.

SPEAKER_06 13:36

Like you're not worried about your 10x, your all these ACLs and PCLs.

SPEAKER_08 13:42

I play like I play like Luca plays. You're gonna look at this guy and you're like, he looks like he's slow, but then all of a sudden he's gonna put up about 30 minutes. That's right. He looks like he's slow.

SPEAKER_06 13:51

He is what the hell are you talking about? Good analogy.

SPEAKER_07 13:55

Good analogy. So, Coach, what do you you you're an avid listener to the podcast, man? Give us the feedback, man. You know what? What do we love about this?

SPEAKER_06 14:01

I love the trajectory. Now, if I can be honest, I think anyone behind a mic, most people are not naturals. I know Tom's got a little more experience. I think he got in. Biz at first, like not in a bad way, but I think you're like a little rusty, but man, like you are huge.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

He's become excellent.

SPEAKER_06 14:19

He's really like good chemistry, good balance on everything, great guests. And you know we did have a uh NBA head coach on. You you learn a lot of basketball from Curly.

SPEAKER_07 14:33

Oh yeah. He's funny. You do. That's probably the coolest thing is actually like understanding what's gonna be on.

SPEAKER_06 14:39

You think of things totally different. And it's not really a shock, because we played with the guy, we played with Kev. He was like coaching me at the park. That's the way they're wired, fundamentals. And I love the program too, if I can put like the way they work and not just the volume of hours, the determination. I like the philosophy. The hardest working team of basketball. Easy to say, hard to do. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's good feedback. That is good feedback.

SPEAKER_07 15:07

That might be the best feedback I've ever gotten.

SPEAKER_06 15:09

Really? Yeah. Glad to do it. Yeah. Glad to do it. Lord knows my kids for coming out.

SPEAKER_07 15:14

Yeah, man. And you're gonna be with us the whole day.

SPEAKER_06 15:16

I missed the last one, so I'm glad to be here, and I'll be here the whole day. You'll be here the whole day.

SPEAKER_07 15:20

We're gonna do, we're gonna go from here, New Deck Tavern. We're gonna head over to the Palestra. We're gonna do a little uh pre right before game time. We'll do a little Do you remember the last time we were here, they had that little hospitality room? You think we're gonna get into that?

SPEAKER_05 15:35

Oh, we should get into that one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 15:37

Oh no. So we got we got a free game to do, we got a halftime show to do, and then we'll be back post-game with coach and with our MVP of the game. Yeah. Win or lose. But I think we're gonna win by three. I think we're gonna win, coach. Three. All right, people. Hey, if you're sending you sleep, go to the new deck tavern and get a cheesesteak for the love of God. Cooper Cheese. Cooper Cheese. All right, we will be back on live from the palestra, on the floor. Pressure. There we go.

SPEAKER_08 16:09

And we'll be right back.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

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SPEAKER_08 16:15

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SPEAKER_05 17:00

And now

Courtside at the Cathedral, Thanks to Katie

SPEAKER_05 17:01

back to the show.

SPEAKER_07 17:03

Alright, folks. We are live. We're at mid-court. We are at mid-court. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Something looks real familiar about this, Tom.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

It's loud. It is loud.

SPEAKER_07 17:18

This is an in-game experience. This is in-game. I got the referee of the game right in front of me. I'm gonna try to get him on. You think I can get him on? I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_06 17:27

Fellas, this is a treat for me. Is it a treat? Yeah, you get the gooseboss in here.

SPEAKER_07 17:33

Now you know what it's like to be uh be high high pollutant media types, guys. I mean, it is a great experience to be at the Palestra on the court, Goucher versus Juniana. Look, we we'd be remiss if we didn't completely shout out Katie, the uh gracious at uh commissioner of the landmark conference for getting us courtside. We can literally walk out of the arena to the door of our car. I can almost touch my car from the uh from the court. I mean, this is this is first class all the way. First class landmark conference, absolutely. Alright, so we're warming up here. Uh I I don't know about you, Tom, but I like the look of the look in the eyes of our boys from Junietta. I do too. I'm I feel good about today. I feel great about today. I hope it comes through. We see uh Coach Curly just came out on the court. Coach Curly's out. He's out there. The refs are in my way right now. Yeah. Um I'm tempted to ask them to move. Coach Hager came over and said hello, which was nice. Coach Hager came up came over. That was a good touch. It was. Alright, let's let's um executive producer

Scouting Goucher and the Keys to the Game

SPEAKER_07 18:40

pass down my uh my notes there. Oh, we got notes. Yeah. Alright. All right. Good job, Coach. We gotta get serious about basketball here. Yes. We got the Goucher men's basketball team coming in here. They only have one conference win. Alright. So they have one more than us. They're uh four and eight on the season. All right, one and four in the conference. They've lost the they lost their last game to uh Drew 97 to 7. Ooh. A pretty big loss. Uh their only their only win in conference has been against Lycoming. They beat Lycoming back December 3rd, all right, 72-56. Ooh, okay. So that tells you something about Lycoming, I believe. Yeah, it probably does.

SPEAKER_06 19:21

I like what one of the guests said back at the tavern. He said the team that realizes this is just a normal basketball court and adjusts and plays ball. Yes. That's a great insight.

SPEAKER_07 19:31

And you know what? It's not gonna be easy. Because I mean, this place has got a lot of history here. Right, not the downplay. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll tell you what, uh Goucher looks pretty big to me. Yeah, they're they're a tall team, but if I read your notes correctly, Tom, I do believe we're we're outscoring them on average per game by about uh six-ish points. That's absolutely right. Thank you. 67.9 points. Goucher puts up a game. We put up 73.4. I like it. Like, here's an interesting fact for you. They're led by coach Justin Klingman. All right. Young guy. He went to school at Catholic, or I'm sorry, at Scranton, graduated in 2015, and got his master from Catholic in 2022. How is he still playing? This is their coach. Oh their coach. Alright. The co oh, good thing I'm paying attention. Their coach. Alright. So Justin Klingman. I was gonna call foul there for a minute, but okay. So Justin's a young cat. Yeah. Going up against an experienced junior coach of 25 plus years. Yep. He looks ready. He's his legs twitching a little bit. He's yeah, he's watching the uh as soon as he puts his uh chin in his hand, I'll uh Penn State basketball days, I think we got this game. Here's what I noticed. Yes. I I noticed that our coaches are staring at their players. I just noticed the same thing. And what is Goucher's coach is doing? He's like doing raw-rah crap. Yeah. Yeah. I see a big difference in Coach Hague.

SPEAKER_06 21:06

I see a big difference.

SPEAKER_07 21:07

I think Coach Hager, if you look at him, he's figured out five different ways to beat their top four guys. He absolutely has. Just by sitting there. So we got a great crowd here tonight. Yeah, we got a lot of. We got a lot of junior people behind us. Trying to get the coaches, hi. Oh, we got a wave. We got a tip of the cap. Yeah, we sure did. Yeah. We sure did. I think he just recognized our executive producer.

SPEAKER_06 21:30

Yeah, I saw the point. I think it was right at my face. Yeah, yeah. Like down the barrel of the gun, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 21:36

He's now talking to the commissioner of the landmark conference. She's probably telling him these knuckleheads have gotten me for everything they could. How did you yeah, how did you get them all that you did?

SPEAKER_06 21:47

Tom, do you have any advanced metrics like Ken Palm, like pace of Juniad, anything like that? Good lord. If you don't have a number, look at this guy. If you don't have a number, can you just give me an idea of what you expect? Back pace-wise.

SPEAKER_07 22:01

Well, I mean, they're scoring less than Junietta, so I'd say a slower pace. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 22:05

So you think Junietta wants to pick it up and Goucher wants to slow it down.

SPEAKER_07 22:08

No, they want to play defense, grind it out. They're going to grind this stuff out. I agree with Bitch. Okay. What does Coach always say? If we can keep it in the 60s, it's a good game for us. Here's another interesting fact about these two teams. I harp about our bad free throw shooting. Yes. We're around 62%. Right. Goucher. 63%. So this game will not be one at the line. I don't think it's going to win at the one at the line. I'll tell you what, we're going to win it. Here's how we're going to win. Here's our keys to winning. Talk to me. We are going to out-rebound them. We are going to shoot the three ball very well and very effectively today. Alright. And we're going to outscore them. I love it. Wow. Especially the outscoring piece, man. That's brilliant. Great idea. I think that's our key to win. Hey, man, I think rebounding, what is uh what did they say goes on the whiteboard? Rebound and defense. Rebound and defense. That's what it's going to come down to in this game. I think this is where it comes together, man. I just do. I do too. I can't wait for this. So glad we got to do it again, and hopefully we get to do it again soon. Yeah. Woo! That's interesting. Goucher went into the locker room and came back out, but Junietta's just like, eh. I don't need to make an entrance. We're here. And we got four minutes till game time. Alright.

Anthem Duty, No Band, No Drum

SPEAKER_07 23:27

I imagine we got the national anthem. Tom, will you be singing that today? I am. I'm actually I am the one singing it today. That's outstanding. Um we'll probably turn the mics off because I need to have total concentration. It makes total sense. But uh, I feel like I'm gonna kill it.

SPEAKER_06 23:41

I mean you will.

SPEAKER_07 23:42

You kill whatever you do, buddy. And I'll tell you what, if I if I can't remember a few words, by all means, both of you guys jump in. All right. I'm down. All right. Well, I see our fans. I see the Junietta Faithful. We got a good squad. Definitely a little more people than Goucher. Oh yeah. I don't see anybody from Goucher. Yeah. It's kind of like a lot of people. Why would you, man? I mean, it's Goucher. Yeah, that's true. The Gophers. Yeah, man. The Gophers versus the Eagles. The only thing I don't see that I know you're sad about is I don't see a drum. There's no band, there's no cheerleaders, and there's no drum. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:20

Cut our That'd be nice to have.

SPEAKER_07 24:22

We're gonna have a drum for the alumni game.

SPEAKER_06 24:24

Yes, I've been hearing this drum business, you know, getting louder, so to speak, but I haven't seen the drum and so. You haven't seen the drum.

SPEAKER_07 24:33

I mean, the need for cheerleaders got louder, and what do we have at GameSnop? We got cheerleaders in every game. Influencers, we're gonna be here. We got a good Pep band. Yes. And the Pep band does have a drum. So there you go. So we will have a drum on Alumni Game. Pep Man, I hope you're hearing me right now. We're ready to rock and roll. This is gonna be awesome. Man. Flow Sports will be here today. Who's calling the game for Flow Sports? I don't know. I don't either. Maybe we should. I wish we could call a game for Flow Sports. Uh it'd be awesome. That'd be fantastic. It would be good. Basketball's a tough game to cover. Yeah? It's a tough game to call. Oh hey, you're a good play by boy. I did football, but those notes there are a good start. I mean, I got great stuff. You might need a little thicker stack. I mean, I got the snap. I'll tell you what, they got some hard names to say, though. I believe their leading score is Dark. Dude, John Davis is a hard name for you to stick to. Yeah, but we got we got Darn Darnell Morris. We got Leech Kong. Who? Leech Kong. Good lord. Gotch, give it, give those a give those a try.

SPEAKER_06 25:36

Tom, I took ninth grade Spanish with you, and I can tell you that you're right.

SPEAKER_07 25:41

It was bad. It was bad back then. It was really bad. Don't tell my kids that. James Vifers. Miyamo es Damas. Huh. Nemo. Hey, guess what? We found Nemo. He's on Gauchy. Right there's our guy we gotta be worried about. Number one. Alright. That's who I'm taking. Yeah, that was a brick. I don't think so. You don't think so? That's a big fat new. Alright, well, we're gonna get ready to sing the. I gotta get ready to sing the national anthem. Alright. So we're gonna do that. We're gonna be back at halftime. We'll be back in halftime to break down the halftime stats where the Eagles sit and look forward to a great second half. They'll be sitting ahead. I hope so. Flo sports, here we are. Warm up those pipes, Tom. There we go. All right. Until then, here we go. Here we go. Junior Eagles. Fly Eagles fly. Goucher Gophers.

Halftime: 44-18

SPEAKER_07 26:32

The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We are at halftime here at the Palestra. Our Eagles are 44 to 18. 44 to 18. What's your take on the first half, Biz? Listen, my take on the first half is we have been playing a complete game. Defense, rebounds, shooting's been alright. We've been hitting free throws. But listen, the rebounds, like we I don't have the numbers, but it's gotta be, we gotta be at least like 13, 14 rebounds. We are absolutely killing them on the boards right now. Offensively, offensive rebounds have been through the roof. If we actually make, I think I I would say our shooting is probably lower than what it could be.

SPEAKER_06 27:22

Yeah, yeah, I agree. They've been getting into paint at well.

SPEAKER_07 27:26

Yeah. We've been getting into paint. We've been driving to the ball. We've been getting offensive rebounds. We're hitting threes. We're playing a complete game. I don't even know who I'd give the player the game to right now. I mean, everybody's like, it's almost a collect. It's almost like you got to give it to the team because they're playing their first super team game and it's working. Great defense. Yeah. Goucher has not gotten any easy buckets. Not any easy looks. And they are not collecting on anything. No, they're not. They've looked terrible so far.

SPEAKER_06 27:56

And Littles has been great on defense. He has. Two steals, run outs.

SPEAKER_08 28:01

And I believe he's leading in points, too, with 10.

SPEAKER_06 28:04

10, 7. You could be looking at when he's jumping out.

SPEAKER_07 28:09

He could be looking at a guest spot on the podcast later in the end of the game. That's a big deal. So, but yeah, I mean, this is like it. I don't think it could be going any better. I really don't know. I don't, I don't. We got a great crowd here. Yeah. We got a great score. 44-18. Yeah.

unknown 28:26

Whoo!

SPEAKER_07 28:27

Let's just let's finish. That's the thing that's been the theme of the year.

SPEAKER_06 28:32

Let's finish. Let's not get ahead of ourselves at all. Yes. And that's probably the message in the locker room. Damn. Right now.

SPEAKER_07 28:39

We got a good lead right now. This is what, like I said at the uh at the pregate, man. This is what they need.

SPEAKER_08 28:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 28:46

That's signature. We can play bell and domination. And I gotta give it up for Ty. Ty has taken the ball hard to know who. Dude, he gets in the lane constantly, man. If Ty gets a couple more of those buckets that drop, this could be a lot worse than it is. Correct. Yeah. Alright, fellas, we're gonna keep it short because we have uh We've got to go to the press tent. We have a little bit of uh food awaiting us at the uh the press tent. Yeah, we're going to the press tent. So we'll we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna sign off now. We're gonna have a little food, but we're gonna be back with all the postgames. The postgame's gonna be awesome. Yeah, let's hope so.

SPEAKER_06 29:23

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_07 29:23

Let's hope so. We're gonna have the coach on, we're gonna have the player of the game on. I think we've got to get the landmark commissioner on. And thank Katie again for the wonderful experience. Ridiculously kind and generous. Yes. Yeah. For a bunch of sprubs like ourselves. All right, Mike, Biz. Let's go. Let's

Postgame: Bilger's Prayer, Ty's Player of the Game, Curley Ties the Record

SPEAKER_07 29:40

go get some food. Yeah, let's do it. All right, Biz. We're at post-game. We came out with the big win. Big win? Big big press conference. Big press conference. You'll get some of that, some highlights. Hopefully, you'll check those out. We'll show those right now. Yes.

SPEAKER_10 29:56

Before the game, uh, we talked about just honoring uh the basketball guys because of this place and playing the game the right way. Oh and you know, playing for each other, playing hard, and I thought was tough to do that. Understand the significance and the opportunity you have to be focused and locking on the game.

SPEAKER_11 30:13

And what's the kind of game that's what like how you wanted your team to play the world?

SPEAKER_10 30:18

Uh I mean, honestly, I thought the second half uh they kind of made a run on us, and we made like a four-minute run around six, seven minutes to get to the six or seven minute mark. He didn't just say that, did he got killed?

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Uh in the holo where we find each other, um each other bath and I think that's a good crazy room.

SPEAKER_11 31:07

I just want to pray too and being together, I feel like the environment also helped us too. Everyone was so excited to play, and everyone was just so locked in and helped us so much in the environment.

SPEAKER_10 31:21

I just want to say we want to pray forward.

SPEAKER_09 31:26

I mean, from the start, the I refined going in, but I think if we had to play hard and then ended up with any foul shots, we didn't make them all, but you know, we kept getting up there and kept you with confidence and just bouncing back, and that's what the team's gonna be.

SPEAKER_07 31:45

Wait a minute, you guys aren't going anywhere yet. We got some questions here. Oh yeah. Alright, coach, we gotta ask you a question. You are now tied all-time wins for a D3 coach here at the Athletica with two, with Moravian head coach with Keckler. So, how do you feel about that? Well, all I know is my brother's one in one here and on two, and that was. Oh, there you go. Boom. There we go. And now we have the we have well, you want you need to make an announcement. Now you don't get to keep this, it's my crop. But uh this game for the Pelestrian, the second ever player of the game at the Pelestra. That's right. Ty Coze. Ty, you can hold that, and then I'm gonna need a backup.

SPEAKER_09 32:26

Shout out Hardy for the first one. I always just want to say that.

SPEAKER_07 32:29

Mason, yes, Mason was the first recipient of that. Now it was a it was a tough call. It was a tough call. I mean, there were a lot of good players, but man, you did it, you did it, you played a hell of a game. You scored, you rebounded. Thank you so much. You had a bunch of big steals, you set the tone for the team. Four steals, mind you. That's that solidified your victory. I appreciate that. Thank you guys. Yes.

SPEAKER_09 32:48

So, what what tell us how how did it feel to be playing at the Palestra? Oh man, I I said it down at the press conference, but Philadelphia kid um never got the chance to play here. So I mean when I saw on the schedule, you know, I had that one highlighted. And man, it was I got out there, lights were bright, it just felt awesome. One of the best shows I think. Does it feel different? When you're first warming up, like you can I was looking at Matt actually, curly, and he was like, look at me. He's like, dude, the lights are so bright. I'm like, they're noticeably bright on here? Yeah, yeah. Well, at least when you start to warm up, and then you kind of settle down into it and you're like, all right, yeah, we'll we're okay. When did it go away and you just felt like I was playing? Uh really. I mean, the first half I had to get into things, but I mean, by the middle of the first half, I was good.

SPEAKER_07 33:27

I mean, you guys weren't cooking them by the middle of the first half. I mean, would you say, like, I mean, that the first game in the Dog Green tournament, that was, you know, it is it was what it was, but yeah, would you say this is probably your your most complete team effort of the year?

SPEAKER_09 33:40

Yes. This was, I think this is the best team that we beat, I would say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 33:44

So I mean, there's a lot to build on from this, man. And and we talked in the press conference that, you know, you were in here when you haven't been a championship team. Yep. So now you're starting to see that DNA reproducing. It's coming back, yeah.

SPEAKER_09 33:57

It's a good feeling, too. It is a good feeling.

SPEAKER_07 33:59

Well, look, you've been in about every game you played this year that we were talking about.

SPEAKER_09 34:03

So it's got to be nice to get over that hump. It is. I mean, this this one felt really good. I like I went five in the conference. It was tough, but like you said, like I said, we were you've seen progress. And I mean, coming out here in a game that's our home game, unfortunately, but neutral sight and just kind of doing very well. That was it was awesome. It might it was your home game, but you you had a good crowd.

SPEAKER_08 34:23

We did. You had a good crowd behind us. I looked up all of a sudden the whole place was packed with Juniata. Yep. So I mean it was fun. And I think this is well worth trading the one home game for it.

SPEAKER_09 34:32

Just one. In my opinion, 100%. Yeah. Well, you guys aren't, you're not back in class yet, right? Nah, we have uh one more week until we're so it would have been pretty much kind of an empty dead-ish atmosphere, anyway.

SPEAKER_07 34:43

So I'd I'd trade that in a heartbeat. Is there anything better than not being in school and just playing basketball?

SPEAKER_09 34:49

Listen, I I would love I would love that, but I do have a photography class, so I'm taking it right now, and it's kind of hitting me a little bit, so I gotta balance both of them. So photography? I need to take an arts class.

SPEAKER_07 35:01

No, I'm all for the photography class.

SPEAKER_09 35:02

What do you need? I'm learning. That's it.

SPEAKER_07 35:04

We'll give you some photos. You'll be all right. Have you ever asked the coach if you could uh just take a camera to the bench and snap a couple during the game? Or probably wouldn't work, I don't think.

SPEAKER_09 35:14

I'm gonna stay off that one. Yeah, I would too, actually. All right. All right, Ty.

SPEAKER_07 35:18

Hell of a game. You're you're the player of the game. You're the only the second in junior out of history. Let's keep it rolling. Let's go. Let's get some more wins. Thank you. All right, man. Well, we'll uh we'll be up in a couple weeks for the alumni game, so can't wait to see you guys in person again.

SPEAKER_09 35:31

Yep. All right, man. Take care. All right. Great game. Well done, man. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_07 35:37

Thank you. Now we got Coach Hager coming in. Are we up? Are we live? We're live right now. Coach Hager, what did you think of this game? Big win. That's perfect. A man of many words, a big win. Wait, that's like that. That's all you got. That's all he's got. That's literally all he's got.

Most Complete Game of the Year and What the Palestra Meant

SPEAKER_07 35:58

All right, we're we're post-game here. We got Coach Curly, our third member, who's usually with us. You you have no idea what we've been doing for the past how many hours we've been doing this business. One o'clock, we started this. We started at one o'clock.

SPEAKER_10 36:11

We've had a lot of Guinness. We've had a lot of good food. I'm surprised by the new executive producer.

SPEAKER_07 36:17

And we got one higher than the new executive producer that we found on the street. This is a fluid situation. It's kind of like Happy Gilmore. They told us we needed a caddy, so we ran out in the street. We found the show. Now we haven't. Well, you know, the funny thing is, he didn't carry anything either when we moved to the city. He really didn't do any work, actually. Um I'm not sure how we feel about this executive producer at this moment. All right, so curly, big win. Your second win in the Palestra. As we said in the press conference, you're you're tied for the all-time leader Division III wins in the Palestra. And you're three wins behind Coach K. Yeah. Wow, that's great. Hey, yeah. What in another 10 years you you got Coach K.

SPEAKER_10 36:55

Yeah. Yeah. Well, the important thing is we we got a conference win today against Goucher, and uh we played pretty hard. Uh, really hard. Played really well. It's probably our most complete game. Um so that's what matters. Uh, and all the stuff you guys did to make this happen, it would uh not be good podcasting if we didn't come away with a win.

SPEAKER_07 37:14

So well, I mean that's kind of what we were hoping when we got here, but I don't know. We had that feeling today, man. We had just feel we knew you were gonna win. And there were a lot of predictions of Juniada across the board. Somebody actually had who predicted by 11? Uh I don't know. Uh maybe that was Malcolm's dad? Malcolm. I think Malcolm's dad said 11. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 37:33

Well, I appreciate you guys doing everything you did. It sounds like the pregame was great. And uh shout out to everybody that came to the pregame.

SPEAKER_07 37:39

Shout out to all the alumni and for the new deck tavern.

SPEAKER_10 37:43

And the new deck tavern. And we had we had a lot of alums here, alumni parents here, uh, all our parents here. I thought we again kind of carried the day with the crowd. Um, and so what a cool experience. You know, we got those Philly guys, um, how much this means those guys to play here and get a win. More importantly, get our first conference win. Yes, um, get a little momentum, um, build a little confidence for an hour down the road, and uh, you know, we get to another day, and we just gotta get back at it uh here in the next couple days. See, this is that snowball moment.

SPEAKER_07 38:15

You get that one, the one win, you play well, you play right, it works, and now all of a sudden it just keeps going. So who do we have up next?

SPEAKER_10 38:25

Well, we play Elizabeth Town on Wednesday, um, who was, I think, started off 11 and 1 um, was getting national or uh votes for to be nationally ranked. Um they have Austin Fennarelli, uh probably one of the best players in the league. I think he had 34 the other night um against Wilkes. They have a number of very, very good players. So we're gonna have a really, really tough week with those guys. I think going to Moravian, who has Moravian has uh Marquise Ratcliffe, who's the fifth leading scorer in the country right now. Oh wow. Um so um I don't know about a snowball. I mean, every game, every possession has its own, it doesn't have a memory, you gotta start over. So, but it should build some confidence and belief in what we do. And it'll it's it's a it's another day down the road, and we just got to keep coming back and building upon what we've done.

SPEAKER_07 39:12

That's fabulous. What did it mean last question though, what did it feel like to be at the Palestra again? You were here in 2023.

SPEAKER_10 39:20

How did how did it feel to be back here with a whole new group of guys? Yeah, I mean, I I what I said in the press conference is uh we we just talked to guys about um you know making sure we honor the basketball gods about how we play here. It's a cathedral college basketball. And the realities are this game, basketball is what brought us all together. Um, it's meant so much in my life and it means so much to all guys that I just said I don't know what's gonna happen, but we better play the game the way the way the game demands and uh show the respect uh for the opportunities we've had and the releases that we've had. I thought we did that, and and uh it it's you know, when you play that way, you're probably gonna have a pretty good chance to win. So hopefully we take that lesson with us. And uh it's just an awesome event. It's it's cool to do. To be truthful, when you're kind of wrapped up in it, right? You know, you start thinking, do I want to lose a home game, the travel? And then you kind of get here um and experience it. Well, wait. And you realize uh how cool it is. Now, what I would say is we gotta win. So the bottom line is uh that's really makes it special and makes it work. Uh, I'm not sure where I'd be if we didn't, you know, loss is a loss, but it wouldn't have changed uh the opportunity and experience the guys have. It'll be something they take with them. Uh it's one of those moments that I think has a chance to kind of bring a team together. It was cool. Agreed, you know, uh driving through the city, all the Philly guys, everybody asking where stuff was. Actually, to the point where I kind of had to send a text to everybody, like, hey, we got to calm down. Their energy was high because you only have so much energy. Well, sure, yeah. I mean, you gotta walk in and focus, and then afterwards we can do all this kind of stuff. And I think that's part of more of the maturity of a team. Younger guys tend to get a little carried away ahead of themselves and not understand what all goes into it. So I I see today a little bit of a sign of maturity because even the ways that the guys got the message, they kind of got it. Um it doesn't mean don't have fun or don't be a little loose, but you you know, you get yourself out of focus uh and you need to be and they they handled that very, very well, uh uh clearly by the start. Um, and so um, yeah, that it's a great win. Uh any league win is a great win. Uh I thought both our programs are in similar spots and been in similar struggles. That's the they're the next youngest team to us in the league. Um, to kind of go on a neutral site. I think they're exceptionally talented and have a very bright future. So it was a bit of a measuring stick in our mind. Um and uh I think it just shows like what we're capable of and what we can be. Now, what we're capable of doesn't mean we get there. We got to go back to work and do it tomorrow, but this sure makes it a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_07 41:47

It's a good step in the right direction.

SPEAKER_10 41:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 41:49

I don't think any final words from the palestra. Another awesome, awesome event from start to finish, man, and a victory. And a victory. How do you like uh you know, how do you turn down a day like this? That's right.

SPEAKER_10 42:03

Yeah, I want to say special thanks to all the parents, all the uh alums, all the alum parents that came out and supported us again today. Uh it's I've told you guys forever, uh, it's a special place and it really helps our guys and the challenges we've gone through. Um, our parents and our families. I think the character we played with today is a reflection of those people. And uh so I just really want to say uh a big thank you to that. It means a lot to coach and I. Uh it gives us confidence in what we're doing and the direction we're going. Um, and so uh, and thank you guys for putting all this on and doing all this stuff, the support it shows our program, how it keeps people engaged, the number of texts I get from guys, a chance to interact, and just reach out because of the knucklehead stuff we're doing. Uh this is another moment to channel. Yeah, that's a great word. Crystallizes like this is pretty cool stuff, and uh, we're gonna enjoy it. We gotta give it to our executive producer.

SPEAKER_07 42:56

Any final words?

SPEAKER_06 42:57

Appreciate you guys including me today. And uh it was a great day, the Palestra. Junietta really came out hard and it was a pleasure to watch, and um glad to see them get a win. Um guys really guys really fought hard and um some impressive basketball today. I'm really really good today.

SPEAKER_07 43:13

So you enjoyed the Junietta Podcast experience. We're gonna sell this next year. Yeah. So if anybody is interested in buying the Juniata Podcast experience, you get to hang out with us for the whole day. You get screamed socks. You get some maybe you get a drink or two. Yeah, we got a whole package. Yeah, yeah. All I can say is check out the show on uh the Instagram at Junietta Basketball Show. Make sure that uh you listen each and every week. Until next week, man. I'm Tom Frank. I'm Biz.

SPEAKER_10 43:39

I'm the head coach Greg Curry and boom, and boom. Thank you, Katie.

SPEAKER_07 43:49

Yes.