Rocky : 0:01

Today I get the chance to talk to one of the best shooters in New York State, one of the best scorers in New York State. I'll talk to VVS grad Siena grad Scott Knapp, who was just inducted into the Siena Basketball Siena Athletic Hall of Fame a few weeks ago, and then at the bottom of the hour we'll get a chance to talk to the Lady Jugglers, notre Dame's head basketball coach, john Snyder. John joined us last year. I'm excited to talk to him again here this morning as his team chases yet another Section 3 title and a New York State championship and more here this morning. On talk to Scotty Knapp, I played basketball with Scott Scott's a year older than I am. He was at DBS and I was at RFA. We played Fran Allison Youth Basketball together, so I've known Scott for a long time and I haven't caught up with Scott in a while. So I'm excited to talk to him in just a little bit. He was inducted into the Siena Athletic Hall of Fame just last week, last week and then we'll talk to him about his career one of the best careers, one of the best shooters, I'll say, in New York State. He still ranks all time in a lot of categories. So we'll talk to Scott here, his dad, coach Knapp, one of the winningest coaches in this area. They go into Hall of Fame together, which is pretty cool. And then I'll talk to Coach Snyder who, if you remember, last year when I talked to Coach Snyder, I was joking with him saying I need a spot on that staff because he is loaded with talent, and I looked through that roster again this year. They're all young, they're all back again next year. So the Notre Dame Lady Jugglers program is in really good hands with Coach Snyder. I love talking with him. I wish I could talk to him a little bit more than a couple times a year, but we'll talk to him at the bottom of the hour.

Rocky : 2:08

If you got any comments, questions for either guest you want to say hi to me this morning, put it in the comment box. If you're following me on YouTube, twitter, linkedin, spotify, wherever you're following me across your social media platforms, I always put some comments in there. Next week on the show, I'll let you know who the next guest is on the weekly huddle, but I'm going to start to take call-ins, so some of you that are at home and maybe want to call in. Like the radio show at WKAL. We're doing it over there. We'll have the opportunity to do that. So I'll put a call-in number up next week and probably for all shows going forward. So I'm excited for that. So I'll put a call-in number up next week and probably for all shows going forward. So I'm excited for that.

Rocky : 2:49

I was at the UC hockey game last night. The men's, my wife and I, the kids they love going to the games, we've been at a lot of those games and man, they came out firing on all cylinders last night. We left with about 10 minutes to go in the third period. It was 7-0 over Chatham and they left with about 10 minutes to go in the third period. It was 7-0 over Chatham and they ended up winning 9-0, which will set up the championship showdown the following weekend Right at the odd. They'll take on Geneseo who. They beat Geneseo once they lost to Geneseo. They tied to Geneseo, so definitely the two best teams in that conference and I would assume that both teams will punch their ticket to the Division III NCAA tournament here when that gets announced. It was great hockey last night. Always a great environment at the? O. When I talk to Coach Ean, I always talk about the same thing, that home ice. They're really good at home. The women I saw are in the championship as well, so congratulations to them.

Rocky : 3:44

Big week for Rome sports. Arfe Hockey will be playing for the Section 3 title on Monday, as they will be playing at the Memorial in Syracuse against West Jenny. That's the one they've got to get over the hump. They've played them good twice over the last few years. Of course the controversy will go last year and then add it again this year, so hopefully RFA will have a good crowd here, if it's. You know, monday night at the War Memorial there is a student bus, sectional bus going spectator bus on Monday and then on Tuesday my buddy co-host of the show and then on Tuesday my buddy co-host of the show, coach Medesis, will be playing in the semifinals against a really good Liverpool team who they beat earlier in the year.

Rocky : 4:33

They beat them the first game of the year. I think it was by 5, 75, 70. But the atmosphere this past week for the Rome-Proctor game and I told Coach Medesis this I've watched RFA basketball for well over 20, 25 years and that gym at RFA was standing room only. You could not get a seat in that gym. There were people that couldn't even get in the doorway to that gym and of course it was Utica-Rome, which is always a big rivalry game. But he has a really good team. They're fun to watch. They're undefeated, playing really good basketball. They'll play against the Liverpool team, who I think has played really good basketball here down the stretch. I think the last month of the season they played really well and I know Coach would echo the same thing. At this point forward you're going to have to play.

Rocky : 5:21

Liverpool and the winner of that game gets a really good CNS team who many think that it's our fane, cns. But you've got to get there. Cns is going to play Bishop Ludden, who is another really good team. So the four left, they're all good and you've got to play really good to beat them You've got to go game by game but hopefully the Romans will travel well on Monday night and Tuesday night the boys are playing at 5 o'clock basketball on Tuesday night that game is at MVCC, the Jorgensen Center in Utica. So let's get out there. There is a spectator bus that is going on Tuesday, so hopefully we can pack that gym in black and orange and cheer home both black Knights the hockey team to a section three title, the boys to a section of three, final birth. It would be the first sectional title for Rome in a long time. So best of luck to to both teams. It's hard to believe we're in March already.

Rocky : 6:21

Bob says thanks for supporting Rome sports spectator bus. You got it. I'm happy to do it. I did say and I don't toot my horn, but Bernie Bus did I did donate both buses to sports teams free of charge, on half of Bernie Bus and myself. So no problem at all, happy to do it. Once a Rome Black Knight, always a Black Knight. So we'll talk to Scotty Knapp here in a little bit.

Rocky : 6:46

And I had to go through some of the record books and I remember going to VVS and watching Scott Knapp play and I forget who it was against and Coach Baldwin said it the other night at the RFA game I was sitting behind him when they played Ryan Artas and Coach Knapp always scheduled some really good games and I just remember that it was so packed and it reminded me of going to watch Coach A and Brian when they were at New York Mills, when it was like the best show in town, like it was the hardest ticket to get into the gym, like the line to get in was like all the way out the door to get in, so it was a crazy environment which was unbelievable for a high school basketball game. And I just remember going to watch Scott play and man, I'll tell you what I know there's Joe Girard who's the all-time leading scorer in New York State. But before Joe Girard there was Scotty Knapp and Scott Knapp used to pull up from all over the gym. He was so fun to watch play.

Rocky : 7:49

And I remember at RFI I think I was just a ninth grader, 10th grader and we got a chance to play against Scott and man. I'll tell you why. It was lights out watching him play Fun to watch. His dad was a heck of a coach and they were always fun to watch. But I just remember trying to get into any of those games was like so hard. If you didn't get it there, I'm telling you, an hour, two hours before game time you didn't get a seat in that gym either and, like I said, it was very similar to going to watch coach 80 play when they were playing at New York Mills. You know the small Beekman gym, if you didn't get there early early for his games.

Rocky : 8:29

You didn't get a seat. You were standing out in the hallway, not even in the gym, and just kind of listening and hoping you'd get a score. Hopefully somebody will leave so you can go in and watch that game. So I'm excited to talk to Scott, catch up a little bit, talk about some of the old days of playing at Frank Allison Basketball and more seeing what he's up to nowadays Great honor to be inducted into the Siena Athletic Hall of Fame. I'll get his thoughts on the new man in charge for Siena, jerry McNamara, who's done a fantastic job in year one at Siena turning around that program, and get his thoughts on how long he thinks GMAC will be there. Some people think that when Coach Autry at Syracuse, maybe his time comes to an end, and I think people have to be patient with Coach Autry too. But we'll talk to Scott about that and much more. So let me bring Scotty on. Scott, what's happening, buddy? Hey, how's it going Rocky? How are you? I'm doing fantastic. How are you this morning?

Scott Knapp: 9:28

Doing great, doing great. It's a little cold up here in Albany, but here we have a lot less snow than you guys got this year, so we're just seeing the last bit melt here in this nice warm weekend we're experiencing.

Rocky : 9:42

No, that's, I get it. We have been hammered with snow here, and one thing that's been really really crazy for me is I had some snow come off the roof and of course some of my roof kind of busted off. So it's been a rough winter for the Corigliano family.

Scott Knapp: 10:00

Well, hopefully the light is at the end of the tunnel here and we can see it.

Rocky : 10:04

So, scott, listen man, I appreciate you coming on. I was just telling the audience here listening in this morning that I remember when you were in high school playing for your dad and I said coming to watch you guys play reminded me of going to watch Coach 80's games at New York Mills, that if you didn't get there early you didn't get a seat to come watch you guys play and you guys were like the hottest ticket in town. Here's a Rome guy coming out to watch you guys play at VVS. But talk to us a little bit about, of course, the VVS day. Get a chance to play for Dad.

Scott Knapp: 10:36

I mean it was an amazing experience, one I probably took for granted at the time. But just the support of the community, you know it was always great to see. You know we would have Hamilton College players coming to the games and it was really like the place to be. Like you said, I remember one game. My uncle who lived in Sequoia he got there a little bit late and there was no more tickets available, so he actually threw a 20 up against the door and I think one of the workers at the school opened the door and let him in, so luckily he was able to see it.

Scott Knapp: 11:09

But playing for my dad, I mean it was a great experience. He was hard on me, as anyone who watched the games knew. Anybody who knew me in my younger days knew he was tough on me and I think it was because he saw a lot of potential in me and didn't want it to go to waste. And it was really hard at the time. You know, to be yelled at and to be, you know, to feel like I was being singled out for things that maybe he wasn't singling out other people on the team or in the program for. But at the end of the day, we were always able to go home and eat dinner together and and leave that on the court and and still have that father son relationship, which I really appreciated as well.

Rocky : 11:46

Yeah, relationship which I really appreciated as well. Yeah, and I can really a little bit of that. I didn't get a chance to play for my dad, but my dad coached a lot of other sports and coming home at the dinner table I remember mom had to kind of get in the middle of us a few times and some heated arguments, but it was always they were good arguments, I'll say, but I know it's a special relationship you have with dad and all that. So the other thing I wanted to talk to you about I got to go back a little further to when we were really younger, getting a chance to play some Frey Nelson basketball and, you know, getting a chance to play for a man, for Joe Ryan and those guys back in the day. Do you remember those days? I?

Scott Knapp: 12:23

I do.

Scott Knapp: 12:23

My first experience was actually playing for steve evans.

Scott Knapp: 12:26

Um, my first year steve evans was my coach, and then it all came full circle when he was an assistant coach at sienna recruiting me and it was actually a big reason why I ended up going to sienna was because of that relationship that not only my father had with with his father, obviously another great coach in the area. But, uh, but steve was just a young, young kid at that time, probably the first team he had ever coached and uh, you know, and getting to play in that rome program was always special for me, coming from a much smaller place at the time I lived in brookfield where I had 13 kids in my entire grade um, so to get to play in a program like, like the one that rome had built under, uh, you know, mr Ryan and all the others, it was really special. And then it came full circle again Johnny Mestrangelo, who's, I think, a classmate of yours. He was one of my roommates at college at Siena as well. So a very tangled web between myself and that Rome community as well.

Rocky : 13:20

So, scott, take us through the recruiting process for you and you know in high school, like I said, in my eyes still one of the best shooters and scorers to come out of New York State, and we'll get in. You still got some of the records. You're still up there in a lot, of, a lot of categories. I was just talking about Joe Girard. I said before Joe Girard there was Scott Knapp. So let's talk about the recruiting process for you. How did Sienna come into play?

Scott Knapp: 13:43

talk about the recruiting process for you. How did Siena come into play? Yeah, I mean, for me it was. It all happened very quickly. I didn't have any Division I offers my junior year of high school. Le Moyne was the only school to offer me a full scholarship.

Scott Knapp: 13:55

That year I took a visit my junior year right at the end of the season and you know I really liked it. You know my goal was to not have to pay for college. If I could play somewhere and get to pay for college through my athletic abilities, that was really the goal. At that point I felt really good that I had accomplished my goal. Then I went to five-star camp that summer and ended up getting the MVP of the camp. I had 15 offers on my answering machine when I got home, which was, you know, very exciting for a kid like me. You know, all I wanted to do was play ball and I wanted to, you know, do the best I could and you know, to get recognized in that way was awesome.

Scott Knapp: 14:34

But then the hard work really came, because now I had to, like, figure out, well, which school is it going to be, you know, and I looked at all of them. I had good enough grades and I had a pretty strong SAT score. So the IB schools were a consideration. I did visit Yale and Cornell. West Point was an option potentially, but it really whittled down to Davidson, siena, iona, canisius, so really a lot of those schools in the Northeast. But I had a relationship with some of the folks at Davidson so so that was a school that was in the mix as well.

Scott Knapp: 15:08

Also a very good academic going to a school like Siena where they had really really good amount of success in those few years before I got there. But they had the pieces in place. They had guys who eventually I think that class in front of me had two 1,300 point scorers and then Marcus Faison who had well over 1,500 when it was all said and done. So we had this core that I knew we would win. I wasn't going to be a good loser. I couldn't be the one to go to a weak team and try to put up a ton of stats.

Scott Knapp: 15:41

I wanted to be on a winning team where I had a chance to go to the NCAA tournament, and I felt Siena gave me that and also it gave me a place where I felt very comfortable personally, socially. I got along well with the guys when I was on my visits. The assistant coaches were great. As I mentioned, steve Evans was on the staff, but it also allowed my dad to be very close. He came to pretty much every home game. Joel Walpole was his assistant coach. They'd have practice right after school and then Joe would drive down the highway to get my dad there on time. It was a special thing. Also, most people don't know my grandparents actually lived in Little.

Scott Knapp: 16:16

Falls, so I was very fortunate to get to see my grandparents every week while in school as well, which was the experience like playing for Paul Hewitt, and he had so much success in his entire coaching career um, what was it like to play for him and then get a chance to play for Louis, or?

Scott Knapp: 16:47

yeah, I mean two very different coaches, two very different styles. Both, uh, I thought, were very, very um, you know, they both worked. At the end of the day we won a lot of games under both systems. But Paul had to come in and really he had to change the culture of the program. Like I said, they hadn't had a whole lot of winning years and he kind of came in to change the status quo. You know, he had to take a couple of guys that were on the team and say look like, I don't think it's good for you to come back, you to come back. You know, and that's a tough conversation to have with with some guys, but you know, he knew, I think, what.

Scott Knapp: 17:18

What I knew was that we had this good core, um, and you know, and he, he gave us enough rain to go out and do what we did. You know, he didn't try to harness and try to force his system on us. He, he saw that we had a lot of ability to press. You know, we had a lot of athletic ability. Outside of myself, I wasn't the best athlete, but you know he gave me the green light and you know, and that came with responsibility and accountability to make sure that I was putting in the work to be, you know, worthy of that green light.

Scott Knapp: 17:46

So, you know, I think, paul, you know, I think the way he played and allowed us to play, you know, was really conducive to the style of the talent that we had on the team Lewis. You know what was really conducive to the style of the talent that we had on the team Lewis. You know, when he came in, you know it was a little bit different situation. Right, paul had just left on a high note getting the Georgia Tech job, had a lot of good players still in the program and, and Louis had to just come in and really just keep things going the way they were, even though we were picked seventh preseason in the MAAC. We all were shaking our heads at that, but we ended up finishing tied for first at the end of the regular season. So Louie came in and did what he needed to do. We got to the 20-win threshold under Louie and just a real gentleman both of them. Really I couldn't say nicer things about either one of them.

Rocky : 18:30

And I feel like when you look at the coaches, fran McCaffrey, another big name that's come out of there, has had a lot of success. There was John Griffin. That was, I think, the late 80s at Siena. Now in comes G-Mac from Syracuse, with all the expectations coming in. He's done a great job in year one. Do you think he'll be around long, scott, or is this a stepping stone for him to maybe? I don't want to say a lot of Syracuse fans are saying you know, coach Autry hasn't had the year that he's had and we don't know how long. You know what the university will do with him, but how long is he going to be in Siena? Because some don't think too long.

Scott Knapp: 19:09

Well, the history would show that he won't be here long. Just based on the way Siena and the way things go at Siena, really, I mean it's either a feast or famine situation. At least, if you're looking at the history, I don't think we've had a coach there for longer than five years since Mike Dean. So you know, I don't know if, if that's a precursor to anything, hopefully it'll end up positively. I think Jerry, like you said, is doing a great job to anything. Hopefully it'll end up positively. I think Jerry, like you said, is doing a great job. But you know, I think in the mid-major environment, you know, if you do really well in that environment, the schools are going to come calling. And a guy like Jerry, with his name and his reputation as a player and now as a coach, you know, I think he has nothing but a bright future in front of him as a coach.

Scott Knapp: 19:52

I've watched many of the games. I pretty much watch every game of him as a coach. I've watched many of the games. I pretty much watch every game either on TV or in my season tickets and I think he's built a nice team, considering the situation he walked into, where essentially I think they only have like two or three guys that are back from last year's team, one of them that's playing meaningful minutes right now. So he pretty much brought in a whole new roster, and a very talented one.

Scott Knapp: 20:15

You look at, a kid like Gavin Doty out of Fulton, I mean he's probably going to be the rookie of the year in the MAAC and he was 17, I think, until December of last year, so he's a very young freshman as well, and what Jerry's been able to do to get him to the point where you know he's delivering big minutes for them. They've dealt with a lot of injuries this year and I think they're going to be a team that nobody's going to face in the MAAC tournament once it comes, because they're starting to get healthy and they're starting to really gel as a team, which is tough when you have that many people coming in for the first time, having never played with each other before this season.

Rocky : 20:51

So, Scott, talk to us about the year you guys go to the NCAA tournament. I think you guys were in as a 13th seed and you ran into a really good Arkansas team and Coach Richardson. In the 40 minutes of hell you guys played them well. I think it was like 94-80 or 94-82 high-scoring game. What was it like first to play in the NCAA tournament and then, let alone get into the NCAA tournament and play against a coach like Nolan Richardson?

Scott Knapp: 21:20

Yeah, the 40 minutes of hell is real. I can tell you from firsthand experience it's not an easy thing to play against. I think we had a couple of things working against us in that environment. We were still very young I was a sophomore, you know most of our best players were juniors still and and Dick Vitale and some of these other folks picked us to win, like on these shows, and that was like the worst thing that could have happened for us because we really needed to sneak up on somebody. And when Nolan Richardson heard that you know we had been picked by some of these people that that he probably respects very highly, I heard a quote where he said I don't even need to do a scouting report this game. My team's so fired up that they're going to come out and be ready to play. And I was the sixth man that year.

Scott Knapp: 22:06

I did start 15 games due to an injury earlier in the year, but I was really the sixth man and I think we were down 15 or 12 when I got in the game. Like they came out and they jumped on us really quick. We did get it down to nine in the second half and started to make some headway, but you know that was just a really tough game for us. I actually got injured in that game, had surgery about a month later. Derek Hood and I we actually banged knees who was their starting center and, like I said, I had surgery about a month later and he didn't play in the game against Iowa in the next round and they ended up getting beat. So we actually, you know, not only lost the game but also hurt Arkansas, which didn't make me feel good because you know I wanted to see Arkansas win the championship. If they beat us like I want to see them go and do well. But you know, arkansas, that pressure was incredible. Them go and do well, um, but you know, arkansas, that pressure was incredible. Kareem reed, one of the fastest players I've ever played against pat bradley he's doing now a lot of tv but he was a great shooter on that team and they had like three or four guys that were freshmen that I think two or three of them were lottery picks in the nba that nobody knew of really at the time, but they ended up turning into really great players and, uh, and you know, I think my I think is not being able to go back to the tournament the following year, when you know, when that class that I mentioned, with those three really good players, they were all seniors.

Scott Knapp: 23:23

I was a junior, I was still recovering from that knee surgery and it didn't really come back immediately. I actually took five games early in that season where I was contemplating a red shirt. So I was actually just sitting on the sidelines being able to probably play. But if I played in one more game I wouldn't have been able to red shirt. So after those five games I did decide to come back and we ended up losing to Iona in the championship game that year, unfortunately. But I think that was really the year where we could have gone and beaten somebody because we had had that experience. We weren't going to let somebody jump out to a 15 to 3 start or whatever it was.

Rocky : 23:56

And, um, you know, and I think we we could have put a scare into somebody that year with that team so, scott, talk to us a little bit about you get a chance last weekend and I saw the the pictures with with the family. I thought was awesome to see you guys all together, but uh, you get inducted into the siena athletic hall of fame and you went in there with a great class. Talk to us about what that meant to you and what that meant to the family.

Scott Knapp: 24:19

Oh, it meant a lot, I mean for me. You know not many people have had my path with Siena. I was not only a player there, but I actually worked there for three or four years. You mentioned Fran McCaffrey. When he was signing his contract I was actually driving his wife Margaret around looking at neighborhoods in the Loudonville area. So we definitely have a tight-knit relationship. My wife and I. We actually are sponsoring a scholarship at the school, so that will be something that lives on forever and long past our lives and my kids have gone to summer camps there and there's just so much about Siena that means a lot to not only myself but my family and you know, and just to go into the Hall of Fame, I mean as an athlete, I don't know if there's any higher accomplishment you can hope for, really.

Scott Knapp: 25:06

And you know, I'm kind of glad that it took a little while because, you know, there was obviously some players that came after me that are well more deserving than me, and I knew my time. My time may come, but, um, you know, at the same time I'm I'm more appreciative, I think now of it having my kids now in high school, um, having my dad now come up and uh and get to see, uh, you know that that what I did at Siena still means something and still important to a lot of people and Scott, 2018, I think, was the year that you went into the greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame, I think with dad um and it's you was the year that you went into the Greater Utica Sports Hall of Fame, I think with Dad.

Rocky : 25:39

You went in before me, it's pretty special to be at a Hall of Fame. I mean, my sister and my dad are in the Rome Sports Hall of Fame and hopefully someday I'll be in there with them so I can sit them in there with Dad and sister. But how special is that to be in that Hall of Fame with Dad.

Scott Knapp: 26:01

And I got a feeling you guys may be going into another one together here at some point, but uh, I won't get into that one. But how special is it? It's very special. I mean I don't think you can mention my career without his you know leadership and his guidance. Um, you know, it's funny like when we're back in central new york.

Scott Knapp: 26:10

He's the, he's the celebrity and you know, and I'm just the guy who played for him for four years, I mean because his tenure and what he did over the decades, I mean that's more of an impact than I could ever hope for.

Scott Knapp: 26:24

And when I run into people that played for my dad, they always say like I don't know if I liked it at the time, but I'm so glad I got to do it. He taught me lessons that are really valuable now in my business career or as a parent or in any real capacity where hard work is required and it's rewarded. And in teamwork he was the ultimate team coach. He may have tailored his style based on the team he had, but there's no way that I could have put up the points and all those statistics without a great team around me, and a team that was, you know, not only talented, but a team that you know was playing in this as a team, and I think that's what he taught us. And you know, and really, at the end of the day, just your hard work is going to be rewarded and it's worth the time and effort to do so.

Rocky : 27:13

Scott, I got one more bone to pick with. I think it was 1999, my Fordham Rams. When I was there you guys played them in MSG. I think we got you in 1999-91. But you might remember there was a kid by the name of Bavon Robin that played at Fordham. That was probably one of the better players and I think we had Bob Hill. The former Spurs guy was the head coach, but I was at the game. I wasn't courtside to watch you, but I was cheering for you.

Scott Knapp: 27:39

But I did have my fordham colors on. No, I, I appreciate that rock and uh, yeah, getting to play fordham we, I think we beat them up at our place maybe the year before and uh, they had a really good recruit that that we we were recruiting as well, and I forget his name, tall, tall guy, but he, he actually heard us in that game. Uh, but, yeah, getting to play at Madison Square Garden. I think I played three or four games there. I never shot well, never really played well. You know, we played Rutgers there as well.

Scott Knapp: 28:06

I think that the night before we played Fordham and it was it was just a tough environment, you know, cause there's only two, 2000, 3000 people in a 20 something thousand seat arena. It's very bright on the court and it's dark kind of behind it when you're on the court. So it was a very tough shooting environment for me. But Fordham a great school and certainly one that we always, anytime we're playing an 8-10 school we always felt like, all right, well, this is our chance to prove ourselves on a bigger stage.

Rocky : 28:42

And unfortunately we didn't get the better of the mckinney really tall, 6, 10, 6, 10 kid. But um, boredom had some good teams. I, they had some good teams when I was there and then, uh, when they were in the patriot league. It was a lot different now than being in a really tough, I think a 10 conference. But um, I remember I remember watching play at the guard man it was. There was probably about 2,500 people there and it looked like there was nobody in the gym because it was such a big arena. But it was still fun to come watch you.

Scott Knapp: 29:04

I appreciate the support. Yeah, like I said, it was a great experience. I mean, I think one game we got to play and we were actually a doubleheader with the Knicks, there was two separate tickets. It wasn't like it was able to buy one, get one. But, um, as we're coming off the court, uh, you know alan houston standing in the hallway, you know, ready to go out in in his pre-game warm-up. So you know, we got to do some really cool things.

Scott Knapp: 29:25

You know, I I appreciated paul hewitt and lewis or, you know, really allowing us to, you know, not only be athletes and all that. But, um, you know, dr jack Ramsey spoke to us once in Philadelphia when we were playing in a hotel room. You know, we got to meet Magic Johnson when we were in LA. You know, there was just a lot of opportunities to broaden our perspective and, you know, give us experiences that we would never have gotten, you know, had they not had some of those connections and abilities to allow us to see those people and to ask them questions. I mean to be in a hotel room with Dr Jack Ramsey and you know, and just be able to ask us. You know, ask him questions and get, get us. The answers that you know were on our minds at the time. Um, you know, just incredible experiences that we were able to, uh to have.

Rocky : 30:11

Well, listen, man, I appreciate you jumping on. It's been great to follow your career, happy that you had the success that you had and, like I said, it was fun to follow your entire career and say I actually got a chance to play against you and see you grow up, man, so we're proud of you this way. Congratulations. I'll make sure I say hi to Dad when I see him up at the casino on one Saturday night or Friday. But congrats, man, thanks for coming on.

Scott Knapp: 30:35

No, thank you, Rocky, and great job with the show. I think it's great that you have this in central New York and really talking the Yucca high school sports scene. I think it's something that's undervalued and something that I think made me tough. It made me a better player and I love that you're celebrating it with some of these coaches coming on and getting their perspective.

Rocky : 30:55

Well, I appreciate that you're celebrating it, with some of these coaches coming on and getting their perspective. Well, I appreciate that man, have a good rest of the day and keep in touch.

Scott Knapp: 30:59

Sounds good, man. All right man you got it.

Rocky : 31:03

So that was a VVS grad, Siena grad, Scotty Knapp, and I was going to go into some of his numbers, but I do remember watching him play at the garden when Fordham beat him 99-91. And Scott was always one of the best shooters. And if you look up in New York State and at the end of the show I'll run through his numbers he's still in the top half for most threes, made most points. Like I said before Joe Girard, there was Scott Knapp at my eyes. So congrats, Scott, and I appreciate you coming on this morning with me. So, without further ado, I don't want to leave Coach Snyder hanging. He's been sitting in the green room here Hopefully I don't have any audio problems, because I love talking to Coach Always a fun time of the year when it's basketball season and his team's on another chase for a sectional title and another New York State title. So let's bring on Coach Snyder now. Coach, how are you?

Coach John Snyder: 31:55

I'm doing well. Good morning, thanks for having me.

Rocky : 31:57

No problem. Hopefully I don't go dark here First time in probably 15 years. All of a sudden I'm talking and nobody's listening, which happens sometimes. But it's good to have you back on.

Coach John Snyder: 32:09

Yeah, I really appreciate it. It's great to be here and I'm glad we were able to get a first-round win, so we're still going here when I get to talk to you.

Rocky : 32:17

No, not a problem. And, coach, let's talk a little bit. I don't want to spend too much time on last season. We all know the great run you guys went on last season and you know last year's team. Every year is different, every team is completely different. But you lose Maggie last year, you lose Vita last year, some seniors, and here you are again right back in a familiar spot with again. I remember saying this to you last year If you had any spots on that coaching staff. I wanted a spot on the coaching staff because this team is just loaded with talent. Then I looked this year and I'm like wait a minute. He's got freshmen, he's got juniors, they're all back again. But that's a credit to you in the program. But from losing what you lost last year to the team that you're bringing back this year, what's the big difference between the two teams?

Coach John Snyder: 33:01

Yeah, just such a great team. I mean people overlooked some of our seniors at times. You know, certainly Maggie was at the forefront. We had four seniors who were incredibly important to us. Maggie got a conference championship yesterday as a starter for Mount St Mary's College. They won the Skyline Championship. She's a key starter for them and had some big points they won in overtime. So she's performing at the college level and shows how much we missed her at the high school level.

Coach John Snyder: 33:26

But we're a completely different team, as you said. You know I'm so proud of the way the girls have stepped up A lot of people in different roles. You know two freshmen starting for us. We have no seniors at all and you know that's a great problem to have. People don't like to listen to my complaints because you know I have a pretty good place to start from. But you know we really had to plug in a lot of new pieces and we've done a great job. And to be the number one seed in Tri-Valley League champions is just something I'm incredibly proud of the way the girls adapted and stepped into new roles.

Rocky : 33:56

And Coach. I talk to a lot of high school coaches and one of the key things I always talk about that I look at with them is the schedule. But I look at the non-conference schedule and you know, when I look at your non-conference schedule, aquinas always really good, Shaker always really good, greenwich always really good. So those are the three losses that you have this year and I think it's always good to be tested in that non-conference for anybody. But talk to us about the non-conference schedule. You played some three really good teams.

Coach John Snyder: 34:24

Yeah, we try to do that. It's a goal of ours every year. You know three really good teams. Yeah, we try to do that. It's a goal of ours every year. I joke with some people that we were able to win a state championship.

Coach John Snyder: 34:31

I still never won the Juggler Classic as a coach here at Notre Dame, because we usually bring in some pretty good teams and Aquinas was there this year and we had a really good game with them. They're number five in the state in class AA, I think, and we had a battle with them but they ended up getting us at the end. And Shaker, I think, is a top 10 team in AAA. And you know Greenwich is a smaller school, they're actually a Class C school, but I'll tell you, the game they played against us that day was one of the best games anybody's played against us. You know they may not be the best team, but boy did they put it all together and fantastic. They're undefeated at this point, number one in the state in class C. We need challenges. We try to get challenges. We have big goals To get to where we want to be. We want to find anybody that will play us. We got beat up a couple times, but I think it made us better.

Rocky : 35:19

Coach, talk to us about the roster this year and some of the girls that have stepped up here. I know there's Ella and Erin, of course, that get the headlines for you, but you got three freshmen on this team. You got some juniors on this team. Talk to us about some of the girls that have stepped up for you.

Coach John Snyder: 35:33

Sure, yeah, obviously everything starts with Ella and Aaron and you know they're tremendous players and had great experience. But you know somebody who is and you know I don't want to overlook any of our juniors. We have two juniors that you know have sacrificed a little bit. They're coming off the bench behind two freshmen Jenna Heron and Tessa Arcuri are key contributors to us, play quality minutes for us, hit some big shots for us. But you know, lily Johnson is a freshman. Her sister, emma, is a junior. They both are starting and Lily in particular.

Coach John Snyder: 36:01

I think you know those games in December where we got beat up a little bit. Shaker, in particular, just has some strong physical players and some really good guards. Greenwich has a tremendous point guard that gave a freshman point guard some eye-opening moments on the court. That again, I think, made her better. And a few weeks later after that we played Aquinas and although we got beat, we played at a different level when we played Aquinas than when we got beat up a little bit when we went to Amsterdam with those other two teams.

Coach John Snyder: 36:28

So you know, jules Otis is another freshman who's starting for us and just giving us really quality minutes, you know. So it's just everybody. It really is a team effort. We, you know Ella is a star and everything starts with her and a lot of people on their scouting reports are trying to shut her down. What I've always been proud of you know, last year, this year is I think we are a team and you know, you take one thing away and something else usually steps in, and it's not always the same person. It can be somebody different on any given night and uh, you know again.

Coach John Snyder: 36:58

That's something that we kind of pride ourselves on playing together and playing as a team, and it's worked out for us well, that was gonna be my to be my next question Coach was going to be.

Rocky : 37:07

You know every team. Everywhere you find different ways to win games, maybe different than how you would have won games last year. How was this team this year won games differently than maybe last year's team?

Coach John Snyder: 37:18

Yeah. So we certainly have had our moments where we've needed to, needed to play some better defense and you know the scoring doesn't come quite as easily, especially, you know, at times. You know we've seen people put two people on Ella at times, you know, and three on the rest of the team just to try and take her away. So we've had to be ready to adjust to whatever people throw at us. And you know again, especially with the youth that we have, we've done a pretty good job of that and you know we've won some games in the 40s, we've won some games in the 70s and we're adaptable. We can play multiple styles, we play multiple defenses and you know it's worked out for us. It's been a good run.

Rocky : 38:02

So you guys just you beat Oneida this past week, you guys will get Indian River and then the winner of your game will get the winner of CVA in Jamesville-DeWitt. Who CVA? You guys had a close game back in early January with. So what does this team need to do to get back and play for a sectional title and beyond?

Coach John Snyder: 38:21

Yeah. So I mean we just need to keep doing the things that we're doing, play with effort. You know I talk a lot about controlling the controllables. You know that effort, that intensity Shots don't always go in. When they do, we look really good. Sometimes they don't and we have to find ways on those days.

Coach John Snyder: 38:39

You know, certainly Indian River just a tremendous program, two-time sectional champs, well-coached. They've got a few starters back from the team that won those two straight sectional championships in Class A. So they're going to be a challenge and if we are fortunate enough to get by them, one of the things of moving to Class A that I don't like is just playing Oneida the other night for the third time they play so hard. We were very fortunate to get out in front early and kind of hang on with them. And you know if we got to a sectional title. You know James Will DeWitt's a tremendous program. But Central Valley could be there as well and, as you mentioned, they've kind of always been a thorn in our side. We know how talented they are. We've been fortunate to get by them. You know the last couple of years when we've played them. But it's always a battle. And you know the last couple years when we've played them, but it's always a battle and, uh, you know.

Rocky : 39:30

So that possibility is out there for another matchup with them too, if we, if we, can keep playing a while and get lucky enough to meet them coach, is there any, any extra pressure on on you guys, knowing that you guys had the run last year and you know the team you bring back is another great team and any extra pressure because always, as a coach, when you're, you're the team that everybody's chasing and wants, you know you're going to get their best shot day in and day out any extra pressure for you guys.

Coach John Snyder: 39:55

I don't think it's extra pressure. I mean it's something that we have to embrace. Exactly what you just said. We talk about it all the time. We are the target on everybody's schedule.

Coach John Snyder: 40:03

Uh, you know, at this point, because of what we've done, you know that's what success brings. We're lucky to have that. You know that's a problem I think anyone would want to have. It's not easy to deal with. You have to keep that again. Those things that we can control, that focus, that energy, that attitude, we have to bring those things every day because we're going to take that best shot. We know it's coming and we better be prepared for it.

Coach John Snyder: 40:27

And you know, again, I don't think it's pressure, it's something that you, you know we've seen pressure at the highest levels. I guess that's the good news. Even our freshmen, you know. Unfortunately, last year we had a senior, imani Jedwick, tear her ACL in the state semifinal game and Lily, you know, hadn't played really any minutes for us and she played about 10 minutes as an eighth grader in the state championship game. So even our youngest players have seen pressure at the highest level. So I don't think it'll be pressure that gets us.

Coach John Snyder: 40:55

But basketball is a crazy game, you know. You know shots don't always go in and how do you adapt in those moments? How do you adapt when somebody else comes out and hits three or four threes in a row? You know things happen and we'll be as prepared as we can be. Hopefully we'll adjust to those things and we've seen different things that are prepare us for that. But we'll lay it all on the line and we'll we'll live with the results because I think our preparation has been good and I think we're in the right place. You know mentally as well, but it's it's still not an easy process. You've got to be very fortunate. We know that we were lucky multiple times last year to get to where we did.

Rocky : 41:31

Well, coach, hopefully we'll be able to do this again here soon and get you back on one game at a time, but your teams have been fun to watch and I've enjoyed getting a chance to talk to you over the last couple years and I definitely want to do it again. You're fun to talk to and I I can't thank you enough for uh, when I reach out to you for jumping on no matter what time I ask you to come on.

Coach John Snyder: 41:51

You've been great and uh hopefully, at least, I wasn't on the bus this year right, but it was pretty cool that.

Rocky : 41:56

That was good. That was good podcast man. When I got you right on the bus with the girls, that was, uh, I'm hoping I get a chance to come watch you guys play. I'm going to get a chance to go watch the boys' RFA on Tuesday night, so hopefully I can get a chance to follow you guys in another chase for a Section 3 title. So we'll do it again soon.

Coach John Snyder: 42:18

Thank you, I appreciate it very much, all right.

Rocky : 42:19

Coach, best of luck to you and the girls.

Coach John Snyder: 42:22

Thank you, take care, have a good day.

Rocky : 42:24

That was Coach John Snyder and he brought up. The good point is I got him on the bus last year, which was, I always say, it's really cool to do that. I think that's what makes fun. Podcasting is when you get to get a coach or player you know team. I've had Gary Heenan when he's, when he's coming out of the locker room. I had I still remember coach 80 and Brian 80 getting off the bus to play a state championship game, which was really cool. But Coach Snyder's done a fantastic job with the girls. They got a great team. Best of luck to them in their game against Indian River and the winner of that game I said, will play the winner of CVA and Jamesville DeWitt.

Rocky : 43:04

So I just want to go back real fast before I wrap the show up, because I did have Scotty Knapp's numbers and I just want to go through these real fast. So he's the career leader in threes at Siena with 293. He's the career leader in free throw percentage at 89%. He was the 1998 MAAC Rookie of the Year, second team All-League in 2001, over 1,300 points. And he's ninth in program history with 393 assists. And then the New York State records. As I said before Joe Girard, there was Scotty Knapp. To me he's got the school record at VVS for 1,897 points. He's got 288 three-pointers made, which is eighth in the state and that's when he played. He was from 1994 to 1997.

Rocky : 43:56

So again I want to make sure I congratulate Scott. Thanks Scott for coming on this morning. It was great to catch up with him and go through some old times with him. Great career, great guy. And it was great to see the pictures of him and the family last weekend. And I want to thank Coach John Snyder for coming on with me this morning. As I said, I've got a chance to meet Coach last year and he's always been great to me when I've reached out to get him on this show to talk about the Notre Dame Lady Jugglers, which is a team I think can make a deep run here in the state tournament but one game at a time, as us coaches will say.

Rocky : 44:30

But I want to thank him and I want to thank all the listeners, all the followers. Go to wwwtherockpileromecom. You can check out all the podcasts on the site. You can follow me on all the social media platforms. I apologize, today I had the first time in 15 years. All of a sudden I'm talking and everything just went black. And as anybody even computers you never want to see that black screen. Everything just went black, everything went off. But I got it back up and running. Hopefully you enjoyed today's show. So on behalf of myself, coach Paggs, coach Medesis and the stat man in the rock pile here this morning, I want to thank everybody for tuning in. I appreciate it. Have a good weekend everybody.