Latest / NorthJerseySports.com / The Ballgame! Felician's rise w/Harcourt & Pullock

Transcript

The Ballgame! Felician's rise w/Harcourt & Pullock · NorthJerseySports.com

0:08
Back on the ball game. North Jersey.
0:11
Sports.com Original. Multimedia series talking all
0:15
things. Oops.
0:17
Across North Jersey, I am Corey Dobiak and there is not much
0:22
left to the 20252026 high school basketball season.
0:28
It's a championship. We care and I'm being joined by
0:32
a guy who is no stranger to championships.
0:35
We're going to get into this. Felician University assistant
0:40
coach Brad Forest theory. First of all, Brad, how you
0:43
doing pal? Doing really well, doing really
0:46
well today. You know, we were a we're a
0:50
traditional high school show. Yes.
0:53
Seems like lately we're we're we're getting into the
0:57
basketball season across multiple levels.
1:01
But yeah, really good. You know, for, you know, for
1:04
those who who haven't checked in, we won the conference
1:08
tournament on Sunday afternoon in a 9181 game against Goldie
1:13
Beacon from Delaware to Punch Arts.
1:17
They get to the exit of a tournament capped off a regular
1:21
season of 27 and 3. New rankings dropped today.
1:27
We're officially number 21 in the country now.
1:30
Is that the first time at least? The college has ever been
1:32
ranked. Yeah, amazing.
1:36
First time ever ranked. And then the selection show on
1:39
Sunday night was very, very fruitful as we've secured the
1:46
number two seed in the answer to A tournament and our region at
1:51
least because unlike the Division One tournament, there's
1:54
not 4 #2 seeds. We have 8 #2 seeds because we
1:59
have 8 regions, 24 total conferences.
2:04
So, but yeah, so we're one of the the 8 #2 seeds and we will
2:10
be playing against the Delphi from the Northeast 10, which
2:13
hails at a Long Island. But yeah.
2:16
We're excited we're going back up to Buffalo.
2:19
The tournament's being hosted by Damon, who's the number 14 in
2:22
the country and the number one speed in the bracket in our
2:27
region. And we played them to open up
2:31
the season, lost them by 17. But that was the first time
2:38
these guys were playing together in a real game and they opened
2:42
up the game 17 nothing. So we pretty we pretty much
2:44
played even basketball the rest of the way through.
2:46
So I think these guys, you know, although we accomplished some
2:50
major goals along the way so far to have some feathers in our
2:54
cap. I think one of the boxers that
2:57
want to take off is a rematch with Damon, with the team that
3:01
they are now compared to the team they were, you know, back,
3:04
you know, first week in November.
3:06
You know, we we've been kind of touching on the story as the
3:09
season has gone along here because, you know, we usually
3:13
start with a little Felician minute and then get into the
3:15
high school stuff, but there's not that much high school stuff
3:17
left. We should say that in a game
3:20
that I probably should have been at but had some family stuff
3:23
come up. Ramsey defeated Lyndhurst in the
3:26
Group 2 state semifinals in double overtime.
3:30
I think it was 7670, crazy game. So Ramsey is heading for the
3:34
state final. We also have Burton Catholic is
3:38
still alive and Waldwick is still alive in Group one in the
3:42
Group 1 semifinals. Waldwick is going to play
3:44
Shabazz tomorrow. It's going to be a tough one,
3:47
but what an unbelievable season by Waldwick.
3:50
And if you haven't seen it, the North Jersey sports.com website
3:54
Rich Barton wrote the story of Waldwick winning its first state
3:57
sectional championship since 2000, playing in its first state
4:01
sectional final since 2013. So bravo to your boy Kevin
4:06
McBain over there. Waldwick has been great.
4:08
We had more Christensen on very Timely in our last show and then
4:12
Ramsey goes out and takes out a really good Lyndhurst team in
4:16
the Group 2 state semi final. So, you know, we talked to Mark,
4:19
they went on to beat Westwood after losing to them twice on
4:21
the regular season, and then they just beat Lyndhurst.
4:24
But this story of Felician has been unfold, unfolding bit by
4:30
bit since the beginning of the season, since we started to,
4:32
since I started to really grasp it.
4:34
I mean, I'm a division two guy to begin with.
4:37
I said it a zillion times, I mean, East Stroudsburg
4:39
University guy. So I actually fill out the
4:42
bracket every year, the division along with my Division One March
4:46
Madness bracket. I fill out the division two
4:49
bracket every season and do it with my best friend from college
4:53
and his kids. And it's funny because the first
4:56
time my buddy's son filled out the division, he's like, Dad,
5:00
why are there so many Minnesotans?
5:02
Yeah, yeah. Minnesota State, Minnesota.
5:05
Mankato, MN. Duluth, Duluth.
5:08
Yeah, it goes on and on. So the running joke when we fill
5:11
out the division two, how many Minnesota's this year?
5:14
But it's really crazy and I didn't get the full grasp
5:17
because you're a humble guy and you don't like to talk about it.
5:19
Well, you do like to talk about it, but you don't like to make
5:23
it sound as amazing as the season has been for Felician.
5:27
And you know what, we're talking high school sports.
5:29
I mean we're talking basketball across North Jersey.
5:32
Last I checked, Felician, Felician University was in
5:35
Rutherford and some in Lodi. And the year that you guys are
5:38
having 20-7 and three As as you mentioned, the old record for
5:42
wins in a season at Felician was 24 wins.
5:44
You guys smashed that three more.
5:46
The conference record in the CAC for wins is 28.
5:50
So if you win your first round game, you will tie the all time
5:53
record for most wins by a team playing in the CACC.
5:58
Crazy. Actually, we just actually, we
6:00
just tied that it actually is 2728 great.
6:05
So if you win your first round game, it will be the most wins
6:07
ever in the history of a team that plays in the cast.
6:10
That's amazing. You have the player of the year
6:13
overall in Jeremiah Anderson. You have the defensive player of
6:17
the year. In Tristan Harcourt a went to
6:20
university in North. You have the coach of the year
6:24
in Ivan, your buddy Ivan Lewis, who you know you 2 have formed
6:30
some tandem over there along with the rest of your staff who
6:32
like you know, don't know as well.
6:33
So I don't want to leave that out.
6:34
But I know you 2 guys and I know what a great job you have done.
6:38
And your first NCAA tournament bid since 2022, That time you
6:45
were a #8 seed, this time you are a number two seed.
6:49
So, Brad, this is a historic season.
6:52
No matter. Listen, I don't want to talk
6:54
about it in the past 10. I don't want to fix anything.
6:56
But no matter what happens in the first round, this has been a
6:59
historic season at Felician University.
7:02
Yeah. Absolutely.
7:04
And our staff has done a great job.
7:05
You know, you know, another one of our citizens is James, who
7:12
has his fair share of. Lots of wins at the.
7:15
High school level as a player and as a coach, Who?
7:18
Played at Patterson Catholic. And then, you know, moved on to
7:22
Iona and finished that ULM. So he's been around the game a
7:26
lot. Very good to have a lot of our
7:29
defensive stuff. And so I mean, yeah, you know,
7:33
really, really good job by by those guys.
7:38
And Dave, you know, Dave does a really good job.
7:41
He does our offensive stuff. You know, it's tough, it's
7:47
tough. It's tough.
7:53
It takes a lot. It really does.
7:54
It takes a lot you. Know Dave Nichols close to AAU
7:58
for a long time. He's a, he's a policing
7:59
graduate, you know, close to AAU for a while, you know, came up
8:05
through our program. He was one of our managers while
8:07
he was the student here, you know, really started to, you
8:10
know, burn the basketball mind and and, you know, it's helping
8:16
us out tremendously on the recruiting trail, the offensive,
8:19
you know, the offensive portions of, of what we do.
8:23
But yeah, I mean, you know it. It takes a lot.
8:26
Well. Look for for years.
8:29
For years. We've been built, you know,
8:30
we've been building towards this and we've, we've been wanting to
8:32
be really good because, you know, it means a lot, you know,
8:35
to me and Ivan as alumni and guys who played there.
8:38
But yeah, it's just, you know, it, it takes, it takes, you
8:43
know, when they say, you know, when you talk about, you know,
8:46
raising a kid, it takes a village.
8:47
You know, it's taken. It's taken, you know, coaches,
8:53
it's taken, you know, professors, you know, it's taken
8:57
alumni, you know, our alumni do a, a very good job of staying
9:01
engaged and, and showing up and, and, you know, yeah, it's just,
9:06
it's, it's a it's a historic year for sure.
9:10
You know, I, I plan on hunting 30 and getting a rematch with
9:13
Damon. You know, we lost you to open up
9:17
the season. Who's number four in the
9:18
country? But yeah, I mean, it's a great
9:22
year. I, I try and stay grounded
9:25
because you know, I in my mind, I feel like we still have
9:29
someone to finish business. So, you know, but like you, you
9:35
say it takes a lot. Let's talk a little bit about
9:37
what it takes because it really there's so many things that go
9:42
into, you know, at the power forward level, at the big time
9:45
colleges where they have, you know, money training, they have
9:49
somebody to do everything. They got a towel guy, they got
9:53
a, you know, a guy, just a rebound, all of those things.
9:57
You guys at the division two level, Division Three level and
10:01
there are levels to division two, you know, inside division
10:04
two as well. Division Three and AI, you go
10:06
all the way down like you're doing everything.
10:09
Yeah, we've talked about budgeting before because, you
10:12
know, it's, I don't want to say it's a money loser, but you have
10:15
to find a way to make it money neutral.
10:18
When you're talking about colleges, especially small
10:22
private colleges in Bergen County.
10:24
I mean, that's a tough place to do business.
10:27
And Felician has done an amazing job of not only like keeping the
10:32
lights on and staying competitive, but really like
10:34
putting the pedal to the metal. I, I, so I want you to speak on
10:38
that just like the, the tougher thing, you know, the, the, the
10:41
hard part of the job. Like I'm sure you and Ivan love
10:45
running practice everyday and having the kids in there, but
10:47
you got to get those kids. You got to figure out, you know,
10:49
the money, the, you know, scholarships, all those type of
10:53
things. And is there, the second part of
10:56
the question is, is there a ceiling for not just Felician,
11:01
but for a tax school? Like when we're talking about
11:03
Damon as #4 in the country? The PSAC where I grew up, you
11:09
know, Gannon is the number one seed there this year.
11:11
And I feel like Gannon has a chance to win the whole thing in
11:14
Division two. They're outstanding.
11:16
They crushed my beloved Warriors in the PSAC semi finals.
11:20
But you know, the Psac's got 3T or 4I.
11:23
Don't even know if West Liberty's in the PSAC.
11:26
But no, they're in the bounties. OK, so you have IUP, you have
11:30
University of you have Cal, a Cal of Pennsylvania.
11:35
So you know, but my point more specifically is like, can tax
11:40
schools get to the level and maybe you could do it this year.
11:44
Maybe the answer is yes. Can you get, Oh yeah, maybe
11:46
you're fighting for a national championship on the Division Two
11:49
level. I mean, yeah, I mean that's, you
11:50
know, that's the plan. You know, when you, when you
11:52
start having a year like we're having, you know, yeah, you
11:56
know, where, where does the where does the bus stop?
12:02
It's tough, you know, I'm, you know, small private universities
12:07
and colleges have so many hurdles, right?
12:10
Enrollment, tuition, you know, funding.
12:14
Yeah, we have to fund, we have to fundraise, you know, we.
12:17
Yeah, we do. We.
12:18
Do yeah, we have to do a lot of extra.
12:22
You know, we have one full time assistant, you know, whereas a
12:25
lot of the other programs probably have, you know, two or
12:28
three, if not the whole staff, you know.
12:32
Yeah. But if they call us, you know,
12:34
we all ship in. We all do as much as we can.
12:36
We have a director of basketball operations, this young woman by
12:39
the name of Shelly who plans a lot of that out with our budget
12:44
as far as, you know, gear, apparel, travel, hotels, meals,
12:51
like she does a lot of that the whole season and budgets for
12:55
that to make sure that you know, there's enough, there's enough
12:59
to stretch and last us, you know, the whole the whole year.
13:02
Yeah, because now you got to go to Buffalo this weekend.
13:04
Yeah, you know, hotels and that, you know, and yeah.
13:08
Well, you know, I think when push comes to shove, if we ask
13:10
the school, hey, listen, we need, you know, another 2 grand
13:13
to cover, you know, room and board.
13:14
I think they'd be OK with it. But but yeah, I mean, it's a,
13:19
it's a lot of that, you know, and it's not just the assistants
13:22
that I mean, Ivan does, Ivan does a lot.
13:24
I mean, there's times when we we be practicing, you know, we all
13:27
go and, you know, we got to do, you know, one guy put the
13:30
laundry in. I will come back and, and put
13:33
the laundry from the from the wash.
13:34
We all got to chip in, you know, he's the head coach and he's
13:37
chipping in whenever he can, you know, and he's a, he's in my
13:41
mind, he's above it. But he, we all chip in because,
13:46
you know, we've, we've been building this program on the,
13:49
the foundation of nobody's bigger than the program.
13:54
You know, we all do it with deletion on our chest.
13:57
And, you know, there's nobody that's above that.
14:01
And, and I think this team is emulating that motto.
14:09
You know, we, yeah, Jeremiah was a player of the year,
14:13
interesting defensive player. Ivan was the coach of the year.
14:16
There's lots of boxing we checked off and everybody's
14:20
still humble and we still have ideations of doing more things.
14:24
So this team really emulates that.
14:27
Nobody's greater than the program.
14:28
Like nobody's walking around campus.
14:33
Like, you know, I don't need to go to class.
14:35
We just want to, you know, conference championship.
14:38
We're #21 in the country, there's no room for that, you
14:43
know, we, we there, there's, you know, it was 80° today.
14:48
It's baseball letter out. And we want to, we want to still
14:50
play basketball. Yeah, it's amazing.
14:53
You know, it's I hear that all the time, too.
14:56
And especially this is my favorite time of year because
14:58
I'm a hoops junkie and I listen to that SiriusXM channel 84,
15:03
which is the college sports station.
15:05
And, you know, every time somebody punches their ticket,
15:09
they get that coach on. And that coach invariably, you
15:13
know, if they're from a small school that's never made or
15:15
doesn't have a history of success or whatever, you know,
15:17
they say, what do you think of the pressure?
15:19
And all these guys say there's no pressure when you're at this,
15:22
you know, like when you're playing because we've done the
15:24
laundry, we've, you know, fed the staff, we've done all these
15:29
things by ourselves. And that's pressure.
15:32
When you got to keep the lights on, when you get to this point,
15:34
the NCAA picks you up in a charter jet and takes you to
15:36
your next location. There's no pressure, you know?
15:40
Yeah, yeah, for sure, Yeah, for sure.
15:42
But you know, for us, you know, it's different and that that is
15:45
true, right? Like, you know, probably Liu or
15:48
Mercyhurst is going to punch their tickets tonight right in
15:50
that Northeast Conference and. Well, Liu is going because
15:53
Mercyhurst moved up from the PSAC and the in the.
15:57
This is only their second year I think.
15:59
Yeah, it's their second year. And how stupid is the NCAA?
16:02
I don't. Like that role if you move up
16:04
but you. Can't play in the tournament for
16:05
four years. Like, why not?
16:06
If you're good enough, you're good enough.
16:08
Yeah, I, I don't like that rule. You know, Mercy has to win the
16:10
NEC and, and Liu still goes. Yeah, which is what happened.
16:14
Which just so for the listeners out there, that's what happened
16:16
with FDUFDU went to the championship game against
16:21
Merrimack, who was a newly minted D1.
16:24
Merrimack beats them. FDU still goes to the
16:26
tournament, wins their play in game, and then beats #1 Purdue
16:31
in the in the first round. But they really weren't supposed
16:35
to be there. So like for them, it's borrowed.
16:38
Hey, no pressure. We're we're playing on on house
16:41
money in a. Game.
16:42
That I've won and they made, and they made the most.
16:45
In East Stroudsburg, PA Back. Just and.
16:48
Yeah, for and and so like for us, you know, yeah.
16:51
I mean, we could sit here and say, yeah, there's no pressure,
16:53
you know, we're getting up there.
16:53
Yeah, we won, won the conference ship.
16:56
But for us, you know, we've also me and Ivan have been there
17:00
before. You know, we were there together
17:03
as assistants in 2009 two thousand and. 10 So who?
17:07
Who was the head coach then? That was Dave D Ferrari.
17:10
He's. Still in the coaching game, Dave
17:12
D Ferrari. I don't know.
17:14
I don't know. I haven't talked to Dave in
17:16
quite some time, but I think I did get a really nice text from
17:18
him on Sunday after we won, so I know he's doing well.
17:23
So I don't know what he's up to, but I hope he's doing well.
17:28
Cool. But I do know, I do know that we
17:29
were there as assistance, right? And we lost in the first round
17:31
to Stone Hill, who's now in the Northeast Conference.
17:35
So we kind of saw what it was like to theoretically be like a
17:40
16, you know, playing, you know, a number one seed, right, lost
17:45
by 2530 points, whatever it was, get there again, 2122 and play
17:52
Bentley, who's the number 5 seed in our bracket this year and
17:55
lost them by 20. And, you know, we know what it
18:00
takes to get there, you know, but we, we try to change the
18:04
whole script because we want to be like, we want to be here
18:08
because we've earned the right to be here, not just like, you
18:10
know, winning the tournament. So we, I think we did our work
18:14
as far as winning the amount of games we did, playing the
18:16
opponents we played. Then we played the top two teams
18:20
and the the two other conferences in our region.
18:22
And Damon and Saint Anselm's who won both won their their
18:25
conferences. But yeah, I mean, we, we want
18:30
now that we know what we've been there, but now we want to we
18:33
want to make noise there. Yeah.
18:35
Like it's not just it's not just, you know, it's not just
18:39
fool just to get there. Now we want to make noise and
18:41
and be it, be it a program that that year in, year out we're
18:47
expected to be there. That's great.
18:51
That's great. And you know what it reminded me
18:53
of? Because today I was listening on
18:55
Sirius and I heard Dave Richmond, who Richmond, who's
18:58
the head coach at North Dakota State and he's an O2 graduate of
19:03
North Dakota State and has had opportunities to leave.
19:07
He's built a successful program. But he's like, you know, I like
19:10
Fargo. It's funny too when the guy
19:12
says, I like the Fargo, West Fargo, Moorhead area.
19:16
It's a great place to raise a family.
19:18
You know, those are words that would never come out of my
19:20
mouth. But I love to get somebody
19:23
else's different perspective on the world.
19:25
And it's really cool to hear Dave Richmond talk about it,
19:27
that, you know, everybody has their price and he may move up
19:30
eventually. You know, he might just get to
19:32
be. It just might he might get to be
19:36
a bigger name in coaching than North Dakota State University
19:39
can accommodate, but maybe not. And maybe he stays there for the
19:43
rest of his career. I mean, he's been there for a
19:44
long time and he's got his team in the the big dance and now,
19:48
you know, little NL money, the football teams moving up.
19:51
Then maybe North Dakota State hangs around for a while.
19:53
But I love that opportunity. The other one that I'm looking
19:56
forward to the game. So I think it's just getting
19:58
underway now is where taping this is.
20:00
I've been following Sienna this year because Jerry.
20:04
Mclear. Yeah, and he took over.
20:07
You know, it was either him or Red Autry to take over at
20:09
Syracuse after Behon. Red Autry got the job.
20:12
Syracuse stinks. Jerry McNamara went to Siena,
20:15
took over a team that had four wins three years ago or the year
20:19
before. He got there last year.
20:20
He improved them. And tonight they're playing in
20:22
the championship game with a chance to get into the NCAA
20:26
Tournament. And if if they get into the NCAA
20:28
tournament, like he's not even going to get the coach and he's
20:30
going to be back at Syracuse before the 1st.
20:35
But Jerry Mack coaching in the Mac Championship against
20:39
Merrimack, right, Who we played, and I know I'd like to, I'd like
20:46
to say that, you know, you know, that's that coaching staff, you
20:50
know, you know, Coach Gallo, Mickey Bertnik, who who's the
20:55
who's like his associate head coach.
20:57
You know, those guys gave us time to to come up there and
20:59
play against them. That was a former, you know, NE
21:01
10 division two school that that made the jump.
21:03
And you know, they gave us time to come up there and play
21:05
against them and, and, and give them some some good competition.
21:08
And, you know, I think, you know, we gave them a run for
21:11
their money and, you know, it was I was appreciative.
21:15
So I mean, I, I really think that those guys are are the kind
21:18
of friends of the staff. So I'm I'm pulling for for
21:20
Merrimack to get it done and and to get the answer to the league
21:22
tournament finally, because that program is very deserving of it.
21:27
They do a very good job up there.
21:28
They they recruit in Jersey. So I'm happy.
21:32
I'm hopefully I'm pulling for them to do well.
21:35
But, yeah, I mean, it's, it's just, yeah, it's, it's a tough
21:41
drive. And I'm sure, and I'm sure even
21:43
Jim Bayheim, you know, yeah, Syracuse is a big time, big time
21:46
school. I'm sure there were some other
21:49
bigger programs that came knocked on his door asking if he
21:51
wanted to change. But when you're, I think when
21:54
you're in, when you're in your twine in your program and and
21:59
you enjoy seeing it succeed, it's kind of tough to leave.
22:02
Yeah. Yes, and and the thing that
22:05
reminds like I've driven through because my daughter went to the
22:07
University of Vermont. So going up that way through the
22:09
Albany area in Loudonville is where Sienna is.
22:12
And I've gone through that because I'm again a whacked out
22:16
college sports junkie. So like if I'm in an area, a new
22:20
area, the first thing I do is like what colleges around here,
22:22
you know, like I was down in Georgia last week.
22:25
I went to see a baseball game at Mercer University.
22:27
So I got a Mercer University baseball hat, but you know,
22:32
going by Sienna, Sienna is a small private, you know,
22:35
Catholic school, I think in Loudonville, outside of Albany,
22:40
NY. And they have a lot of same
22:42
constraint you do and they're doing it at the Division One
22:45
level. So again, it can be done with
22:47
proper management, proper recruiting and proper
22:51
organization. Like, I think that's the biggest
22:53
thing because so many guys, so many head coaches are great at
22:58
the XS and OS or great at recruiting or great at the
23:02
organizational part of what it takes to run a program.
23:05
But so few of them are good at all of them or putting an
23:10
organization that can be good at all of them because, you know,
23:13
at that level, at your level where, you know, you're all
23:18
recruiting from the same pool, just the difference between wins
23:22
and losses is not necessarily the guy on the floor.
23:25
It's how he got there. You know, in what position did
23:28
you put him? You know, it's, it's it's such a
23:30
small margin of error between wins and losses at every level
23:34
of college basketball because, yeah, you know, I mean.
23:38
No, it, it is. And I and I think, I think I
23:41
would like to say that we do a really good job of that.
23:43
You know, I, I didn't want to lose, lose the topic, but yeah,
23:46
you know, yeah, it's tough. You know, we have a, a we have a
23:49
set. Budget for.
23:51
Scholarship money, you know, and we have to work within those
23:53
confines and we have to, we also have also, we also have to carry
23:57
a roster of 18. We actually have 19.
24:01
We actually have 19 this year. Yeah.
24:04
So, you know, we have to make that work within all of those
24:09
numbers. So, you know, it's important to
24:12
get one local guy. You have to be able to recruit
24:14
locally. You have to be able to recruit
24:15
your backyard and recruit it well and to compete with all
24:18
those, which I think, I think in my mind, I think the portal has
24:23
kind of helped. Us out a.
24:24
Little bit in that aspect. So, you know, I could thank the,
24:27
the portal for that, but it also had a negative connotation
24:30
because, you know, in the last four years, whether graduation
24:34
report, we've lost a lot of that to that as well.
24:38
Umm, you know, this is now the, the 4th, the 4th year we've had
24:43
a different back court. Umm, it's been this, you know,
24:50
the third time we've had a different front court.
24:54
Umm, there are the two guys who went to the portal last year.
24:58
Umm, you know, one was second team all NEC in the Northeast
25:01
Conference at New Haven degree Fitzpatrick, who had a very good
25:05
year at Division One level and Marcus Pierce went to a, you
25:10
know, has, you know, a coach I've mentioned in our previous
25:12
episode. We went to a probably a bigger
25:14
division too and was second team all conference there.
25:20
You know, like he was 13 in our conference the year we had him.
25:24
So you got to recruit your backyard, you got to get good
25:28
character kids. You know, I think that's huge.
25:31
You know, it's, it's tough to be a successful program with a lot
25:36
of me guys and I don't I don't think we have that this year,
25:39
which is is really good. And in in the last what, 10
25:45
years that that coach Rosen has taken over this program.
25:49
He brings all the intendables. You know, he he's he's got his
25:53
hands at everything. And you have to, because at our
25:56
level, like small private school, no, you know, state
25:59
funding or all that stuff, you got to really make everything
26:02
work. So you have to consciously be in
26:05
the know of all the workings within your programs.
26:09
You know I. I doubt my success.
26:11
He had to worry about a recruiting budget or a
26:16
scholarship budget or, you know, the travel plans that all that
26:20
stuff was just, you need to be here at this time.
26:23
Seriously. Okay.
26:24
And it wasn't even and again, not just the single out Mike
26:27
Schefsky, but all the guys at that level, like they're, you
26:31
know, they they put it, they go to Peach Jam, you know, they
26:33
wear the they wear the sweater with the logo and everything
26:36
else like that. But in the day-to-day, you know,
26:39
drudgery of recruiting, they're, they're the closers.
26:42
They're, you know, yeah, they, they get a kid, you know, their
26:45
assistants go out and get kids on the hook and then they go and
26:47
finish it. But not like, you know, Mike
26:49
Schefke was not sleeping outside of some 17 year old recruits
26:53
house. You know, try to get a word with
26:56
his. Parents on a You know, before
26:57
they left for church on a Sunday morning.
26:59
And maybe we're maybe we're wrong.
27:01
I, I couldn't, I wouldn't know. I mean, the the best person who
27:03
we could probably ask is Mike Rice if the if the Lyndon coach
27:08
would like to ever chime in, you know, for that, you know, at
27:10
that, at that point, I believe they were in the American.
27:13
I mean, but yeah, Rutgers still a big time program.
27:16
You know, I don't, you know, he had, he had a really good staff
27:19
there. Like I don't know how much
27:22
involvement he had or didn't have, but I'm sure it's not as
27:26
much as, you know, the smaller schools have, you know, the same
27:29
thing with with Monsico had a very good year this year.
27:33
You know, they were for a small portion of the time they said
27:35
the number one team in the country, you know, they had a
27:39
rough end of the season, you know.
27:41
Where they? Who did they lose to?
27:43
They lost. I think that last like. 2
27:45
instead of a year that is just a rough stretch that they hit.
27:48
They lost at TC and J, who knocked them off out of the
27:51
undefeated, right? Yeah.
27:53
And then they they, you know, get through the tournament, the
27:55
N Jack tournament, and then lose to TC and J in the conference
27:58
championship at home and then lost in the first round to Maine
28:03
Farmington. And the answer was tournament.
28:05
But, you know, even with even with all that, you know, it's
28:09
still yeah. I never never even heard of
28:11
Maine Farmington. I'm.
28:12
Gonna have to go. But, you know, Justin's done a
28:14
very good job there. You know, it's, you know, yeah,
28:19
it's a state school, but you still have to, you know, be, you
28:23
know, intimately involved in all those day-to-day operations in
28:26
order to make that happen. Yeah, we had.
28:29
We had Mike Lauderhant, the baseball coach of William
28:32
Patterson on our baseball show last season talking about the
28:35
same thing. I mean those same, same type of
28:41
challenges, you know? What?
28:44
I'm glad this is, you know, I should have mentioned it 1/2
28:47
hour ago when we started this. We're going to have one of your
28:49
players. I'm going to have, we're going
28:52
to have Tristan Harcourt, who's the defensive player of the year
28:54
and attack on here shortly. So I should have probably said
28:57
it before now that he's going to be on, but we'll get to him in a
29:00
minute. But I, I, I'm, I'm glad that we
29:02
had this quiet time to actually talk about this because I don't
29:05
know what the reaction is going to be to our listeners.
29:07
And thank you to all the listeners.
29:08
Like last week we went over 2700 streams for this season.
29:12
So that was that's huge and we appreciate it.
29:15
So I don't know what the reaction is going to be to us
29:16
talking this because people I think come here for high school
29:19
basketball talk. But if you're here for high
29:21
school basketball and you don't like talking to a guy who's been
29:23
intimately involved in building a program from the ground up in
29:28
in in really one of the toughest spots imaginable, to do it.
29:31
And to have Felician College ranked in the country, going up
29:34
to Buffalo to play in the national tournament, you know,
29:38
27 and three on the season, it, it really is an amazing story.
29:41
And you know, I don't even want to say what I'm thinking about
29:45
what comes next, but for whatever it is, Brad, you're
29:48
doing a great job. Enjoy the moment and let's get
29:52
one of your guys on here. How about that?
29:53
Sounds good. All right, Brad.
29:55
Well, we've talked a lot about Felician University from a
29:58
coaching perspective and now let's move into it from a
30:02
player's perspective. As we welcome in the CACC
30:06
Defensive Player of the Year, he is Tristan Harcourt.
30:10
Tristan, thanks for joining us here on the.
30:13
Ball, thank you, thank you, thank you.
30:15
I got the honor. Got the honor.
30:18
It's awesome, man. I've been following.
30:20
Well, first of all, I've known Brad, your coach there since he
30:23
was a high school. I think junior was the first
30:26
time I called him playing a game.
30:28
So it's been a long road. I've seen him grow up and you
30:32
know, he's doing so many good things with Felicia and and you
30:36
know, the the roster that you guys have over there.
30:38
So, you know, let's dive into just the success of the program
30:42
at first. I mean, we've been talking about
30:45
it all night. 27 and 3 ranked in the country going to the NCAA
30:49
tournament. Just talk about the season
30:52
that's been heading into the this great show that's going to
30:56
be coming up this weekend. Yeah, this is, I feel like this
31:01
is a real touchy team this year. I kind of like I kind of seen it
31:05
coming since summertime, like being in the gym with a lot of
31:08
the dogs who got on the gym this year, just playing with them.
31:11
They're high. Most of them are all high level
31:13
guys. They're IQ different.
31:15
Like they're all team players. I kind of seen it coming the
31:18
early mornings, we getting up 6-7 in the morning to go to the
31:21
track. Nobody's like grumpy, nobody out
31:25
of it. Like everybody's happy to do
31:27
this. Like I kind of knew this is
31:28
going to be this type of the type of competitiveness on this
31:31
type of team with these guys because everybody was always
31:34
pushing like nobody, nobody didn't want to not be here.
31:37
Everybody was happy to be here, happy to go to practice.
31:40
Like we just got that type of brotherhood in the in the in the
31:42
locker room. That's what coach was saying
31:45
before too, Like there's no, you know, great teams.
31:48
What do they say? Good team coaches can motivate
31:50
good teams. Great teams are motivated by
31:52
themselves so. That's kind of what Brad.
31:55
Was saying a little bit before about just they, they find
31:57
there's any discipline problems. You don't have to chase anybody
32:00
back into the dorms at night. It's just everybody getting
32:02
going in and getting to work done.
32:03
So it sounds good. Brad, what do you want to you
32:05
know, I, I'll give you a little time.
32:07
I'm going to write down some questions here while you, but
32:08
you go ahead, go. Ahead.
32:10
All right, so. You know, so, so Tristan is a,
32:13
you're a newer kid and, you know, you went to university
32:16
and, and I don't know how familiar you are with, with your
32:20
high school's background, but we had a previous university player
32:25
and, and Zamir right, who was also at the.
32:28
At the game. But you know, how much did you
32:32
know or not know about Felician? You know, while you're in high
32:35
school? And then you know, you also
32:38
spent some time in, in our conference opponent, Holy
32:42
Family. So you know, give me, give me
32:44
your time, your timeline of, you know, your, your time at
32:47
university, right? And, and trying to touch on your
32:50
high school experience and, and your high school successes and
32:54
then your, you know, your road to, to ending up that, you know,
32:57
absolution and being a little bit closer to home.
33:00
Yeah, I pretty much, I was a little bit familiar with
33:04
Felician in high school because one of our alumni got Mayor
33:07
Wright. He he went there and he had like
33:10
a real good career here. So I was my older brother.
33:13
He played for the the 2016 team at university, that one without
33:17
Mayor. So once I see him transition
33:19
into it, I knew of the I knew of the school existence like in New
33:22
Jersey. So when I was, I think I've been
33:25
through my my senior year, I was pretty much having a solid
33:28
season. I think I was averaging like 19
33:30
and 12. And I believe it was either you
33:33
or coach Nick. I think I was on my lungs real
33:35
heavy calling me wanted me to come up and run like a workout,
33:40
but I don't, I don't think I was ever able to schedule it the
33:42
right way. I don't know what's going on at
33:44
the time, but I was pretty much talking with Holy Family and
33:48
Dominican. Those are the two that was and
33:50
Bloomfield, I think I was. I think they was one of the
33:52
first ones that offered me like Jersey school and I pretty much
33:57
sided with Holy Family. Probably wasn't the best
34:00
decision now that I looked back at it, but it's it's all part of
34:03
the story. Yeah.
34:06
I ended up over there coming in as a freshman.
34:10
I didn't I didn't expect the red shirt, but he kind of he kind of
34:13
just he kind of just put it on me in the middle of the game
34:16
like yo, I think it's a rash shirt might be the best option
34:19
for you. We got some fours here ahead of
34:21
you. So I like I just yeah, I got I
34:23
went with it ended up registered in my first year and in my
34:27
second year. I came back from a fishing first
34:30
year on the court and then we ended up getting the Albany
34:32
transfer. So I pretty much like it was me
34:35
and him competing and another big, but they pretty much went
34:39
with the other two and I was like the third big out of the
34:41
rotation. So after that, like I was like
34:45
maybe I should just maybe I should just get up out of here.
34:49
I went, I went I went JUCO to Middlesex in in Edison with
34:53
Coach Smith. I had a pretty I had a pretty
34:55
solid season there before I got hurt like the last six games, I
34:58
think I missed like six games. I couldn't play.
35:01
We ended up losing first round of Lackawanna.
35:03
But I had AI had a strong. I had AI had a strong.
35:06
Season over there. It's I love, I love like the the
35:10
odyssey of basketball, especially, you know, like for
35:14
the northeast area. It's so the options.
35:17
I I I love the line. Brad, you were on my line real
35:20
heavy. It was.
35:21
The me and me and coach, me and Coach Nick, we were familiar
35:28
with you. We, we were trying to get you on
35:29
campus. We just couldn't, we couldn't
35:32
make it work, whether it was as transportation issues or gym
35:35
issues, you know, just now you see how how that works.
35:38
You know, it is tough, you know, sometimes with you're trying to
35:41
get guys up and and, you know, it's, you know, hey, we're
35:44
working out at, you know, 1:00 in the afternoon on a on a
35:47
Saturday and it's kind of like it's in the middle of
35:49
everybody's plan. So, you know, it could be tough
35:50
at times, but, you know, we have to work within the confines what
35:53
we have. So, yeah, so there was that.
35:58
So yeah, I do, I do. I do recollect that.
36:02
But yeah, you know, and then your time, our whole family, you
36:04
know, when we obviously, you know, we were, we, you know, you
36:07
came up to a Felician, you know, one year you, we went down there
36:10
another year because back then, you know, we only the north only
36:13
played the South once. Yeah.
36:15
What were your thoughts of of you know the program, then you
36:18
know, even though you're a part of a, a, a conference foe?
36:24
I I I liked it. I I like to be.
36:27
Asking the tough questions. Yeah, I'm asking a tough
36:29
question. Yeah, you got an.
36:30
Old man. Definitely thinking about the
36:33
answer. Right, Yeah, I definitely, I
36:35
definitely did like the program. I know, I know.
36:37
Every time we matched up, I'm pretty.
36:39
I think we lost. I remember, I remember the last
36:41
time we played off, we came to Rutherford and it was bad.
36:45
It was bad. I think we got it was the 94
36:48
green. Matter of fact, I remember
36:50
vividly. We turned the ball over three
36:51
times. I think the the chance of
36:54
debris, he hit like 2 threes back-to-back to back and the
36:58
bench. We was we was pretty much in the
37:00
whole second-half. He lost by like 40.
37:02
But I definitely, I definitely was interested in the school.
37:04
I had a couple, I had a couple friends that played on the team.
37:07
I knew Diane was playing at the time.
37:09
He wanted chick hair. It was definitely in the back of
37:11
my head like coming back to Jersey.
37:13
I just didn't know how to acted like how that was going to go
37:16
about, but it definitely was in the back of my head.
37:20
You know what else I want? Yeah.
37:21
Oh, go ahead, finish. Brad, I'm sorry.
37:23
No, I mean, yeah, I, I just want to, you know, highlight, you
37:25
know, you know, you go to Middlesex and you know, Tristan
37:30
Tristan's got a unbelievable motor and he is the Ultimate
37:34
Team guy. He wasn't, he wasn't defensive
37:38
player just because of all the intangibles, but just just
37:40
everything he brings to the, to the floor, man, His, his, you
37:43
know, aggressiveness, his, his rebounding, his double, you
37:48
know, double double s, he scores it, he rebounds it.
37:50
You know, averaged, I think he averaged 12 rebounds in
37:53
conference per game, 2 block shots.
37:58
I mean, he's, he's just all over the court.
38:00
He can guard one through 5. And that was all stuff he was
38:04
doing at Middlesex. So when we brought him up on
38:05
campus and he was doing all those things, we were like, man,
38:08
we have, we have to have this kid like he was the first, the
38:11
first time he stepped on the floor in the gym, yeah, he must
38:15
have had like 30 offensive rebounds and 50 defensive
38:17
rebounds and these open gyms. And we're like, man, this kid,
38:20
he just goes and goes, He goes, he's deflecting passes, getting
38:23
steals, finishing. And like, how did it?
38:26
How, how did we let this kid go the first time?
38:28
And then how do we make sure we get him back this time?
38:32
Yeah, it's it's crazy to say that because my first when I
38:35
came up for the run, I think we played probably probably like
38:40
who knows, 6-7 games and I only really scored once.
38:43
I didn't. I only scored a run like I
38:45
remember I just was getting a bunch of blocks stills.
38:49
I'm guarding JK. He's the crappiest guard I've
38:51
probably ever played with, staying in front of him.
38:54
I'm guarding some of the other guys, the bigs, staying in front
38:57
of them, blocking eight shots. I didn't even I barely even
39:00
scored, but I was doing everything else.
39:01
I was playing so hard that because I like yo, man, we need
39:05
you up here. We want you.
39:09
Yeah, I, I'm curious about the past even before, because, you
39:13
know, we, I cover mostly Bergen County, some Passaic, a little
39:17
Hudson, but you know, the Newark schools.
39:20
It's, it's different. I mean, I don't even I, I really
39:23
don't know how it works from inside.
39:24
So I'm interested to get your perspective on it like.
39:27
You. It's an open enrollment, so you
39:30
can choose what high school you want to go to in Newark, right?
39:35
Is that correct? Yeah, yeah, Most of the time we
39:38
can pretty much like as long as it's public school, I believe.
39:40
I believe you could go to any high school.
39:42
But once you finish, I know you got to have like you got to sit
39:44
down for 30 days and then you'll probably be back, back right
39:48
after the New Year's game. Like every time you transfer you
39:51
got 630 days and you usually come back around middle of
39:53
January or like the first week of January.
39:56
So how does that work? Like why for you university?
39:59
Why like? You know, you have so many
40:02
options, especially now with the the rise of charter schools and
40:06
you know, places I never heard of have come.
40:08
Into in. The last you know, so why
40:11
university for you and you know, do you guys your like your your
40:16
childhood group of friends? Do you guys talk about hey,
40:18
let's go here together or is it every man for himself?
40:21
Because you know, the other thing is every non public school
40:25
in within 100 mile radius of Newark is coming in to recruit
40:29
the city. You know, so you're.
40:31
I'm sure. Aborted from all angles from a
40:33
young age. Talk about it as a kid growing
40:36
up in Newark, which is a basketball town, and if at ever
40:39
at any point you guys all stuck together and played at 1, you
40:43
know, public school would be fun to see.
40:45
But, you know, just talk about the Newark angle of it.
40:48
Yeah, So my middle school I went to, I went to Louise Expensive
40:54
in Newark. I won the championship, I won
40:55
the middle school championship there in 6th grade.
40:59
And then going to university, it was kind of like a family thing.
41:03
Like my, my older sister, she went there my whole high school.
41:05
She played basketball. And then I had another older
41:08
brother. He went, he went there, pretty
41:10
much did all his years, you know, playing basketball.
41:13
And I had another brother went there, did all his years
41:15
superstars playing basketball. So I went in, I ended up
41:18
transferring there at 7th grade, like with a gifted and talented,
41:21
like 7th or 8th grade or so. I was pretty much at university
41:24
for six years because my whole family went there.
41:27
So it was like, yeah, I'm just pretty much being here 6th, 7th
41:30
grade, I'm working out with the varsity squad sometimes in the
41:33
gym, just watching to see how it goes.
41:36
So I pretty much was like, it was like a family thing.
41:38
Really cool. What are you majoring in in?
41:42
College business. Business.
41:44
Yeah, Business communication. Yeah, well, your communication
41:47
is great because you come across as a very intelligent and well
41:53
spoken kid, young man, I should say, not kid.
41:56
I'm old. You're a kid to me.
41:58
I mean, really, Brad, very impressive.
42:01
And this is what? This is what college sports is
42:03
supposed to do. It's supposed.
42:04
To be able to. You know, help you get your
42:06
degree and go on about your life, you know so.
42:09
And, and, and, you know, we have, we have 17 more just like
42:12
them. And I think, I think that's why
42:15
we're able to, to, to have the success we're having.
42:18
Yeah, they, they're, they're amazing on the basketball court,
42:21
but they're just as amazing off the court.
42:24
We, we laugh, we joke, but these guys, these guys hold each other
42:28
accountable. They take care of business in
42:30
the classroom. We, we just have just a really
42:34
good group of kids that buy into everything that we've been
42:38
building here. And and, you know, it's, it's
42:41
fun to finally see the fruits of that labor.
42:43
Yeah, no doubt about it. So, Tristan, how much fun are
42:46
you having? Oh, I'm having the most fun of
42:49
my life, the most fun of my life, I say.
42:52
I thought it's like I tell the team all the time, it's probably
42:54
the greatest team I played for. Like all around from the guard
42:58
to the big, like everybody is in practice.
43:01
Like I'm not used to being in practice.
43:03
And all year round everyone is committed.
43:05
Even the guys who don't get in there, still working hard to
43:07
defend us in practice, do things for us in practice.
43:09
So we still on our, on our like top, top burn or top motor like
43:14
everybody is 100% locked in committed like we, we big one
43:18
big group. And you're a senior?
43:22
Oh, I'm a junior. I'm a yeah, I'm a junior.
43:24
Oh, so you got him back next year, Brad?
43:26
Hopefully, Right? Yeah.
43:27
Pretty much that is that is the plan, yes, all right.
43:30
The plan is for him to come back and we want to take that number
43:34
one seed and host the Regions tournament next year.
43:38
Yeah, because I think. This game I I can't drive to
43:40
Buffalo on Saturday. But I mean, you could, you could
43:43
take the six hour ride. It's true.
43:46
It is. And the Anchor Bar, I don't
43:48
know. We were talking about the budget
43:50
before. Brad, I hope you left enough in
43:51
the budget to take the boys to the Anchor Bar.
43:54
Do you know that that is the original place where that's why
43:57
Buffalo Wings or Buffalo wings because the Anchor Bar is the
44:01
first place in America to have served them so.
44:04
Well, if we take care of business Saturday and Sunday,
44:08
yeah, I think we might be able to find some time to to get
44:10
these guys to the original founding spot of the Buffalo
44:13
wing. You heard him say.
44:14
Tristan, don't let him off. Yeah, definitely, definitely.
44:18
Tristan Harcourt, Felician Falcons flying high here.
44:23
Thanks for joining us, man. It was a pleasure to meet you.
44:25
Great to talk to you. I'm a big fan, and I got to get
44:28
me one of those Capelli T-shirts with Harcourt on the back.
44:30
How about that? Yeah, yeah, we got a lot of
44:33
those in the back. I know, I know.
44:34
Shelly to find it for you. We got a lot of.
44:38
Those thank you. So see what happens here, Brad,
44:41
when you win a CAC conference championship and get ranked in
44:46
the United States of America and play in the Division Two
44:49
national tournament, there's not just one guest from Felicia
44:53
University, not 2 like yourself, not 2 guests like Tristan
44:58
Harcourt. We just have on here.
44:59
Let's make it 3 as we welcome in Tavian Pollock, who is joining
45:04
us here on the ball game. What's going on?
45:07
How you doing? How you doing?
45:09
We're doing great. Just having a lot of fun talking
45:14
about Felicia basketball here tonight.
45:15
I mean, Coach B and I have been doing this show all season long
45:19
and it's, you know, the high school stuff is starting to
45:22
wane. We only have a couple teams
45:23
left. So now we're all in on Felicia
45:25
and what a great time to do it. I mean, maybe from your
45:28
perspective, let's start with just how crazy this has been.
45:32
I mean, I don't want to make it seem like, oh, you should look
45:34
back and reflect and and feel all because I know you got a lot
45:37
of work left and you guys are hoping that that this season
45:39
lasts a lot longer. But you know, this season has
45:44
been a historical season in the history of Felician University.
45:48
And maybe just give us your perspective on it to this point.
45:53
I loved it. Came here my freshman year.
45:57
I played under 5 seniors my sophomore year I played under 4
46:03
seniors. No, I played under 6th senior in
46:05
my freshman year. My sophomore year I played under
46:08
4 feet seniors. So I think this year was a big
46:12
year. I finally got to spread my wings
46:14
a little bit. I got to put on for the city I
46:18
came from, for the name that I have for my family.
46:25
I loved it. My team, all this team
46:27
especially we have this year, we all played together.
46:30
We all wanted each other to win. We wanted each other to do good
46:34
in different aspects in life. So I think my team, we shouldn't
46:40
do it on the team. Yeah, and our coaches.
46:42
Yeah, go ahead, Brad. You know, we're, you know, we're
46:45
just the driving force. You know, we just kind of steal
46:47
the ship, but these guys make the ship move.
46:51
Yeah. You know, you know, Tay, you
46:52
know, Tay coming in as a as a freshman, you know, first of
46:56
all, you know, before we get into his, you know, production,
47:00
you know, as a student athlete, you know, Tay, Tay was one of
47:05
the highest recruited kids who's ever got an athlete.
47:08
And he was a top 25 kid in the skate.
47:10
New Jersey, you know, and, and New Jersey, you know, a hotbed
47:16
for, you know, division ones and, and division twos from all
47:19
over the country to come in and, and snag kids.
47:22
And, you know, he was the kind of kid that, you know, we, we,
47:27
yeah, it was like, like a record.
47:29
You know, we wanted to keep kids here And, and, you know, Tay was
47:32
a kid that we saw that can be the kind of the, the player he's
47:36
developing into now. And yeah, you know, the freshman
47:39
year was tough. We had a lot of seniors who won
47:42
a lot of games and, and helped us win a conference championship
47:45
the year before he he got on campus.
47:48
So it was, it was tough. You know, all those kids came
47:50
back, you know, a player of the year in the region and, you
47:54
know, 50 years, 10 years, you know, but I think that benefited
47:58
him a lot because you got to learn from a lot of those guys.
48:00
Jalen Cologne, who's also from Paterson, who went to Kennedy
48:04
High School, played there. I think she got to see first
48:08
hand the what it takes to be successful at this level.
48:15
Yeah, I, I think he can attest, You know, it's definitely a, a,
48:18
a substantial leap from, you know, in that exception in Essex
48:23
County basketball, right. And, and, and playing around
48:26
here and, and into our level. And I think every year a
48:31
different part of his game has developed leap from downs and
48:36
the maturity, you know, the maturity I've seen from from Tay
48:39
as a freshman to now is tremendous, you know, and it's
48:44
it's proud to see what we're building and and proud to see us
48:47
keep doing it. We're gonna play some more
48:48
basketball. But yeah, it's really cool to
48:51
see the growth of of all the guys, you know, take one the,
48:54
the, the only one or two guys who have who've been here for
48:58
three years now. And yeah, I mean, it's it's fun
49:03
and we're still doing it. But yeah, take, take, take me
49:06
back to, you know, you, the process, you know, I know your
49:10
primary recruiter was first mixed who is still a Felician
49:14
employee, but he's, he's doing a different, a different thing
49:16
now. And, and he's not full time on
49:19
staff like he was. But talk to us about, you know,
49:21
that recruiting aspect and and you know, what made the ultimate
49:25
decision for you to to become a Golden Falcon.
49:31
The recruiting process to me was kind of well, Felician.
49:34
It was kind of, it wasn't crazy. It was real close to home.
49:40
I knew majority of the team because some of the players, I
49:43
used to play against them when I was in middle school and high
49:46
school. So some of the players that were
49:48
already out to school, I've been playing against them for like 3
49:51
to 4 years already. So it's kind of easy when I got
49:54
here. And then Coach Nick made it more
49:57
easier because he, for me, it wasn't, I wasn't really much of
50:02
a big talker. So he would explain it, explain
50:06
the recruitment process and explain everything detail by
50:10
detail, day by day. He my first recruitment, when I
50:14
first got onto the campus, my first visit, he made sure I was
50:17
set. He made sure I had clothes, a
50:19
bed to sleep on. He made sure I had a good
50:22
roommate, a good player to watch over me.
50:24
So the recruitment for from Felicia was pretty fun for me.
50:32
That's great to hear. Hey, there is no way that coach
50:36
talks to you like that. The build up that he just gave
50:40
you when you turn the ball over in practice, is that correct?
50:43
Say it again. There's no way that coach gives
50:46
you all those platitudes and tell you what a great kid you
50:48
are when you turn the ball over during practice.
50:51
I'm sure the conversation is a little bit different because he
50:54
was very effusive in his praise of you.
50:57
Does he you know, I'm I'm sure it's a little bit different in
51:03
in the practice gym or maybe not.
51:05
Is it always that positive? Maybe that's a good question to
51:07
ask. I mean, you know, between coach
51:10
Ivan and Coach Brad, is it always upbeat or, you know, do
51:14
they how, how does it go? It's for me, it's usually for
51:19
me. It feels upbeat because I
51:22
wouldn't say I turned the ball over.
51:23
I might take a little shot, a wrong shot, a long time, but we
51:29
we pretty much just this, we all, we're always on to the next
51:33
play. If the first play doesn't work,
51:34
next play to get the next stop so we can get our next bucket.
51:38
We're always taking a score so we can hurry up and get a next
51:41
stop so we can score again. So they're never really too much
51:44
on to the on. Say if I make one mistake, they
51:47
don't really stay on that mistake.
51:48
They correct me and they'll let me play it off or sit me down
51:52
real quick so I can cool off and then come right back in.
51:56
I think my mistake was that I assumed Brad that he may have
51:58
turned the ball over in practice one time, but probably never
52:01
happened. Yeah, we, you know, our
52:05
philosophy, you know, it's just always, you know, we, we've
52:11
seen, I mean, we, we've been, we've been a part of so many
52:14
different programs. We've seen different aspects of,
52:17
of coaching styles and, and, you know, yeah.
52:21
I mean, if we're hard on the guys, right, And especially
52:25
Teddy, right? There's definitely times I've,
52:26
I've definitely been hard on Teddy, but it's, it's because I,
52:31
I know what he's capable of. Yeah, right.
52:34
And, and as a, as a, as a leader, right.
52:37
And a veteran of this program, I think he, he knows that the
52:42
expectation from the younger guys looking at him because he
52:45
was in that situation as a freshman when I, when he was
52:49
looking up to those guys, you know, and so I think he
52:53
understands the expectation. And yeah, you know, now at this
52:57
point, you know, he doesn't dwell on on the mistakes.
52:59
He he dwells on what he can do when he gets back out there or
53:04
what he could do to to be better and not make that mistake.
53:08
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean that that's that's
53:10
obviously the best approach. So, you know, I asked when we
53:14
had Tristan on here before you, I asked him about, you know,
53:17
being from Newark and the process of, you know, even just
53:21
choosing a high school, which is different than in a lot of other
53:23
places. Patterson the same 2.
53:25
You know, you have the old two store stalwarts in East Side and
53:29
Kennedy and then you have, you know, every other non public
53:33
school in the greater metropolitan area coming in
53:36
trying to recruit the city as well.
53:38
You chose Immaculate exception in Montclair.
53:41
You know, just talk about the you said before that you'd like
53:44
to represent the city that you come from.
53:45
Talk about the Patterson angle, because you know, I'm sure you
53:49
had a lot of opportunities, not just, you know, your in your
53:52
college recruitment, but before high school too.
53:55
Why'd you choose Immaculate Exception and and maybe talk a
53:58
little bit about how it works? I'm being Patterson.
54:03
I'm being honest. I never, I didn't go to
54:05
Immaculate first. I went to Patterson's other
54:08
school for science and technology.
54:09
OK, Yeah, I transferred because the coach at Immaculate was my
54:16
is my AAU coach. So it was like it was more
54:19
convenient, like it was far further from the house.
54:23
But my AAU coach lived out, my head coach lived down the street
54:26
from my house. So it was nothing, but hey, I'm
54:30
outside and I just walk out and we go to school.
54:33
We go practice 87 in the morning.
54:37
The only hard part was being from Patterson and not playing
54:42
from a Patterson school. Yeah, that was the hardest part
54:45
for me because then it would be like, it would be like, oh,
54:49
you're not from the city, You're not representing the city or
54:52
where you come from. But in reality, I'm
54:55
representing, just not at the in the city.
55:00
Yeah, you're bringing that Patterson outside Patterson.
55:03
But yeah, I'll tell you, I used to cover the Passaic County
55:06
tournament when the semifinals were a doubleheader at Kennedy
55:11
was some of the greatest games, you know, back even when
55:13
Patterson Catholic was open. And then, you know, even when
55:17
Eastside had their great teams and, you know, Eastside Kennedy
55:21
was an amazing rivalry. And then they would always be
55:24
one of the suburban teams which would pop up, you know, like a
55:27
Wayne Valley or a Wayne Hills or even West Milford a couple years
55:30
had a good team, couple good teams under John Fink.
55:32
So you know that and was always at Kennedy, the big floor, the
55:36
big stands, and you had some good crowds in there too.
55:38
So I have, I have fond memories of covering Passaic County
55:41
basketball in Paterson. So that stuff was good.
55:44
All right, so let's talk about what you got coming up this
55:46
weekend, which is more important.
55:48
That's what's right in front of you.
55:49
I mean, what do we got to do up in Buffalo to be successful and
55:53
continue what has been, you know, the best season in school
55:56
history so far? All you got to do is keep
56:01
winning and keep playing defense.
56:02
Defense has been winning, winning us our games.
56:05
I feel like when we first started, we thought we couldn't
56:09
win unless we outscored the other teams, but and we really
56:13
buckled down in that full court price or our full court man to
56:17
man. It's really not.
56:18
Nobody could do with us. So I'll just say stay focused on
56:22
defense, stay in help and keep communicating to your teammates.
56:27
Awesome. What else you got, Brad?
56:28
Anything. You know, you know, Tay has has
56:33
a unique role so and he's being modest.
56:35
He's you know, Tay, he's been our 6th man.
56:38
He's been a spot starter for the last two years.
56:42
And you know, this year he was 13 mall conference and averaged,
56:49
you know, 14 points a game and has gone off for, you know,
56:54
multiple 20 point games. You know, Tay's like he's like
56:58
instant offense when he gets on the floor.
57:01
And you know, I would say for the first half of the year that
57:06
was like his his mentality. The the more interesting part
57:11
for me is that in his latter half of the year, the things I
57:16
knew he was capable of doing are starting the show through to,
57:21
you know, to bookend that offensive capabilities, which is
57:24
on the defensive end, which you know, he's now guarding at such
57:28
at a higher level than he was early on in his career.
57:32
And that's really cool to see for me because I saw a lot of
57:36
glimpses of that early in his career.
57:39
And now to see that it it takes us, it takes the program to a
57:42
different level. When you know everybody, you
57:44
know you can put anybody on the floor and and they'll get the
57:48
job done. Yeah, yeah, it.
57:52
Takes Is that? How is that?
57:53
How is that? How?
57:54
You feel today 100% OK, what are you?
58:01
What are you majoring in? Our business management at the
58:06
moment. Brad, you got a more going
58:08
business. These guys are all business.
58:10
They. We have a we explore for those
58:12
who for those who don't know, so so Felician Felician is is got
58:16
like 3 pillars. The first pillar being nursing.
58:20
We're Felician is definitely known for nursing in this
58:24
tri-state area, probably nationally.
58:26
We're definitely a very good nursing school, 2nd.
58:31
The second and third are probably very close with each
58:33
other, which is education and business.
58:36
We have very good education and business departments.
58:40
We have like a a real time Stock Exchange floor in one of our
58:44
buildings that they use in the business department.
58:46
But yeah, I mean, both of those departments are thriving and now
58:51
we're starting to get some, some more programs within the the
58:53
business department and some other programs are now starting
58:57
to, to catch up, criminal justice being one and, and some
58:59
other ones. But yeah, I mean, I, I think a
59:02
lot of kids that come here, business seems to be pretty
59:07
prevalent because most of these guys do have some ideations of,
59:12
of continuing their basketball prowesses when they graduate
59:17
here with their degree. And more importantly, I think
59:20
they need to know the business world and how it works from a
59:25
financial standpoint and from, you know, contractual
59:28
standpoint. Some of the things that they're
59:29
getting in classes that are going to help them when they
59:31
leave here. So they have a better grasp on
59:36
whatever their ideations are as far as once the basketballs
59:38
stops bouncing. So funny how education and
59:43
college athletics can work hand in hand to make better
59:48
individuals for this world. It's a novel concept, Brad, but
59:51
I think it's great. And I can't believe you didn't
59:54
put the number one pillar of Felician University is not
59:57
basketball. I don't know.
59:59
I mean, are you crazy? You've done, I mean athletics,
1:00:01
athletics across the board and Felician is becoming the the
1:00:04
number one pillar. But I think in the last, in the
1:00:07
last 3-4 years, I mean, baseball's won a regional title.
1:00:11
Our soccer team won a regional title and went to the was it
1:00:15
lost two, one in overtime to get to the final four.
1:00:21
They, you know, baseball, you know, year in a year I was very
1:00:24
competitive. I think track and field and
1:00:26
indoor track and field have got two or three banners as well
1:00:31
recently. Bowling won last year.
1:00:34
You know, softball is getting better and better every year,
1:00:37
and they're going to contend for a title this year.
1:00:39
Yeah. I mean, obviously, you know, our
1:00:41
basketball program is doing well.
1:00:42
The women just won the conference tournament right
1:00:45
after us. They won it at the buzzer.
1:00:48
So the women's basketball team is thriving as well.
1:00:50
So yeah, I mean, athletic, athletician is on the rise.
1:00:56
So I'm sure Tay gets to see it first hand.
1:01:00
It's pretty cool because you know, I, I would say 70% of the
1:01:06
student of the students that dorm on campus are probably
1:01:08
athletes and all kind of go through that same grind of, you
1:01:15
know, balancing their sport and education.
1:01:20
So it's a pretty cool, it's pretty cool to watch all the
1:01:23
kids interacting with each other and everybody's supporting each
1:01:25
other and they're all succeeding together.
1:01:28
It's cool that you know, you're in, you know, season to season,
1:01:31
you know, you're going to see all the different kids in
1:01:33
different sports at other, you know, kids sporting events
1:01:37
supporting them and Felician successes as a whole.
1:01:41
Wrestling, even wrestling, men's and women's wrestling and
1:01:44
nationally ranked wrestlers. We just sent 5 women to the NCAA
1:01:48
tournament in Iowa. So yeah, Felician athletics as a
1:01:52
whole is thriving and these guys I'm sure can can speak more
1:01:57
about it. But it's probably really cool to
1:01:59
see when campus is always buzzing for whatever we're in
1:02:03
Season 4 because everybody's doing so well.
1:02:06
I thought we were wrapping up, but that brings up a whole
1:02:08
nother Tavian talk about that is just being a part of.
1:02:12
Yeah, not just the history. Of the the the men's basketball
1:02:14
program at Felician. But you know what coach say and
1:02:17
all that stuff. I mean, this is like, you know,
1:02:19
the good old days are now at policing university.
1:02:22
I doubt how about being a part of it that energy on.
1:02:26
Campus, I mean, it feels good to be a winner.
1:02:28
Like you didn't win. We didn't get to go to the we
1:02:31
got my freshman year, didn't get to go to the playoffs.
1:02:34
No, no, no. We went and we got knocked the
1:02:36
first round. Sophomore year, we didn't even
1:02:38
make it. So the fact that my third year
1:02:41
we won the whole thing and still get to play more games, that's
1:02:44
just that. Just that just tells and shows
1:02:47
how hard all the players work, coaches, the students just to
1:02:53
support us. Everybody put in a bunch of time
1:02:56
just to make sure we are where we are.
1:02:59
If I'm going to take one thing away from this episode tonight,
1:03:01
one line, it's it's got to be. It feels good to be a winner
1:03:06
that that's all. So Tavion, thank you for joining
1:03:09
us here on THE ball game. Congratulations on what you've
1:03:11
accomplished so far. Good luck on what you got coming
1:03:14
up this weekend. And it was nice to get a chance
1:03:16
to talk to you. Nice to get a chance to meet you
1:03:18
and hopefully we can do this again down the road sometime.
1:03:22
Yes, Sir. Thank you.
1:03:24
That was awesome. Follow the leader.