Palestra Week Preview with Landmark Commissioner Katie Boldvich

The Juniata Basketball Show welcomes “Landmark royalty” as Katie Boldvich, Landmark Conference Commissioner, hops on with Tom Frank, Biz, and Head Coach Greg Curley—just in time for the annual Palestra showcase.

The crew kicks off 2026 with a deep listener question (thanks, Donny D), then breaks down a wild week of hoops: Juniata’s 119-point eruption (second-highest scoring game in program history), the Franciscan showdown featuring a casual 49-point heater from Sawyer Butler (tip of the cap… from a safe distance), and the OT gut-punch at Messiah.

Katie also pulls back the curtain on Landmark expansion, what it takes to run a Palestra event day, and she even drops a fun stat: the Landmark single-game scoring record (122—Juniata was this close). Plus: volleyball dominance, playoff format talk, and why a giant podcast drum might be Coach Curley’s personal villain origin story.

And yes—Palestra week is here: Juniata vs. Goucher at 5pm on Sunday, January 11th, and the guys will be live from New Deck Tavern starting at 1pm. Navy blue: the move.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

I'm Tom Frank. I'm Biz. I'm head coach, Greg Curly. And this is your Junior Adda Basketball show. Welcome listeners. I'm Tom Frank. I'm joined each and every week by Drew Basket, aka Biz, and your junior atta head basketball coach, Greg Curley, as we talk all things, Junior Adam's College of Basketball. Fellas, we are joined by Royalty today. We have the head of the landmark conference, Katie Bolvich, who you've served in this role now since what, 2019?

SPEAKER_01 0:30

It's been a minute, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

It's been a minute. You've overseen the expansion of the league. We now have 10 teams. Last time we talked to you, you only had eight teams. That's right. So we have 10 teams now. It's only the second time that's happened. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Now we got some business to go over first, and then we're going to get into all things Palestra. But first of all, happy New Year's to everybody. We haven't talked to you guys in the New Year's yet. I know, right? So it's the it's the 250th anniversary of our country. Sweet. Just so you guys know that. It's also the 150th year of Juniata College. Did you even know that, Coach Curly? I did know that. No, you did. Is that a big deal? Are we were we celebrating up there?

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Oh yeah, we're celebrating uh uh great zeal on campus right now. So you can just feel it, huh? Yep.

SPEAKER_07 1:23

It's emanating through your pores, Carl's. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

I like it. I can't wait to I can't wait to be part of the 150th year. It's not a 150th episode, but we're close to 100. Okay. We're close to 100, and we'll have we're gonna have to have a big celebration for that. Will it coincide with Junietta's uh maybe maybe maybe Curly should set that up somehow? Get us some maybe some merchandise and some.

SPEAKER_07 1:50

We'll do a joint celebration on campus.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

It'll be the list, that's on the list. It's on the list. Hey, we do have a listener question we gotta get to. It's uh it's actually kind of a deep one. So I wanted to share it today. Good luck. It's from it's from Donnie D. Here's what Donnie D said. 2025 was not exactly the best year for junior added basketball. Coach, what's one thing you want to bring with you into 2026 from the past 12 months? Bowser. That's deep.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Donnie D usually get very comical questions, but that was a good one. Um the experience, um, and there's uh I think we've learned a lot, and uh, we can't lose that. And that's actually what's uh guiding us through this thing, and particularly with such a young team. Um kind of all the ups and downs, a lot more downs than ups right now, but uh just the experience uh as a coach probably grown as much as I as I ever have in the last year and a half. Um and that's what these kind of situations do. You've got two choices, right? You use you you you you just sit there and wallow or you work at it and figure out how it's gonna help us. And uh I think uh that's that's what I'd say. That's an easy one.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

Katie, how about your answer in terms of what what are you bringing into 2026 from last year?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Oh man. Um, good vibes.

SPEAKER_04 3:09

Good vibes.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Good vibes, yep.

SPEAKER_04 3:13

I like it. Liz, I can tell you my answer. All right. It's it's it's kind of easy to do a podcast when you're winning. And our first couple years, it was you know pretty easy. We just got on here, we talked about winning. Last year was a little challenging for us. It's all right. We we had to be had to be smart. We had to use our wit. You know, that's what we went to college for, buddy. I guess so. I guess so. I feel like we're seasoned veterans now, having gone through the ups and the downs.

SPEAKER_07 3:40

Yeah, we can podcast anything, my friend.

SPEAKER_04 3:42

Yeah. I still would like to do a podcast when we're winning, though, all the time. Coach, if you could do that. We're going to.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

I'm adding that. That's at the top of the list, bit. That's the top of the list.

SPEAKER_07 3:52

It's the cusp. We're on the cusp, baby. Come on. Positive attitude in 26.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

That's my three games since our last show. We had the annual Doc Green tournament and then yesterday's clash with Messiah. We got to start with uh, which was maybe my favorite game in Junietta history. As you know, I like to score, and I like to score a lot.

SPEAKER_07 4:14

The second highest scoring game in Junietta history.

SPEAKER_04 4:16

Look at look at Biz doing his homework there. Uh, thank you. So we came in hot. We we we we posted the second highest scoring game in program history with a 119 to 40 win over Central Pan. Good lord. Junietta, we only led 44 to 20 at the break. How in the world we interrupt we erupted for 75 points in the second half, outpacing the night 75 to 20 over the final 20 minutes. We showcased our depth, our pace. 14 different players scored in the contest. Joe Bruce had 15 points in 20 minutes, adding three steals and two assists. Ty Kozak produced a double double with 16 points in a game high, three 13 rebounds, and Aiden Hurley chipped in 12 points and five assists. We controlled the glass, 70 to 36 rebounding advantage, including 30 offensive boards. Jaden Bilger added 12 points, two blocks. A guy that I I we haven't even talked about yet. Mark Hoyt. Is that how you say his name? Merrick? Yes. Is it Merrick? Merrick Hoyt. Oh, I'm my new favorite player now.

SPEAKER_03 5:20

Merrick Hoyt? He joins in the group of guys that you've messed up their name the first time. So my defense out there, he's got to understand it's actually a great one. Hey, we gotta actually do a real thing.

SPEAKER_04 5:34

Well, first of all, his name's not spelled traditionally like Merrick. So give me a little slack here. It's M-A-R-E-K. That's how Merrick would be spelled. No, we spell it M-E-R-R-I-C-K.

SPEAKER_07 5:46

You you just you totally missed the E, dude.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

All right, let's give him some props here. He's he's he was a spark off the bench, 11 points, uh, three made three three pointers. Your reserves accounted for 61 points in that game.

SPEAKER_07 5:58

I do believe, Tom, that there was actually a uh a Curly that scored in that game. Am I mistaken? We had a curly in that game? How many, how many put up?

SPEAKER_03 6:07

What do you have? Two? Uh two uh all the Curly kids, the uh the Curly cousins were pumped when uh Nat Curly scored. So Oh, they were probably all there for that game, too. Yeah, my son Cade was across the way with his band of merry little men because there was a lot of kids there for that game, and he was uh I've probably not seen him as excited or happy. That's awesome when Nat scored. It was it was the coolest, and he he kind of gave me a big thumbs up across the gym. So that was one of those moments that uh I'll keep with me. So it's pretty good. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 6:40

That's awesome. All right, we got to also shout out a couple other guys because we haven't gotten to shout out all these guys. Trey Young dissed out six assists. Benjamin Landsman finished four for five from the field. You guys shot, you get shot almost 50%. It was a it was a hell of a game.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

Well, I thought uh I give a lot of credit to Coach Hager who handles our scheduling. So he put us in good shape right there to uh get to the uh Doc Green finals. But truth be told, uh uh we've played well. I mean, we've been playing well.

SPEAKER_04 7:09

And uh uh we I don't care who you play against, if you put up that many points.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

No, that I mean, and that's actually that's very true. Um and and we go we defended exceptionally well too. So we're we're making strides. Um I I think what you're seeing is kind of our depth and bounce across the board. Um uh and we have a bunch of different guys. I mean, there's not much separation, which always isn't great, and I think that hurts us at times because um we've talked about when we're getting into some of the upperclassmen, some of the teams with uh the super high-level guys, uh, we haven't developed a couple guys into that yet. Uh you have to have those in those games. It's kind of been the difference. But I think in this game, when things are a little bit more even, then I think kind of the sum of the parts uh kind of collectively took over. Um and and yeah, we really played well uh the whole way through. I thought we played well. Um we've we've played well here recently, um, but you know, we got to get the outcomes we want.

SPEAKER_04 8:05

Now, Biz alluded to this earlier. This was the second highest scoring game in junior attack history. Do you know what the number one was?

SPEAKER_03 8:14

I think somebody told me I think there was one in like 1994 or something like that. Casey Craig and JP Stoltz and those guys, I think, or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

I I I I went back in the archives and looked. 1971, like homing, who's now back in the league, 121 points.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

Okay, so I had that wrong. No, I did, I wasn't aware of that. So man, there's an I just doing all your work for you.

SPEAKER_07 8:39

You could have blown up one more three, Curly and got the record. Yeah. We really should have gone for the record.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

Yeah. Who would have thought, who would have thought uh one of our teams would put up that many points? So things do happen. Yeah, defense first, huh?

SPEAKER_07 8:52

All right. Well, I mean, Kate defense was first. My God, 40 points.

SPEAKER_04 8:55

We gotta ask Katie here. Do you have any idea what the landmark record in scoring in one game is? I don't have any idea. I'm asking.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

No clue, but I know where I can find it. Stand by. I'll report back after the next recap.

SPEAKER_04 9:08

Intrepid reporter. Report back on that because that's very important. She's on it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

I'm on it.

SPEAKER_04 9:13

All right. All right, so we went on the play in the championship game against Franciscan. Franciscan, right? Uh, but lost. Man, they put it Sawyer Butler. I don't even know what to say about this, dropped 49 points in route to an 85-79 victory for the Barons. William Little Jr. led the way with a career high, 22 points and an assist, while Malcolm Griffith contributed 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, and three steals and an assist. Ty had 10 points. Trey, uh, he had eight points, five assists, and two steals. But 49 by Sawyer Butler, was this was this the guy we were talking about that you said was one of the better players in all of Division III?

SPEAKER_03 9:54

Yeah, that's the guy that had 49. So he he was leading the country in scoring. He was averaging 35 points a game for the first three weeks of the season. Could we not have like triple covered him? 49 is not his career high. So um, to give you an idea, um I think again at our level, people aren't as aware of that stuff. Uh we um no, I mean, listen, we lost by six. I mean, listen, the total score, he shot 20, he took 25 shots, I think, to get to that. So the shots go to somebody. And uh what we we did a poor job early. We let him get in rhythm. Uh, we had some breakdowns uh early in the game, and uh, this is part of uh where we sit and stage and younger guys, and you can talk about it as much as you want, you can emphasize as much as you want, but unfortunately, I could go through every guy that's probably played for us. They have to have these moments where, oh, you mean if we break down and we let him get in rhythm, we can't guard him after that. Yeah, that's kind of how it works when they're really good. And uh, we found out in a big way. Got to give the guy credit. I mean, he put on an all-time performance. I mean, he made the one of the shots he made, I've not seen at our level a guy make that shot. I don't know if you saw like who was it, Steph or one of the NBA guys shot a turnaround jump shot in a corner the other day. It was all over sports center. It was the same kind of shot. And uh, but he's that good, he gets in rhythm. And then I think for our our group, it's the first time we've kind of been in a championship game with some consequence, right? You could tell the energy when those games are a big deal. And uh they found out what happens when kind of the alpha shows up. Like he was there, he was aggressive early, he was attacking, he was kind of setting a stage for his team. Um, and honestly, the first two, three shots, he he missed one or two of them, but we gave him open looks on breakdowns to stuff that is really kind of fundamentally simple for us that we just didn't concentrate on. And I thought later in the game we actually guarded him better, adjusted, did some really good things. Uh, but just by then uh he's making shots that he's just making everything. Yeah, I mean, uh, and that's what those guys do. Now 49's crazy. Uh but and we've got to be better than this. I mean, if you've seen our trend is like we're having a hard time taking taking top guys out of games, and uh we have to, you know, what we just can't work to average or in that middle ground uh defensively. We have really good stretches. Um part of it is uh matchups there for us were not great, obviously. Uh, but we have to start to get that stuff sorted out and figured out anyway. And we are, we actually made progress. And I told you we um, you know, they had a couple other guys that uh their their four man was averaging about 18 a game, and we held him, I think, to like five. So we we did some other things well. It is one of those where is it the one guy you got to make him beat you, or is it everybody else, and you take him out? Um, we don't necessarily go in with a specific game plan that way. Um we uh I've said it before, we tend to try to do how we do it, and that's been built over time playing guys Sawyer's caliber. Uh, and honestly, the the he got off because of some of the breakdowns we had, and then he's just talented enough to take advantage of that. So it's what we do with it. Um is an all-time, you know, the performance. That said, I mean, we're up one with five minutes left. And really played well. Franciscan's a good team. They're they're good, they'll they'll have a chance. I mean, their postseason team last year, they have a lot of guys back. They have veteran guys, uh, very physical, very good defensively. Um, I thought uh we handled that as well as we have uh and really controlled again, large portions of the game. I think just the theme here is the last six, seven minutes of the game for where we are now. We're having a hard time figuring out how to convert and win the game. And that is an absolute stage uh for us at least uh when we're always kind of in uh we're a build program. You know, we have to bring groups through, and we are going through it right now. Uh, but those are um, you know, those are positive signs. Uh very, very difficult, painful, hard, sucks, not where you want to be. Um, but uh it was a good direction. I think anybody who was there, you could feel the difference in how hard we played and uh our connectedness and when we you know we we just gotta we have to become more consistent and putting stringing those possessions together and and we did uh what really happened is we turned the ball over twice or two or three times out of four possessions in that middle stretch. They converted twice, stretched the lead to six or seven, and then that that was it for the game. Um but it comes down to that, and they didn't do that and we did. Uh and the guys are learning again most of the games, and it's good to be back here. You guys remember me saying that when we're winning, all these games come down to one possession. Yeah. And all these games have now come down to one possession. But where we were living before, it wasn't one possession. It wasn't close to one possession. And so we're really I mean, it is there is some truth to to lose big, lose small, uh, win small, win big. It's it's pretty true. And uh we're unfortunately in a lose small situation now. Um and for the majority of the time, but we we we gotta keep working to get it corrected.

SPEAKER_04 15:03

Yeah. All right, we gotta go back to Katie. What's what's our what's our uh what's our answer for the the the highest scoring game ever in landmark?

SPEAKER_08 15:11

We have guesses. Do we have guesses?

SPEAKER_04 15:15

Hmm. Oh, guesses? I'm gonna say 143 points.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

What about coach?

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Coach. Say Moravian, somebody up there, probably 123-ish.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Oh, 122, Susquehanna over Goucher. And I don't think that's 2015, so before me, I don't feel bad not knowing off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_08 15:37

Oh, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

But quick shout out. Our assistant Sarah Twiggs does all our record books and she does a really good job. There's a plethora of information available on the history of landmark basketball. So she does it for all sports and does a great job, very detailed. Um, Juniata appeals quite a bit on some of these in good ways. Um not getting beat, but assists in a game, Coach Curly. Assists in all games, actually. Juniata from 2017-18, 503. Overall season record.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Coach Curry. That was a good team. That's uh we could borrow some of the free throw percentage right now. We could borrow some of those. I think it's getting a little better though.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

Wow. I did a little research into the Juniad archives. Now, this is only this is 49's not the most points ever scored against Juniad. Anybody, anybody want to guess who who who dropped 50 on the Eagles? I don't think any of us are gonna get this. It was well before any of our times. No. Bill Blair of Geneva put in 50 on the Eagles on December 7th, 1953. So shout out to Bill Blair out there someday somewhere. Huh. All right. All right, our last game. Speaking of close ones that we couldn't wrap up, OT loss on Saturday to Messiah, 78-75. Messiah converted some big jumpers down the stretch, including a game-tying one in the final 13 seconds to send the game to overtime. Jaden Bilger uh led the way with 15 points, five rebounds, three blocks, a steal and assist. Ty scored 14 points, six rebounds, four assists, and a steal with Jaden. Uh what's Jaden's last name? No, Jaden. Uh Oz. Oze. Yeah, added 13 points, 10 rebounds, three steals, and William Little Jr. added 11 points. So my big takeaway here, we're in every single game. We got some depth. That was a good we just cannot effort right there.

SPEAKER_07 17:36

Good spread out of points.

SPEAKER_04 17:37

Yeah, we just can't, we can't, we just can't fit, we just can't figure out it's coming. It's coming how to how to finish these games off.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

We just need to make free throws and layups. And and uh I I mean my response was good. We started both halves very well. We started overtime period very well. Um, I mean, truthfully we gotta get a couple breaks with some calls here too, that right now our run of luck is not very good. Um and uh uh I mean, you know, we gotta uh chase get it in, get fouled, and put the game away. Five-second call that was on tape three and a half seconds is crazy. Um in 25 years doing it. Uh just nuts. And uh, but it what our guys are learning, and and again, this is another example of them sort of not understanding uh how big these possessions are, and this is part of the world you live in, um, is that this is what happens. And you you know, when you're winning, you win those games, you come down, you figure out how to get the stop on the out-of-bounds play, and they don't score. You just kind of chalk it up to, oh, well, that was a bad call, and you move on. When you lose it, it becomes a reason, and and uh it can't be. And we've done a pretty good job uh of not doing that. It's not. I mean, we we still in overtime uh get up five and miss, I think, three straight layups on, you know, a missed layup and two put back attempts and uh miss some key free throws. I mean, those are things that you stretch the lead, the game's over. Um we shot 50% from the foul line, and we're just violently inconsistent on the foul line. One game we'll shoot you know 75, 80 percent. The next game we're in the 50s. I think common theme is probably a lot of times pressure uh and and being in these games again, and they're they're meaningful free throws. Um, even though in overtime and at the end, we did, you know, hit one of two and did enough, but then you got to go back it up with a stop. You know, they again their top guy, I think it's Caleb Wyatt, number one. Um he hit the two shots at the end of the game uh to put them to overtime. Um he's their big time player, he did it. Uh we had opportunities at the other end. Um we had multiple game-winning chances and shots and didn't make them. And you got to be in those enough times to make them. I think, and then developing those guys that are gonna make those plays and those shots over time. Uh, you know, Kayle's a senior, he was not doing that stuff as a freshman or sophomore. Uh and so it is uh uh a realistic part of it, but we have to play these games coming up and we have to figure out how to overcome this now. And these teams have those guys, and uh I'm not we have a lot of good players. You've said what we're getting is you know, we had four guys in double figures, um, we got a lot of contributions, we outscored them off the bench. Um, but we're kind of a balanced uh play across the board team, which is a great strength as these guys continue to develop and improve. So this isn't to say we need that. Um, we played without Malcolm uh and Aiden Hurley didn't play on Tuesday or yesterday. So hopefully we can get those guys back and healthy, and that helps us. I think that's I thought we handled that really well. So there's a lot of real positives. It's that time of year. I mean, everybody goes through illness and those kind of things this time of year.

SPEAKER_04 20:40

But you didn't you say you had like the flu going through or something? Yeah, so you got hit by a couple guys.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Well, we it's who knows if it's done now, right? So this is that time of year. So we've had it trickle through a couple guys and you just hope it stops, but sometimes it doesn't. Um not alone in this and uh talking to other coaches. I mean, this is just what you have to deal with. But again, this is what they don't always get. Like that's where I think it does they demonstrate our depth and the fact that we could go on the road and play. Um, I thought we played really well. Um, Messiah's in a very similar situation to us, um, kind of coming on. They were uh pretty big, athletic, physical, uh, really pushed the ball. I thought we held up pretty well in those situations. We didn't defend quite as well. The middle part of the second half got a little worn out, and our ball screen coverage kind of broke down. And that's where just staying consistent at the stuff that uh put us in that spot. I think we held them 26 points at halftime. They're averaging 83 a game. Um, but our ability to consistently do that is that one or two guys make a difference there, probably, uh, to keep the the depth in there. But um yeah, I mean it's tough, tough, tough loss. Um we'll see how we respond and where we come from that. Our guys have done a really good job of taking these circumstances and coming back, probably more determined, more focused the next day. Um and I I would say we controlled large portions of the game again. Um, and we just honestly make one more free throw. I mean, this is this is like three of the last four games. You make one more play, just one, um, you win the game. And uh it's easier said than done. And that's why um, you know, when you're winning, you win all these games. And uh when you're struggling, you don't. Yeah. And then you always have outliers where you're gonna have a tough night or you're gonna have a great night. When you want all these in-between games, that's what puts you over and you have a great year. When you lose these, it it puts you in the spot that we are. And um so we just have to keep pushing and and keep going, and uh, then the coach's gotta figure out something a little bit better late in the game. So it'll be alright. And we'll be right back.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

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SPEAKER_06 23:31

And now, back to the show.

SPEAKER_04 23:33

We'll be all right. We'll be all right. But speaking of all right, we gotta get back Katie back in here now. We gotta talk about the landmark conference. Expansion has been good, right? That's the last time we talked to you. Expansion was about to happen.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Yeah, expansion has been easy, right? Yeah, so easy. Yeah, no issues at all. So smooth. I mean, um, it's been great. Wilkes and like homing are awesome fits, um, great leaders at both the schools. I really enjoyed getting to know the coaches as well. Um, but we're still like growing pains a little bit, um, just trying to figure out how postseason works, how all conference works, what's the right number of slots on an all-conference team? And are we diluting it? Are we taking opportunities away? So we're in year three right now. Um so it's I think it's been good. We're in a good space.

SPEAKER_04 24:24

Yeah. What's let's let's talk about the Pilester game. I love, I love this idea. I you you you started this, right? This was your this was your baby from the beginning, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Yeah, it started with me, but with some strong encouragement from a few men's basketball coaches um to make that happen. So because of my work with men's rowing, I had some connections at Penn and it was kind of let's just throw something at the wall, see what sticks, see how much it will cost. Greg was still A D, I think, in those rooms when we were talking about can we pull it off or not financially. Um, and we were lucky, like the ADs and presidents were like, you know, let's go for it and see what happens. So this is year four of that now, which is pretty great. Um, I think it's pretty special that we get to go do that. It's very different and unique for our schools to have that opportunity. So yeah, I want to keep it rolling as as long as we can and as long as the student athletes are still enjoying the experience.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

I mean, I think it's tremendous. Like it's it's like that, I think it's like the perfect landmark conference day at the Palestra, one of the most historic basketball buildings in the country. It's like the Mecca of college ball. I mean, it really is. I kind of wish Juniana could play in it every year, but has it been three years since we played in it last? I was thinking it was only two years ago.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

Yeah. So it went uh men and the women, and then last year we tried out double headers with the men and the women to get Lyco and Wilkes in, so everyone would have played. Yeah, and it just uh it's better to have more schools represented. So now we're thinking so too eight schools, um, which has been great. So yeah, this year everyone's there except Wilkes and Elizabeth Town.

SPEAKER_06 26:11

Oh, they're left out.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

They're left out. That's what's tough. They won't let us play more than four games. But I also the times would stink, like it would stink to tip off at 11 or something.

SPEAKER_08 26:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

And I think we're pretty good with staying on time. Um, and you, you know, you don't want them rushed. You want to get a real warm-up on that floor too, and like feel it, right? So yeah, it's you know, we got a little rotation going. So our goal is everyone goes once every three years now.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

All right. What's your favorite part of that that experience every year?

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Um, walking in first thing when no one else is there and it's completely empty, and you're like, wow, we get to be here all day. That's that stands down my favorite part. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:54

And what's what's your like uh what's your role? Like, what do you what do you have to do during the day? Is it is it hectic? Do you get to sit down and watch the games or are you running around in circles the whole time?

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Um, the beginning's a little hectic because we're dealing with folks coming in. So we're setting up um the live stream, we're making sure the board works, we're making sure all like the logos and videos are loaded, we're setting up the press conference area. We have some. I'd love the press conference. Yeah, that'll be fun doing that again. So we gotta get you guys credentials so you don't get so we can be at the press conference. Exactly. Um so yeah, some small stuff, but I'd say once like we're once the second group of teams get there, it starts running like clockwork. Yeah. Um, but there's always random things that happen, like officials don't know where to park. Uh a president left their credential at home and now they're standing at the ticket counter, and it's you know, it's a thing. So you just kind of got to roll with it. But it's typically a good day. So I'd say I'm not probably gonna be able to watch much of the first game, but after that, I should be able to just kind of relax and watch, which will be fun.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Yeah. Yeah. So what's give us the full rundown of all the schools and the games, and uh I'm I'm sure you have that at the end. I have it.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Yeah, I have it right up here. Uh so Catholic and Drew men start off at noon. Um, so that'll be big. Catholic just came off uh a loss to Mary Wash, but they've both been ranked at some time this year. Um, so that'll be good. And then Scranton Susquehanna women are next at 2:30. Scranton women, I think, are still number two in the country. Susquehanna is getting some votes, so they're making some noise. Uh, Scranton Women uh beat Pitt in an exhibition that's gonna be.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

Oh, yeah, we did see that. Yeah, I love to see that thing.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Um, but they're awesome to watch. They they play great basketball, um, you know, really good team. And then uh Goucher Juniata has the five, and then we close out with like homing Moravian women. Um extra, extra excited about Moravian game, longtime coach back on the floor this year. So really excited to watch her play and uh get another game in at the palestra, like you said in the Mecca. Uh, she's been coaching there over 30 years, so just rooting for her to have a have a good game, good experience for sure.

SPEAKER_04 29:14

Wow. I'm excited. I'm excited to get up there. Um, Biz, we got to remind people, Juniata fans, we'll be live from the New Deck Tavern starting at approximately one o'clock on game day. We're expecting parents. We got some alumni coming, maybe even a little rivalry talk. Because from what we've heard, uh Drew University is also gonna be there. I'm assuming they're doing it after their game. Yeah. So we're gonna be we we're gonna be there right in the mix with them. So maybe we'll get a few uh Drew University people on. Yeah, get that's the spot.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Good choice.

SPEAKER_04 29:44

Is that a good choice?

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Great choice. Have you been there?

SPEAKER_04 29:48

Well, no, we haven't been there. We had the we had the move because our our place from la from I guess three years ago, four years, that they they are not they're not open anymore.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

I don't know. New deck's the spot. You're gonna love it. Great.

SPEAKER_04 29:59

I've heard New Deck is the spot.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Old school Philly pub. You'll love it. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_04 30:04

Yep, they're gonna hook us up. We're gonna they know we're doing the live show there.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 30:08

It's gonna be fun. Cheesesteaks are we getting cheesesteaks out of this? I think we need to get cheesesteaks, maybe a few beers, and then we'll have to figure out what time to get over there for the game.

SPEAKER_07 30:17

That could be, you know, it could be a very uh busy day in the city of Philadelphia that day. Why? What's going on there? Well, it could be a playoff game. Is that the first playoff game? Would that be next? Yeah, it would be.

SPEAKER_08 30:29

Yeah, it would be.

SPEAKER_07 30:29

Now they might not play on Sunday because they spread it out, but well, I hope they play Saturday. It could be vibing.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

It could be vibing. Or it could be awful if they lose. Yeah, we could be dead. All right. We'll see. We'll see. All right, Katie, you gotta tell us what's next for the landmark conference. What's your next big, big thing?

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Um, you know, I made a goal this year that I'm trying to just enjoy it, right? Because we've done so many big things recently. Um, and I still have uh the college athlete bug. I don't think it ever goes away. So I'm very much like, okay, we did it. What's next? Like, let's go. Yeah, let's do something else. Um, so it's great, but also kind of a curse. Uh so this year I'm trying to just like enjoy it. I, you know, there's always some things cooking, but uh I think trying to work with new people, new partners, it helps you appreciate some of the relationships you've had longer. Like the folks at Penn are so good to us. And uh, we've been fortunate to do a few other outside vendors we uh and and facilities. We rented um a minor league baseball stadium last year for our baseball tournament, which was awesome. We're going back this spring out in Lancaster. It was a really cool experience and same kind of you know, feel right. Like that's an experience and a venue. Most of our student athletes are never going to get the opportunity to play in again, right? So being able to offer that is really special. We did something similar for track and field last year, something similar for tennis. Um, so we'll find something else, but I I will say um working with folks and uh getting others to kind of see the vision is is challenging at times. So we're we're lucky with the relationships we do have because they get us and treat us well.

SPEAKER_04 32:20

And I do think it's awesome though, the experiences, right? Because I know Curly, I mean, being able to tell your guys, even with recruiting, that they're gonna play on the floor at the palestra, I think that's kind of a that's kind of a just a cool, different, different thing. And I'm sure with baseball and other sports being able to do the these different kinds of experiences, because these guys don't get to play in some of the some of the big big places sometimes. And I think it's just an added benefit to what's already a great conference. So well done.

SPEAKER_08 32:46

Yes. Nice.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 32:48

So wait, since we have the uh athletic director or the commissioner on the uh podcast, man, we like have you ever seen anything as crazy as the Junietta College women's volleyball team? Like from a domination standpoint, like when you go to that records page, is it just the Junietta logo and nothing else on there?

SPEAKER_04 33:08

Like it kind of drives us crazy, or maybe it's maybe it drives me crazy because I don't understand, and I I call out the rest of the landmark conference constantly. Like, this is how you not trigger event. It is my trigger. How do you not stop this from happening? What is it? It's like an it's an 44, 45 in a row, 45 straight conference championships. Like this drives me crazy. Like, we we love the Juniata volleyball team, but other landmark conferences step up. Like, one of you should be able to beat these guys at some point in the last 45 years.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

So, my first year, uh Juniata actually lost in the regular season um to Susquehanna. So that would have been fall of 2019. They lost because the championship match was at Susquehanna. Um, but then they they ended up beating them in the playoffs. So that's the last time I remember them losing a regular season game.

SPEAKER_04 34:06

That's crazy. It's gotta be the one of the most dominating teams in any sport. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

It's awesome. And and um, I'm definitely biased, but that's okay. Um, their head coach is like one of the best people ever and just so like level. Um, she has a great uh associate head too and Casey, but they they just run such like a balanced, steady program. Like we even laugh when we go for the championship and we have the trophy and the t-shirts and this, like there's all this stuff going on, right? But they're like they're they know the deal, they're all lined up. The girls are also always different than the boys when we do the trophy and stuff, but like they line up by size to get their shirts, they put the shirts on, they position themselves perfectly in front of the scoreboard for the team pick for social, like don't do the whole thing just perfect because it's part of their deal, they know what to do. So I always just laugh at that because it's just so ingrained in them. That is amazing. There you go.

SPEAKER_07 35:07

There's there's one of your goals for this year is to get them highlighted nationally because that is something that's crazy. I mean, it really is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

It's crazy, yeah. It's really special for sure.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

All right, you can learn something from that when you win your indoor golf championship. You need to be a little bit more organized, you need to have be in the right order, picture, of course.

SPEAKER_07 35:29

We won it last year. Instead of the craziness that that and well, first time crowd is sometimes. You can't act like you've been there before if you've never been there before, right? I mean, come on. Good point. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 35:42

So anything we would change about the playoffs for the for the boys. Do we like the new format? Is it working well?

SPEAKER_01 35:50

I'm asking coach. I don't know. I'm not playing.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

Coach, this is your chance. Change it. It's been a proponent. I'm not a I've never been a fan of everybody gets in, so I think this is the best uh this is the best option. I think the the way it goes now really benefits the first two seeds, which it should. Um it's a little harder. I mean, the access, you know, uh upset specials and just to you know, you can win in the semifinal game and get to the finals. Um so it's more difficult that turnaround and travel, but I think we had a team do it last year, get to the finals, and do that. So uh I think winning the finals game then becomes tough. But uh I I like the line, I still do. I mean, it's a goal for us um when you're building, and and that was always my contention when you're a building program, it's a line of um delineation and it it uh is a confidence builder, and it you can point to something and the place you're going and what you've accomplished when everybody gets in. What's the difference between being the fifth and sixth seed, you know? Uh so I I I do like it. Um there's no easy way to do it just with the timing, but I think it's um done as well as we can. Uh I think our challenge right now is just the number of conference games is good and bad, but it's a lot. Uh and that can be challenging in different states, like we're you know, uh a program development, and I think some of our high-end teams, um, depending on the year, would would like more out-of-conference opportunities for that stuff, and then some teams that are trying to uh kind of move up the ranks would like more out of conf out of conference opportunities for development. But there's uh the the other side of that is scheduling and balance, and I like the fact that we play each other twice. It's a true champion and it's the way it should be. There's no real way to do divisions, but uh yeah, I mean I think uh but those that's why we have Katie and everyone else, they can work through all that stuff for us and put us in good spots.

SPEAKER_07 37:40

Now, has there ever uh been any thought about doing like a central site like they do with a lot of conferences where you get everybody six teams, one spot, three days?

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Not really, and I think um it's kind of twofold. It's it's cost, right? And like the unknowing of how long that is. Um three days, I think three straight days of basketball potentially for a three or four seed coming into the finals would be really hard. It's hard enough going Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. So uh Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Friday, Saturday, Sunday would be challenging. Um we still go to class in division three. So that Thursday game day or Friday game day or travel day might be challenging too. Um, and you know, I'm I'm still a little old school. I think there's something to be in the top seed and getting a play in front of your fans. And, you know, that there's something to that, right? So that's that's a struggle. And even with baseball, like that's something we kind of heard some feedback on and we're trying to maneuver. Like you lose the the host student um presence when you go somewhere neutral. Um, so like part of why like Palestra kind of works itself out is you know, it's challenging. Some of these coaches are losing home games, right? And I know that's not ideal. Um, but the fact that this is still happening over break when most of the students aren't even there, they're they're kind of losing that key element anyway. So it's not as jarring um to be somewhere neutral. Um but yeah, I'd love it. Let's let's get to AC old boardwalk hall or something. That would be pretty cool, I think. But uh think the logistics of it would be pretty challenging.

SPEAKER_04 39:22

I agree. I like the home game for the higher seeds, and those games end up, you know, fans come out, the big games. And now that you're you're more on you know, TV with Flow Sports, people are watching and seeing that crowd atmosphere, I think just only helps build the uh the Atlantic 10 used to do it, right?

SPEAKER_07 39:39

Yeah, isn't that how the Atlantic 10 used to do it? They did home, right? I think so. Yeah, I think we beat Temple.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

That's cool. Like the student sections are amazing. They give me like heart palpitations at the same time, but it's also awesome uh you know, to have that. And sometimes you just gotta, you know, take a step back and enjoy that they're enjoying it within reason, you know. So it's good.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

And so hey, Curly, for the back to the palester, one last thing. Do we bring the cheerleaders? Do we bring the band? Do we bring anybody but the players?

SPEAKER_07 40:16

He's not gonna know this. Um I'd ask.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

As of now, we are not RSVP'd.

SPEAKER_07 40:25

So no drum. We're not gonna have our big drum. Yeah, Katie, can you get us a drum?

SPEAKER_04 40:30

We need a drum at Juniana. That's our goal is to get a massive drum with the drum somewhere in the plastic. We can use the with the podcast in the middle. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Well, I think Moravians bringing their band. Maybe we can work something out that they can come a little early and grant Biz drum rights. Drum rights like the second half or something.

SPEAKER_07 40:51

I don't know, man. I think I gotta let Tom hit the drum, man. He's a drum.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

I think the podcast should buy a drum drum. You should have Tom's face on one side and Biz's face on the other. And we keep spinning it. Hit both sides.

SPEAKER_07 41:05

All the fans can smack us in the face.

SPEAKER_03 41:07

By the way, I did not read a drum would drive me insane, so I'm not a fan of the drum idea as a coach, but you'll get used to it. You'll get used to it.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

It'll take it'll take it, it'll take maybe a season and a half, but you'll get used to it. Really? That's true.

SPEAKER_03 41:21

Uh, but I do want to show that your attention. Hey, you guys made a call for it, but we've had great, great support from our our cheerleaders this year. Uh, great turnouts. Time. Let's go. Huge squad. They've been awesome. So uh I just want to say thanks to them while they're on here. I know that was uh you guys led that charge, but they've been hour of the podcast, Thomas. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

Biz, are we doing a set color for the game? The Palester? Are we telling people what color are we telling people to wear?

SPEAKER_07 41:51

Ooh, I gotta think of my wardrobe here. Curly, will we have any gear waiting for us when we get there? Or uh yeah, what's gear?

SPEAKER_03 41:57

I just haven't made my way to the uh post office for you guys. Sorry. How about just bringing it next Sunday? I gotta try to remember that too. I'll again that's on the list. That's on the list. He's a busy man. We do I have a pile of it right over here.

SPEAKER_04 42:09

Is it blue? Is it dominated? I think we go blue, Biz. Blue. Blue. Wait, who are we playing? Goucher? Goucher's more. They're different.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

They're royal.

SPEAKER_04 42:17

Yeah, they're they're more royal blue. I like our navy blue better. Uh Navy blue. Navy blue is the call. Is the call. And we gotta get people out to the the New Deck Tavern, which is apparently the greatest bar in uh in Philadelphia. We probably won't see you there, Katie, but the the but you're always you're always welcome.

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Thank you. Yes, I'd love to I'd love to cut over, but I I missed it.

SPEAKER_07 42:41

If you need a you know mid an in-between game beer or something, we're there. Tom over there.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

Hey, that place is definitely Biz's element. You'll see Biz at his in his in his best element right there. So hopefully we'll make sure Biz gets to the game. That's my only concern. He'll be good. I'll be good. Hey, Tom, I did I did get some texts after the shout-out of the last one. Tyler Leftina got a hold of me. Uh he got he got a hold of us too. He said he'd keep Rigby on on track, and then John Kelly sent a picture. I think it was like New Year's, was him, Cole Bernarding, uh Rigby, and then uh Filippo Baldo. Those guys were all on uh and he said see at the Pulestra. So I think those guys are all gonna be there. So the shout-out is working.

SPEAKER_04 43:21

We're gonna have a lot of mics. We're gonna we're gonna record the whole thing. It it's gonna be fantastic. Uh I mean you know what I love about this episode, Biz, is Curly doesn't even know what's gonna be on it until he listens to it the next day.

SPEAKER_07 43:33

Oh, I'm sure he probably has a few moments of uh trepidation before he hits it.

SPEAKER_04 43:38

It's gonna be fun. And we gotta get the win. We gotta get a win. But before that, I gotta sneak this in here because we have Tom's scouting report, which is presented by Snapdragon Apples, Monster Crunch Legendary Flavor. Find Snapdragon at your local grocery store, the official apple of the Junior Adam's basketball show. So our Eagles will be at Wilkes on Wednesday before. the Pellester game. It's at 4 p.m. Why so early, by the way?

SPEAKER_03 44:05

Uh that's when they want to play break games. Uh some places because of break games uh we'll play earlier. Uh this is still a break game I guess. Yeah. Yeah I mean it's fine for us. Uh I don't mind that's fine for us playing earlier.

SPEAKER_04 44:18

So um yeah it doesn't it doesn't help me and Biz. Like we're at work. You know we got we got data.

SPEAKER_07 44:24

I need to show time so that's fine with me.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:26

Yeah I mean that's one of the reasons we we consistently try to keep our game times I just I I for parents and others I I don't know that that always works well. It probably works well for uh the campus folks and the administrators and coaches and stuff to get get out of there but I I've always looked at it more from the perspective of our families and and uh you know those now if you have your your child's playing sometimes you're just gonna figure it out anyway there's only so many times but it's all probably the ancillary the other people that are involved that want to watch and and maybe won't go that far so that's kind of where we've always been I just think it's a cool opportunity and you only get so many. But that said I mean the home team makes the call and we don't I mean that's fine.

SPEAKER_04 45:08

We'll kind of play you just tell us when we're supposed to be there we'll be there playing so now side note before I get into the rest of my our our local high school is playing a game at I think at one o'clock on a school day with the idea that they're going to bring the whole student body in, which I think is kind of an interesting idea. Now parents it's gonna be rough on but I mean imagine coming into that game and the entire thing is packed and we're a big high school so that could that could be kind of interesting. I don't know how you worked out in college.

SPEAKER_03 45:37

Well remember last year we played at Moravian or Moravian's done that they've done elementary days um we've looked at it here the logistical problem is if you think about an elementary day we'd have to play like a one o'clock game or a 12 o'clock game um and uh some of those are double headers uh so uh over the break period so that uh you know one game gets played with that and then the other game's moved up but uh we we've actually looked at that and thrown it around and you get those elementary schools to come so it's a cool idea in any way to get people involved we don't have the home game this year so um I guess we have Etown the next week but I think they're in class then so it would have to also uh uh match with breaks uh but yeah it's a cool idea all right back to my scouting report Wilkes comes in at six and five I don't have a lot on Wilkes they're one and three in the conference they averaged 76 points a game while letting opponents score 76.

SPEAKER_04 46:30

They're led by 6'3 sophomore guard Daniel Santana who dropped 32 points on Lycoming in their only landmark victory so we got another scorer out there I'm gonna call him Danny Danny S.

SPEAKER_03 46:43

We're on the road Santaniela thank you yeah he's well you're forgetting you're forgetting Lucas Lesco too who was uh like multi-year first team all conference he's been around for so long 40 parties in the conference uh tournament two years ago but he's been around for so long we don't feel don't feel fire frames he's on his like eighth year like I think we need to ban him from this game and he hasn't gotten worse like does Danzigs man yeah I heard the Danzigs are all coming back next year. Danzig all right what are our keys to victory here we need a victory going into the Pellestra game yeah I mean I have to get into I'm still worried about us from yesterday and uh I have to get into them some more but it's Wilkes man they're really well coached they're tough really tough uh they're they're not where they want to be in the league so this is gonna be an important very important game for them this is important for both teams right here yes yeah um that's where that's gonna be the theme again the league play um coach Metz does a great job that they're tough kids they've been in uh they're you know they're used to being in the playoffs um I don't think they're where they want to be right now so we're gonna have to play at our absolute best um it'll be a big challenge I think they have like collective size like not but they're big at all positions they're always very physical uh and tough and uh you know like I said we hopefully have everybody back um and are healthy and ready to roll um that would be the first task for us and then we just have to stay focused on improving from where we've been and and and hopefully the experiences we've had we can put them to use.

SPEAKER_04 48:16

I like it let's get through this one let's get a win and then we're off to the palestra a week from a week from today. Yeah I'll be on the turnpike at this time next week and be there on time one o'clock I was there on time last time I think you were I think you were I got a lot longer drive than you do.

SPEAKER_07 48:33

Yeah you do thank you yeah you do can I jump on the team bus Carl see just kind of just get to Huntington.

SPEAKER_04 48:39

Yeah that's kind of on your way um Katie thank you we're looking forward to seeing you next weekend I I love this Pellester game it's so fun even just to walk around the halls and see all the history of that place it's amazing it's amazing it is amazing that concourse is awesome thanks for having me anytime always good to see you guys hey we gotta we gotta do the players of the game man oh I I missed it you I'm Biz I thought maybe you hadn't prepared so go ahead show with the players of the game prepared all right all right so we got to go all the way back to the central pen game that was an easy one that's Ty Kozak double double we're gonna highlight eight of eleven from the free throw line because that's a big theme for us this year.

SPEAKER_07 49:21

13 boards four assists two steals stat sheet you know how I like the stat lines all right hold on I gotta get to the next game here now. Alright technology calm down out there all right this is going to be a little bit uh unorthodox but uh you know I got to do a co player of the game Sawyer Butler's gotta have something out of that Sawyer Butler gets a junior out of basketball? Yeah I mean 49 freaking points.

SPEAKER_04 49:48

Yeah it's a good point.

SPEAKER_07 49:49

You know we got to do that. But on our side of the ledger let's see we had uh you know I like Malcolm Griffith in that game. Six boards one assist three steals and 18 points. Well I need my readers on that's bad.

SPEAKER_03 50:04

So we got Malcolm Griffith we could biz we could give Sora Butler I mean I'm I'm sure I feel about this he should not be getting we we should get rid of the defensive coordinator is what we should do. Okay. As Mike Rhodes said unfortunately that's me so that that's a hard one to do but uh we've got to get that corrected.

SPEAKER_07 50:21

No I mean all right he doesn't get a game ball but he gets an honorable match I mean 49 points.

SPEAKER_03 50:25

I'm I already have him read of the cap is a tip of the now listen all right yeah there we go tip of the cap now do you think all right on a side note do you think is this kid like should he be in like D2 or D1 like is he's I mean like the top listen the top players in the landmark could all play at those levels and have um so I did he come from that side of it or was he always there? Well he's he's like he's a typical story I mean he came in scoring a ton of points um uh I'm sure Franciscan which is a major uh uh Catholic university um you know so they they pull from all over the world and and actually recruit nationally um I'm sure there's some kind of draw with that with him but he's one of those kids that came in um like super thin skinny could score was a really good player and has continued to develop physically um into being what he is now uh which is a pretty it's an age old story at our level uh but I mean and when people ask could guys play yeah the absolute answer is 100% yes I mean the top guys um at our level are just really freaking good players yeah and um I don't think people understand and most of all of it is roles and who you fit with and like depending on the kind of player you are with what team you are you're gonna have more or less success. They're a lot of times at our level they're the main guy in holding things but if they're at a different level would they be more of a uh role guy and fill in and do something you know a specialist possibly answer is yes but uh yeah I'm sure he could have I mean I honestly what I thought about is I think the last guy we gave up I think Andy Panco had maybe 55 one time against us at their place um when I was an assistant he played 11 valley but Andy was a national player of the year and he actually played for the Hawks for a little bit and then he was um he went to the Spanish league which at the time was the top international league in the country and he was the player of the year multiple years. So he was one of the top pros in the entire world and we played him here and then we had like three NBA scouts in our gym. So like um like I just think you know particularly our leagues and and the league we're playing in um and and Franciscan's not in our league but that's the top level players I don't know where Sawyer will rank with like all American and stuff this year. I would think with his numbers and those things he's gonna be in that mix but I would say the top guys in landmark um would be right there. Maybe not scoring the same uh but part of that is if you play on certain teams and you got five other guys that can score too, you know you're not looking to go out and get 25 shots and you're looking out to go out to win in a in a different way. So uh but yeah I mean it's a good question. I I imagine he had his options if he wants them. So and you're seeing the guy starts at Iowa who went from division two all the way up to power five and he's maybe the best point guard in Big 10 right now. You know players can play and uh there's not as much different as you think. I think the the the labels are take our women's volleyball program uh as an example um and people don't look into it enough and everyone thinks there's this kind of hierarchy and it's like the corporate ladder. It's not an athletics uh at all it's fifth place and an opportunity yeah I think Marcus could have he could have played D1 too at the end of his career for sure. Chase I mean Chase would have had with Chase yeah I mean he could have taken another year because he had a COVID year and Chase did I mean in talking to some coaches that it was very real he could have had opportunities to be playing places and would have played that year. Now how much he would have played it would have depended on need fit particularly the guy that big um and I'm sure I mean there's a couple guys Tommy Kelly and and and Heath Meister and those guys from Catholic a few years went on and did similar things with that extra year. So yeah I mean the answer would be be yes and again it what role and how much but right uh and then I would say there's some guys on those higher level teams that are on rosters that doesn't mean they would come in our level and do well and that happens a lot too you've had guys transfer down and stuff and um think they're gonna be the guy yeah and it's not it doesn't it it doesn't translate at all um particularly in the walk on days I mean that and then there's some of those guys that are really really good players and that that that's fine but the majority um when you're taking the top guys in in certain leagues and whatever it is it's not the reason the guy is playing at the level they are is because they wanted to be a top guy play a lot it wasn't because of options or choices right um and and so I I think there it's it's misunderstood for sure that's just kind of the lot in life when you choose to coach and work uh and play at this level you just don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_07 55:07

Truth well very good all right and then uh the last game the Messiah game we got a new guy on the board Tom Jaden Oze.

SPEAKER_04 55:18

Oze i gotta know I gotta learn how to say his name Oze 13 and 10 double double crash the glass and make free throws I gotta add him to the board biz all right all right biz I think we do a live a live player of the game right after the game we get him we'll interview him again like we did a couple years ago Mason yeah he was our first ever Mason was Mason you're right Mason oh man so much to do at the at the game I'm ready I'm ready I'm I wish it was today I'm ready because you do all the prep and I just follow along all right all right let's go again Katie we will see you in a week curly let's get some wins in route we got some good stuff to talk about yes people who are listening make sure you're there new deck tavern starting at one we'll go right up to I don't know what time whatever time we need to get out of there by but uh send us your thoughts and follow the show on Instagram at Junietta Basketball Show. Subscribe to the Juniad Men's basketball show on Apple Spotify or wherever you listen to the podcast until next time I'm Tom Frank I'm busy thanks for giving up an hour on your Sunday morning for us knuckleheads