Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: So kicking off tonight, Spurgeon College at Pollard Field House. Spurgeon, I think they were the ranked third or fourth last year. So they are a very good team. So are we.
And welcome back to an episode of in the Nest, the official athletics podcast of Emmaus University. I'm your co host Matthew Tomlinson, joined today by Landon Jacobus.
Hey Landon. Hey Coach T. How's it going?
[00:00:32] Speaker B: It's going good.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us. Yeah, Shane is on the road yet again. He is in Kentucky at the Ark Encounter for the Christian College fair that they host every single year. Fantastic event. There's usually anywhere from 1500 to 2500 people that attend that event to see all the different Christian colleges and universities that are approved by the by answers in Genesis based on their teaching of creation. And they get a whole week out of going to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. So Shane's on the road again. Hey Shane, Hope you enjoy it when you listen to this today.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: We miss you.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: We do miss you. But we have Landon. Landon.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Landon, you are a senior in the em department on the men's basketball team in case no one can see the men's basketball.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: New merch.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: New merch. Yeah, let's go. But Landon. Skyler, tell Shout out. Skyler, can you tell all of our fans including the festlers who are probably listening to this podcast right now, Shout out. Andy, Mary Allen, Ella Riley and oh yeah, Lauren.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So tell us a little about yourself. Yeah. Yeah. So like Coach T said, I'm a senior here at Emmaus.
Yeah, I am old but I'm going to be graduating. I'll technically be done in December but I'm taking one credit to play in the spring. So.
Yeah, I know. So much work. I'm going to be so swamped with homework.
But yeah, so I've been here at Emmaus for four years studying youth ministry, minoring in counseling.
Yeah, not too sure what I'm gonna do with that yet, but kind of hoping to look into full time ministry here in the future.
Whether that's camping or youth counseling.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Cause you're a big camp guy.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: I am a big camp guy.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: I've gone to camp my whole life and so I really have had a heart for that and been able to serve there during the summers. So it's been cool to like be able to play basketball and also still be able to spend my summers at camp. So that's been co. Except playing basketball on asphalt court to try and really tough is not fun.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: In the elements too.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: It's it's not worth it. It is worth it, but it's not at the same time, so.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Yeah. But yeah, I'm here and I'm grateful to be here and it's. I'm excited for season start. Started getting ready to get going and.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Today, tonight at 7pm Men's basketball starts their season. Let's go excited.
But yeah, super excited. Landon is one of our captains, second year being a captain on the men's basketball team. One of our leaders. Thank you for being our leader. Third year. Yeah man, three years.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: I know, I know I'm old. I need to get out of here.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: And so we're, yeah, we're super excited for the impact Landon's had on our program. Not just on the court, but off the court as well. Just leading our team, leading our guys, being, you know, having such a huge impact in the student body. Being an EM as it's one of the bigger departments and the fun department on campus. That's for sure. With all the fun field trips that you guys do, you know, going to different camps, getting that hands on experience. It's great. It's really great. It's also great did to be an Eagle. We got a lot to cover for you guys. We have coverage of the MCCCC conference tournaments landing for soccer and for volleyball. Looking ahead to regionals that's upcoming for both teams. Some promising things looking for them. Our final race for cross country before they go and dominate at nationals and then woo basketball right now right here. Cannot wait. But looking ahead, looking at recapping soccer. So soccer went down to Joplin, Missouri. We had the two seed like we talked about last week and our first matchup was against the three seed Manhattan Christian Thunder who we tied with last week or the last week of the regular season went into that game looking to go to the championship and great game 11 at halftime Carlos scored his goal after he told me he wasn't going to score a goal. So shout out Carlos for doing that. And then you know, Tucker had such a dominating game defensively.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: He's a dog.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: And it was late, fairly late in the second half when Jacob Davis. I know the game winning goal there.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Was no live stream and so I was like. When I saw that it was Los and Tay that scored the game winning goals, I was like what? Like no mats? Like what in the world are they? Do they get red cards or what happened? Like.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: But yeah, super exciting. And that was a huge win for the men to go to the championship game for a rematch against Barkley. We played Barkley. The last game of the regular season for the regular season championship, ended up tying and they had one less tie than we did. So they ended up getting it the regular season. And then this was for the conference champion. And man, they're a good team. They were ranked, what, second or third in the nation, something like that. They really good. Um, our guys just couldn't find. Couldn't quite find a knack on offense. Ended up losing 3, 0. So conference runner ups for both the regular season and the conference tournament. So nothing to be ashamed of. It's been a fantastic year for soccer. I mean, they're 10, 6 and 3.
They've had a really, really good year. And even looking at, you know, some awards that were handed out for soccer, I mean, Josh Matt, MVP of the mccc. So exciting. Jake Matt, his twin brother, got first team. Tucker, first team, best goal in the nation. Yes, sir. No cap. And then Bennett and Seth both were second team. And so it's pretty cool seeing five guys getting awards.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: Brought home a lot of hardware right there.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Did bring home a lot of hardware, so, you know, not what we wanted for the conference, but nothing to be ashamed of. Looking ahead at regionals, we have a massive, massive game in the first round for regionals. We go over to Grace University up in Michigan for Friday and we take on the home team, Grace, who's ranked third in the nation.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: How many teams are in that region? Six.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so Kuiper. It's Kuiper one, Emmaus two, Grace three.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: So no playing greatly.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Maranath. Oh, I guess Moody doesn't have a team, so there's five. And then Maranatha and Great Lakes had the playing game and Great Lakes won.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: Oh, they already played.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: So Great Lakes will take on Kuiper and then we play Grace to go to the championship. So it'll be really cool. Yeah, really good for a men's team to end their season to engrace a season on their home field.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: So, yeah, it's super exciting matchup, you know, a little bit of a revenge game from earlier in the season. And so we're super excited to watch the men play and see how they compete and how they, you know, ride kind of some positive momentum from this previous week. And like you said, you know, Matt's didn't score at all this last weekend, so I know they're itching to go off this upcoming weekend.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: I think. I think it's also exciting too because I think when they played Grace the last time, we were pretty. We had a lot of injuries.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: We, like.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: I think there's, like, three guys with concussions. Yeah. So I think that. I mean, we're going to have a fairly healthy lineup for. For that game. So I think that. I mean, you're going to have.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: I think Hunter should be back, too.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Yeah, Hunter should be back. I think.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: I don't think. I think. I don't think Evan played that weekend, so.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Yeah, but I. But I think that you're going to get a group of guys that are completely healthy, and you're going to have a full week of practice under their belt. So I think they're going to be ready to go.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: And this group, I mean, we've talked about, like, this group's hungry. Like, now is the time. It is now and more than ever. I mean, I would not want to play us right now because.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: No, I wouldn't either.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: No. We are a good team, and I'm excited to see how they perform because again, regionals is one and done. You lose and you're gone. And so basically, you know, we're playing to get to nationals, and we gotta win two games to get to Pensacola, Florida, to go to the national tournament, which would be, oh, so nice. In November.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Telling me you get to go to Florida in November.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: I know.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Like a great time.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: Oh, come on, man.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: Will we get to fly to that or not? We. But, like, would they get to fight that?
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Probably not. They'd probably take. I know. I mean.
[00:08:37] Speaker B: I mean, but maybe.
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Who knows? Maybe. No. No. Maybe if there's a soccer donor out there. You never know. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe. I guess. Well, because.
Well, I guess the. No, because the Dubuque Airport won't be. Won't be here yet.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: Dang it.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: So I think that comes mid November, but yeah. Anyway, exciting news for soccer. They have a huge opportunity to go out there and to, you know, show the rest of the comment. We, obviously, we ranked fifth earlier in the. Earlier in the. In the year, but to really show everyone, like, hey, now's the time.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Season ring can. Doesn't mean anything.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: Nope.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: It's all about how you finish.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: And so super exciting. I mean, like I said, we have the best goalie in the nation, so anything can happen through. Super exciting.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Got the MVP of the conference.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: MVP of the conference. Yeah. Maybe Foreshadowing first team All American.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: Maybe.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: We'll see. We'll see. Should be really excited. I mean, you never know. Maybe even MVP of the region.
We'll find out, but yeah. So great things for soccer. Now moving on to volleyball. Landon, not Quite the weekend. Yeah, we were anticipating.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: Not a great weekend for volleyball.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: We were the 2 seed hosting the MCCC conference. Our first round matchup was against Faith, who was the 3 seed. They had beaten, I think Central earlier in the day. Yeah, they did to get. Because we had the first round by. Because unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances, Barkley had to back out. And so it went from a 17 bracket to a 16 bracket. And so that gave us the buy instead of playing earlier in the day.
But Faith, Faith was very hungry team. They lost twice to us. We'd beaten them both times in the regular season, including the, the cup, the Insurance Lightwell cup, which we brought home. But I mean, yeah, they, it was a 7pm game and oh man, it was just, it was tough. Like we end up faith130.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: And we just basically shot ourselves in the foot of the 75 points that Faith had. We errored 44, 44 of those points. So like we scored more points for them than they did.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: Yeah, true.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Which shows like, I mean obviously this time of the year, like you can't have that, you can't have that. But like, I think it was a really good wake up call for this upcoming weekend because you know, anything can happen in tournament time. And we saw that. Yeah, if you don't show up, bad things are going to happen. And so I mean, and obviously like Faith really wanted this game because they don't want to lose to Emmaus for the third time this season.
So that was unfortunate. But then we ended up going on to the fourth place game. Third and fourth place game against Calvary and that was, that was a great matchup on last Saturday. Ended up going into five sets. Had a shot there in the fifth set to take it. Couldn't quite get there. And Calvary ended up winning in extra points.
[00:11:40] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: In the fifth set. Took that. So we finished fourth in the conference.
But I mean that was a great game on Saturday. It was a good bounce. Obviously this, obviously we lost unfortunately. But you know, Cal Faith ranked 8th, Calvary ranked 9th, US ranked 10th. So huge big two games for top 10 matchups.
But I think, I mean I think it really, it really motivated the girls that the ladies that, you know, you gotta show up and I think, you know, learning from that weekend, they're gonna show up this weekend, have full conference in them.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: You see this time and time again where teams, they, they lose kind of midseason towards end of season. And like sometimes that's just the wake up call you need to, to Put into high gear and to get ready to go for your regional or the games that are really going to matter, like conference, it's nice to win, but it's really just for conference.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: I mean, yeah, it's cool to have a banner, but yeah, but it's meaningless. But it's like not to have a.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: Regional banner and a national championship banner.
So.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: And like, as you know. Excuse me, like, you know, you do need that slap in the face sometimes. I mean, we kind of experienced that your freshman year.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: That is true.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: Where we kind of got. We more got beat in the face and then kind of woke up and then went on our eight game winning streak and then won the regional tournament and then went to nationals.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: True.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: But yeah, so not what we were hoping for. But knowing coach Hannah and coach Megan, coach Tasha, they're going to get this team ready for regionals, get them on the back on the right track physically, mentally and emotionally.
Some big awards for the, for the women this weekend. Selah had a man. What a year she's had. First team all conference. Kate, first team all conference. Michelle, second team all conference. Obviously. We also got regular season runner up and for the third season in a row, the sportsmanship award.
Good job MAS volleyball. So yeah, super, super exciting on that. But yeah. So looking ahead, we're the number one seed four regionals because soccer did head to head matchups, volleyball did power ratings.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Oh really?
[00:13:51] Speaker A: And we were number one in power ratings for our region.
Either way, we've been in one seed. So we, we travel to Maranatha Friday and we play the winner of Moody and Maranatha. And then. So which we've beaten both teams. Yep. Twice. Twice, three zero. And it'd be interesting to see because Maranatha just beat Moody at Maranatha.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: I know, I heard about that.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: So it'll be interesting to see that. So yeah, so we'll play winner of that game. Should take care of business. When that game, what time on Friday? Believe it's at 5:30.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: I think that's what coach Megan said. And then win that game, go on to the championship. That would be against the winner of Great Lakes and Grace.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: So it should be, I mean it should be good. Should be good games. Yeah, we should take care of business.
We should. We will. Yeah. But we should. And so I'm excited to see, you know, how they perform. Yes. That wake up call happened. Got it out of the way. Now is the time. Now is the time.
[00:14:50] Speaker B: Landon, ready to go?
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Ready to go. I'm like, unfortunately I'm Like, I wish. I know.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: I wish. I wish we could go to that game this weekend. Because it's like, I mean, you could.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: Go to the Friday game.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: I could, but Coach Parker scheduled me to work.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: You could ask him, be like, I'm gonna go watch my fiance.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: I could.
[00:15:09] Speaker A: You could do that.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: I'll probably be like, no.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah, no, you gotta watch the Trinity Spurgeon. Yeah, I guess that's a two. But yeah. So really exciting for the Emmaus women's volleyball team with this opportunity that they have. They should be able to take it, but this opportunity they have to go and win regionals. Be super exciting. Also, speaking of that shout out, Kevin and Vicky ran with that hilarious video they did on the women's volleyball page. If you haven't seen it, go to the Instagram page for the Mayus women's volleyball and go look at the video that Kevin, Caitlyn picked up some new.
[00:15:43] Speaker B: Players for this week. They're ready to go.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: I was laughing.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: They're giving that extra spark that this team needs.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: Right.
Hey, don't, don't sleep on Kevin. You know, he's a. I mean, he's got. He's got some records at Judson for basketball.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: He's got one swing in him and he needs that in real quick. He's like, oh, my shoulder. Family.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: I guess it does, right? But yeah, so super exciting for Emmaus women's volleyball. Also, final regular season race of the year for cross country.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:16:10] Speaker A: They go race on Friday up at Luther College at their race up there. So it'll be, you know, after last race, it was against all our level runners. This race is gonna have D3s and some NEIs at that race. So a good final race before nationals next week. So I'm excited to see how they, how they approach this if they're gonna, like. I wonder what the tactics are going to be like. Is it going to be all out, get your time up, or is it going to be basically a prep race for the national race? Which. Man, I'm so excited because where's nationals? I'm gonna surprise a lot of people. I'd say it's at Grace College.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: In. Somewhere in Indiana.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: Because it's. Grace and Bethel are hosting D1 and D2 at a, like, state race course or something like that. Oh, yeah. So this is the second. I think this is the second year, either the second or third year that they've had the race there.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: Something like that. Yeah.
[00:17:01] Speaker A: I think it's the second year because last year was last year, they got a feel for it. I think Coach Girardi said that the race course is going to be slightly different. It's still gonna be in the same spot, but maybe a little different route than it was last year.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:15] Speaker A: And so it's interesting because he was saying, like, they don't show you. They don't let you see the race course because it's, like, a surprise for the day of. Oh, so you can't see it the day before.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: Wait, you can't see it the day.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: Before because it's a surprise or something like that. I was like, that's interesting.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I mean, are you still able to, like, walk the course before.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Yeah, before you are. Yeah, you just can't, like, walk at the day before and be like, all right.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Planning out where you need to kick in high. Yeah. Where you can conserve your energy kind of thing. Yeah.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So, I mean, obviously, all men's and women's runners have qualified for. Oh, yeah.
Nationals team time. So it'd be. It'll be cool to see anyone on that. You know, just on the cusp of qualifying, you know, individual. Just get their time up to then. Get our team score up to then. Yeah, just get ready for that because. And also remember, we'll talk about this next episode, but for Nationals, it's not about time. It's about where you finish.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Really?
[00:18:13] Speaker A: You could have.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: Oh, you're saying for, like, team.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: For team places.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: Okay, that's huge then for us.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Because like, we talked last week for our. For our men runners, 1, 2, 5. The gap is like, three and a half minutes.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:18:25] Speaker A: Which is like, one of the closest gaps in the country at our level.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Wait, how many. How many teams are competing at this for.
[00:18:34] Speaker A: I mean, I want. However many have qualified. I think last year, like, nine, eight qualified, team wise.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: Okay. Okay.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: Because it goes back the whole thing of the race that we hosted. Like, if Faith had their fifth runner, team wise, we would have beaten Crown.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: Oh, really? I didn't know that.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: Because they don't count individual runners for team time. So, like, they have 1, 2, and 3. 1, 2, 3, 4. Like, 1 and 2 are on a team. And, like, the num. Third place. They say their school only had three runners. That doesn't count. The fourth place, if it's a team time, goes to the third place. So it's interesting how that works out. That is odd.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: But, yeah, so that's so exciting. Looking ahead, that's. I think race time is at 3, 15 and 4.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: And I Think I can't remember if the women are running first or if the men are running first, but should be exciting for cross country. As you know, fall sports is coming to a close. It's been a great, crazy season for all three teams.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: And it's been, it's been, man, it's been really exciting. Like, it's been nice to see. Like, obviously, you know, we have been through the dog years of. Of athletics, but it's been really, it's been really cool and really encouraging just to see the success that, you know, I mean, soccer's had, volleyball's had, and both cross country teams have had.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: If you looked at four years ago, it's a completely different. I mean, cross country, it wasn't a thing really four years ago, but, like, you know, you got volleyball completely turning around from. What was that two years ago, three years ago?
[00:20:01] Speaker A: I mean, they're at, what, they're seven. They're 17. Seven this year. And that's more wins than the last four seasons combined.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: True. Yeah. That's wild. Same as soccer, too. And, like, having, like, a full, healthy roster and being able to utilize bench players. Like.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: It's not like we have people coming off the bench where it's like, like, you know, you're questioning, you're questioning what you're going to get in return, but, like, it's like you got guys coming in that are competing for those starting spots that could start at other schools, which is exciting. Yeah. Which is really cool to see. And, like, they're going out and competing with really good teams, too. Like, I mean, you're competing with D3 ripping.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: Like, yeah, like a 2, 0 loss to ripping. That still. Like, I'm still blown away by that.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: I still remember the. I. I was. I worked the live stats for soccer, and I went up to the. The coach at halftime and I was like, hey, coach, like, who your starter is going to be for second half? He's like, I have no clue I'm going to even play at this point. I was just like, oh, my goodness. Like, I didn't know we had him. Like, I didn't know Adam that ticked off. But, like, they're. They're doing something right if they're making those teams work for those teams, you.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: Know, like, they think they're just going to waltz in and, you know, walk all over us and it's like, nope, nope, not happening this year.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: True.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: And, yeah. So it's, yeah, super exciting. I mean, like I said, it's just been really encouraging and really awesome. To see how fall sports have been doing and excited to see how they finish out because job's not done. Job's not done. There's still a lot of time left. Even though it's coming to a close. Still a lot of time left to, you know, set the standard, set the bar.
Maybe hang a man or two. We'll see. We'll see. We shall see.
[00:21:31] Speaker B: Maybe take a trip to Florida.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Maybe take a trip to Florida or Job or Joplin, because one. One team's gonna grace. So going to Indiana. So true. We'll see. In two years, we already got one where the new volleyball Nationals is at.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: What do you think it's gonna be at?
[00:21:47] Speaker A: I don't know. Hope it goes back to Bob Jones in South Carolina.
[00:21:50] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. I mean, going to South Carolina in November. Heck, yeah.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: I like, depending on what we do, like, we'd go to Northern Minneapolis in March and March.
Not ideal, but it's still great. But yeah. So fall sports, what a year fall sports has had. It's been amazing.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: But with the ending of fall sports comes the beginning of winter sports. Men's and women's basketball is right around the corner.
Men's basketball, we play in depending. When you're watching this, you know, the episode drops at 9:00am Game time's at 7:00pm so. But, yeah, Landon, it's been. Been a journey for you. You're a senior. It's been quite. It's been quite a wild four years. But, man, tell me about how your hype for this season.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: Oh, I'm so excited. I really am. I think that it's been weird because, like, we started later than we normally.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Two weeks later. So what Coach Parker said we had 15, 14.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: 14 or 15 practices.
But it's weird because it's like the least amount of preparation that we've had, but it's like the most prepared that I feel like I've been. Right, you know, like, it's been good to have a consistent number of guys at practice that aren't. I mean, that aren't injured for an.
[00:23:13] Speaker A: Extended period of time.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: But, like, it's been good. Like, I'm really excited. Like, I mean, we're going to have a top. Like, it's not an easy weekend. Like Spurgeon Trinity, two very good teams. Like, even though Spurgeon just lost last night, like, or two nights ago, but, like, they're still a really good team. Like, they get up and down. And I think it's going to be a really good challenge for us to see kind of where we're at and what we need to work on, like, win or lose, like, we're going to figure out where we're at as a team right away. And I think that, like, that's super encouraging to figure out.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: What. What kind of team we can be. Game one.
[00:23:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: You know, so.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: And it's nice because, like, to start the season off, like, like you said, like, we start, like, we're late. We're kind of late to the party as far as practices and games. But, like, with that, though, like, you know, it's like, game, game, game. Like, we have a lot of. I mean, we have, like, 10 games in the next, like, month. I mean, we have what we'll see.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: If my legs can.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: Yeah. We have six games before Thanksgiving. We have six games in two weeks. And so, like, oh, snap. We're gonna have. No, we have seven games in two weeks. And so, like, we're gonna. It's gonna be like, it's me. Rapid fire. So it's like we have. We have to, you know, get better each game. We can learn each game.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: But, like, it's exciting because, like, we can. We can get this. We can fix things on the fly. And we're going to. And so. Yeah. So kicking off tonight, Spurgeon College, Pollard Field House. Spurgeon, I think they were the ranked third or fourth last year, so they are very good team. So are we very good team. We are. So we play Spurgeon tonight, Thursday, looking ahead. Then we play Trinity on Saturday. Another very good team, like Landon said. But it's exciting because we're going to compete well with them. I think we match up very well against Trinity. I'm excited to see, you know, our guard duo face their guard duo. And so it should be a fun matchup to watch for that.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: When he's talking about guard duo, he's not talking about me. He's not talking about me.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: No. You're going to lock people up, though.
[00:25:07] Speaker B: I'm just the sidekick.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: And then looking ahead to next Tuesday, we go and do our favorite trip to Moody Babylon to do in Chicago to go play our rivals from Illinois when we were there. Women's basketball, they kick off the weekend as well. They have a double header. So they play Trinity back to back days. They play Trinity on Friday tomorrow, and then they play Trinity again on Saturday.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: I've never been a fan of that.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: I know.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: To be honest with, I. I get it. Like, you want to get games in, but it's just like, you played this team last Night.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Right. And then you play again. Yeah. It's like I was looking at someone's schedule. I think it was. I don't know if it was Oak Hills or who it was, but. Or no, it's Providence. They play every team they play. They play in back to back days.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: I couldn't do that.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: That's wild. But yeah, it's like you want to games in.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: But we did that last year. It's like. Okay, well, I like, we can't really guys again. Yeah, it's like we can't really prep to.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: To figure out what we need to do differently because we turn around eight hours and playing you again.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: So.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: So yeah, they playing back to back days and the next Tuesday they travel to Mount Mary. So I'm excited to see. Is that Milwaukee somewhere in there? It's the all girls Catholic school.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: And so I think it's somewhere. It's in the Milwaukee area. So. Yeah, I'm excited to watch the, the women play under first year head coach Cody Kennard to see how he's going to. Obviously this year is going to be a big rebuilding year for him.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: But he's been, you know, he's been hard on the recruiting trail. It's been cool to see. That's awesome. You know, all the connections he's been making there. But yeah, excited to see how he starts building the cornerstones of this program for the future. Um, but man, like I said, it's exciting. It's exciting. Like I can't wait to watch our team play. Obviously we've had two scrimmages, so we've had a little taste of what we can do. We've been practicing like crazy getting ready for this weekend. But I, I mean, Landon, it's, it's. I think it's gonna be an exciting year for us.
[00:26:55] Speaker B: Yeah, no, no doubt. I'm ready for it. I think that they always say save the best for last, you know, so gotta go out with a bang.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: Yep. And so. Yeah. So starting tomorrow, ptm. Protect the nest. We kick off the season tomorrow.
Lots of great things. I'm excited because this is coach Parker's third year at the program. So like usually they say the third year is the year when you're established, you have your team, you have your players that you brought in. Your system should be at its finest.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: And so he has almost all.
[00:27:26] Speaker A: He has almost all his players. Yeah, a few left. Yeah. Proud of you and appreciate you and Nash for sticking it out, you know, sticking with the program. These years obviously gone through quite a lot of change in the last, you know, since I've been playing, but, like, even these last four years have been, you know, all over the place. But, you know, guys like you that, you know, stick through it. Like, we always talk about how. Like, last week, we talked about how Emma and Lauren kind of came in at a very tough time with volleyball.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: And it was hard.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Had to live through it, too.
[00:27:57] Speaker A: And it stank.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: But they stuck through it, and they laid the foundation for years to come. And just, like, seeing that, like, you know, in the moment, it's like, this is tough. I don't know if I want to do this. But then, you know, you stick it out with a great attitude, which they both did.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: And literally, their core pieces that. I mean, they basically built this program with Coach Hannah for the direction that it's going.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:22] Speaker A: And that's what you, Nash, did with, you know, sticking through it. Like, you guys have implemented both of your captains. Like, you keep these guys accountable. You keep them, you know, motivated in the right direction. And you guys are the two guys that have helped, you know, keep our program going in the direction that we wanted to go.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: And I appreciate how it's kind of funny, but, like, me and Nash are very complete opposites. And, like, we've talked with Coach Barker about this of just, like, how. How different leadership styles that we both have. Like, I'm not somebody that can just kind of go up to somebody and call them out what they're doing wrong. Like, Nash is perfect at that. He can just.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: What he's going to do when he sees that you're on the episode and he hasn't been on.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: Yeah, for real.
He's gonna give me a hard time.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: But, like, me hard time.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: Yeah, true. He's gonna give you.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: But, yeah, it's like, basically, you guys complimenting each other in that role where.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: You know, and we're pushing each other to be better at those areas that we're not necessarily good at. So it's been cool to, like, see, like, myself. Like, Nash gives me situations. So, like, he'd be like, hey, go tell this person that he's doing something wrong. Like, you need to, like, hold him accountable in this area, you know, and then I'll be like, all right, Nash, go do the laundry. Like, you know, or, like, hey, Nash, like, you know, xyz. But, like, it's been cool to, like, see how. How even he's grown in that. Of that he's been. Been able to take it on Headfirst and like being accepting of it.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: And wanting to learn and how to do better at this.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: It's so, it's so great. And like I always, I, I talk about this a fair amount. Like I love like on Senior Chapel, like seeing each person walk across the stage and being like seeing I know who you were when you were freshman and just seeing your growth and with you two, just seeing your growth from freshman year has just been truly amazing. Like, it honestly has. I'm not just saying because you're on this podcast, but like it's so true. Like you and Nash have grown so much as people as young men who are both gonna get married soon. Ish.
And leaders on this team. And so it's just been. Yeah, I'm just, I'm just so encouraged by you two and just, you know, your guys stance and how you've, you've, you've stuck it out. You've been leaders on this team. You've been, you know, making a difference. And so, you know, that's the direction our program is going to go is because of you guys doing that. And so I'm very excited for this year. I think, man, it's going to be so fun. I don't want to get too excited because I never get excited and I'm not an excited person, but it's going to be a great year. It's going to be a great year. Yeah, it is going to be a great year. But yes, remember guys, follow all of our social medias, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, whatever else you use. YouTube. All our games are going to be live streamed on YouTube this year. For home games, follow our men's basketball pages on Instagram and Twitter to keep an eye on our away games and where those live streams will be. But we appreciate the support, the love.
New. Our new Emmaus University merchandise store should be out in the next couple weeks so you can get your new team gear there or school gear there, which we're super excited about.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: University gear.
[00:31:20] Speaker A: University gear. Ah, yeah. But yeah, we appreciate all the support and all the love. It means so much to us and Landon.
What day is it, Landon?
[00:31:32] Speaker B: It's Wednesday.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: It's a great day to be an Eagle pcn.
