EP #10 | Get To Know WTZ Host - Noah Buono: 5yr CBB Walk-on | - WalkieTalkieZ Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Walkie Talkies is a presentation of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hey Hey, gang Day, Yeah, what's up,

(00:24):
lovely people, Welcome back to Walkie Talkies podcast on the
College Athletes Network, featured on I Heart Radio. I'm your host,
Noah Bono, and today is episode ten of the podcast.
In a really special episode because we're gonna switch things
up a bit, We're gonna make today's episode all about me,
but we're gonna do it in a fun way because
I have a few important people with me, my older
sister Jillian, my older brother Greg, and my beautiful girlfriend

(00:45):
Corey that are gonna be helping me out for episode ten,
and you'll hear from them in just a minute. But
before I introduced him quickly, I want to say I
started this podcast back in September of two thousand twenty one,
and as you could assume them along the way, I
have learned a lot about the podcasting world, and one
of the most important things that I have learned while
trying to build an audience is the importance of giving
that audience a chance to get to know me as

(01:05):
the host, because knowing me is just as important as
putting out all these great stories. I mean, you're not
gonna listen to my podcast if you don't like me,
right right, right, But anyway, the goal was to have
my two siblings and my girlfriend interview me and get
me talking a bit more about just me. So any
current fans of the podcast who don't really know me,
and any future fans of the podcast we attract when
they go through the episode, law can come to this

(01:26):
episode and just hear a little bit more about me
and my own walk on journey, and also get a
chance to meet some of the family, as this really
is a true family hangout, and then you can ultimately
decide if you do like me or not, and then
and whatever you decide, no problem. But for the structure
of the episode, you may be concerned and annoyed that
there will be four voices, but seriously, you don't have
to be. The episode is very organic and conversational among

(01:46):
us all, and there really is a good balance of
everyone besides me. I definitely talked to damn much, just
just like I'm doing right now. But my older sister
Jillian took the lead and led the group, and Korey
and Greg filled in really nicely. Um my brother did
have in a not just Mike that I had to
edit the piss out of for the sake of all
of your ears, and you'll hear it all. We were talking,
laughing and yelling at Greg for the mike, but ultimately

(02:07):
we were having a great conversation about my journey with
their questions, observations, and perspectives leading the way that I
think you'll all really enjoy listening to, which is why
you're here and click the episode. So, like I said,
a true family function and we had a blast doing it.
There will be more from this crew down the line,
I hoped, because you know, I could not include everything
from my five years uh and condense all of that

(02:29):
into an hour, hour and a half. There's just so
many layers to the five years that not everything can
make the cup. But I hope to have more styles
of this kind of episode so you can keep learning
more about my journey as a walk on as Walkie Talking,
his podcast continues to grow, but for now, make sure
you stick around to the end to hear my outro,
and I would give a brief little update on where
I'm at now and the endeavors I'm pursuing post college basketball.

(02:51):
Since I kind of forgot to touch on that in
my interview with them. And with that being said, let's
bring in my three guests, star co hosts, Jillian, Greg
and Corey. Okay, and I want the three of them
to say their names and introduce themselves just so that
you can get a feeler for their voice. So, Jillian,
what's up. Hey, it's Jillian Greg, Hey, it's Greg brother

(03:17):
and now we're cracking. So, okay, you three, in all
different ways, have gotten the chance to see my five
year walk on journey. Greg has been the closest to
it because Greg and I were two years apart growing
up and played varsity basketball together. And obviously Greg likes
basketball a whole lot more than Jillian and Corey. But uh,

(03:40):
Jillian's seven and a half years older than me, so
she's had, you know, spotty vision of what's going on
in the last five years. And I met Corey two
years ago, so she's gotten a glimpse of the last
two years. So I think a cool way to start
it off is like what each of you kind of
know or see or remember about my walk on journey

(04:02):
that is either good, bad, fun, interesting, I mean, whatever
comes to mind that you remember. Just something about the
situation that I was in, because you all know firsthand,
but for the listeners, like to give them a feel
of what you remember. Julian, why don't you start us
off right? Um well, I kind of said this to
know earlier today that I don't obviously know any like

(04:25):
the relationship him and Greg have on the court, Like
I haven't been on the court, so I think more
so just getting involved and watching him play as a kid,
I kind of could tell. And I think in my
mind I didn't really know the backstory of how you
needed to get there, So when you said you were
going to walk on to writer, I just I thought

(04:46):
that meant like you did it, like I didn't really
know what you were going to end up going through
the next five years. So I think what you have
gone through, I mean, ultimately you're still involved in the
sport and in the game, which I think evolved over time,
which is why this is more of a success story
than a story of you not having something. Um I

(05:08):
just don't think that you had it in the way
you thought, so I think the success is that you're
still involved, just in a different way. Greg. What do
you think, Um well, I think that you know, I
am obviously very biased when it comes to Noah and
his ability from the jump as his older brother, Like,
I always just saw his potential on the court at

(05:32):
a very young age, and you know, once he hit
his gross bird and started to really taking the game seriously,
Like to me, it was just a no brainer that
if he could get himself in the right situation, like,
he could be at the highest level in college basketball.
And you know, we played in a very non competitive conference,

(05:52):
you know, in New Jersey where there wasn't a lot
of exposure. But you know, we always knew that Noah
had a ton of potential and if you could just
get his foot in the door, you know, we didn't
want him to take the D three route. We thought
that he was ready to play Division one. And you know,
just over the years just watching just like how hard

(06:14):
Noah's worked and grew as a basketball player from you know,
since he was in sixth grade two now you know,
finally graduating college. It's just been really fun to watch.
And I think that being very close to the journey
the last five years and seeing him go to three
different colleges, played for three different teams, three different coaches,

(06:35):
I can honestly say that I don't. I I couldn't
have made it through. You know, I would have quit
after year one easily. I quit after high school because
I was just I was done with with the grind
of of being a student athlete and just the commitment
that it took to have my mind and my body
where I needed every single day, and all of that

(06:56):
was elevated once now I got to school. So you
know my perspective, It is just that, you know, we
had we had dreams when we were younger, and they
didn't go out the way that we planned them to.
But no, uh figured out a way to insert himself
into the environment that he wanted to be in. And
you know, now because of those connections and because of

(07:16):
the crazy, hard five years that he had to endure,
you know, he's put himself in a position where he
gets to still be in the game and from it
from a different angle, which is really cool to see. Corey.
What about you, Well, I don't know anything about basketball.
I feel like everything that I've learned has been by
force from you didn't know what a walk on was,

(07:37):
But I'm also the only thing I truly knew was
the physical tool that being a student athlete, especially in college,
can take on like on the body, but you really
showcase what it does mentally, And I think I've seen
you go through a lot of mental struggles that I
don't think people necessarily see from college athletes. I don't know,
I think that that's like a good thing to talk about,

(07:58):
especially on your podcast US because a lot of the
people I listened to don't necessarily speak about that. Yeah,
for some reason, mental health among college athletes is still
taboo and people act like it's not important, Like if
you guys are any of the listeners. Listen to episode
nine with Michaelis Simmons from Duquesne, like that was pretty
much the focus of that episode was just about what

(08:20):
went on with her mental health because of the way
she was treated. And I think that I related so
much to that conversation because my first two years, like
being young and not really having a good understanding of
the game and like where I was supposed to be
or what my role was actually gonna be, Like I
was struggling mentally, Like I was so young, I was
in such a rut, like I didn't know how to

(08:42):
get myself out of it, and I don't know, I
just don't think that it's prioritized enough like among us
and um yeah, obviously each and every one of you
got to witness me at some sort of a high
but more so allowe. And that's not to say that
like my journey was entirely negative. I just think that
there was more struggle involved with it because of my

(09:04):
lack of understanding going into the role. And I think
that you all had, you know, a front row seat
to that. And every time we had conversations, whether it
was collectively or individually, it was always like a you know,
you guys would play Devil's advocate because it's like, well,
why is this? Why is it like that? And you know,
I had to explain every layer that I was learning
as to why I was like that. And obviously our

(09:26):
parents still don't. I still don't understand or accept the
ways of this life. But I didn't make the rule
that if you give someone a scholarship and you tell
this other kid that he can just be on the team,
but he's got to pay, that the treatment was going
to be unequal. And you know, obviously from off rip,
we probably should have assumed that, and I think we

(09:47):
did to a certain extent, but I think based on
what I was told when I made the initial decision,
I was completely misled into thinking that it was gonna
be sweet or it was gonna be a good opportunity
off the bat. And I don't so kind of what
you were piggybacking off of what you were just saying,
why do you think you said yes to Writer? And
if you knew what you knew now, what would you
have done differently? I think I said yes to Writer

(10:11):
um because I mean, I had like a hundred Division
three schools calling me some of the best D three
schools in the country at the time, and I was
just so insecure and so like stuck on the fact
that D one was what it was and that I
had to be D one because people around me told
me that I could be a Division one player. And
then there's there was the whole like stigma of like,

(10:31):
you know, you're cool when you're D one athlete and like,
you know, But the biggest thing that I always kept
in mind is that I knew that no matter what
my role on a Division one team was, that I
was getting my foot in the door to make certain
connections that not a lot of people could get if
you go to a Division three school. And I always
look back on that thought and laugh because me and
Greg always joke about, you know, we did not become

(10:53):
people that were awake until we were like nineteen years old,
like hello world, like welcome, this is what it's like
to live like. But I was not really a person
when I was having these thoughts about connections, connections, connections.
But something just was programmed in my head that was like, dude,
if you go here, you're gonna make good connections that
can help you climb and climb and climb, and so
I think that would play. The biggest part was, yes,

(11:15):
I was insecure, cared about what people thought felt like
making a Division one commitment was nailing the coffin funk
all you like, anybody who doubted me, didn't pick me
for an All Star team, um whatever. It was like
dating all the way back to eighth grade when I
was so far and ahead the best player on my team,
and yeah, that's the one time I stroke my ego.
So but yeah, I think those two things where the

(11:37):
catalyst for why I chose writer, and I think, looking
back on it, I don't regret going there, because you know,
fifteen of those guys are some of my best friends,
and we talked on a daily basis in our group
chat group face times, and I did The connection I
was able to build with them was great. However, the
one thing that I'll always regret is just not putting
myself in the best position to play basketball. Like, you know,

(11:58):
I had a decent high school career that I wanted
to build upon and keep learning and learning and learning.
But I don't think I ever gave myself a fair
chance of like you can really get on the court
and play here. And some of that was circumstantial based
on coaches and environments and whatever. But I think had
I made more thorough decisions and just what was better
for me rather than like making decisions based on what
other people thought, that I would have been able to play.

(12:21):
But you know, do you think it was disservice. It's
a disservice to kids that have to make these choices
when they're seventeen and eighteen years old, because ultimately, we're kids,
So you're not supposed to be awake when you're seventeen
or eighteen, and so like the immaturity of you was
really what was making that choice because it was like
all out of ego, like watch me, I'm on D one.
It doesn't matter in what way. And if you were

(12:43):
more tapped into what an ego was, maybe that choice
wouldn't have been that And there is no regrets, like
at all. It's just more of more about what you
couldn't have prevented because you were a kid, right, And
I think that's just like where you know, our parents
are supposed to step in, but I think that even
they were like, my son is gonna be a D
one athlete. Yeah, And it was like and they totally

(13:07):
just like disregarded the fact that Ryder was like sixty dollars,
you know, and it's like these D three schools, we're
gonna have you just go for free. You weren't gonna
pay a dollar. And but it was like this whole
D one thing was such a big deal in our
house and it was like the first chance that you
got when Coach Luber reached out to you, it was like, well,

(13:28):
he has to go, it's D one. But it's like
there's so many other facets to the growth of a
basketball player. Just because you're in a Division one environment,
you know, it doesn't mean that you're going to get
the full experience that every other kid is going to
get there, especially as a walk on, and so, you know,
I think that one thing I wanted to ask, like
since we're on Rider is like, obviously, because you were

(13:51):
so young and you were so excited to be D
one and go d one and you you took the
position as walk on, you know, and I think that
in your head and you're like, Oh, I'm gonna go
there and I'm gonna figure it out and I'm gonna play.
You know, how soon into your Rider career did you
realize like, I don't I'm never I'm never going to
touch the court ever, I might have I might ever

(14:11):
even practice. Uh yeah, pretty quickly. I mean I got
there in the summer and I remember like we were
hedging ball screens in like a warm up drill, like
we were just warming up. Actually, I remember being told
to get on the baseline for our first summer workout,
and I was nervous just to do the stretches, like
I was running up and down the court, like nervous

(14:33):
to pull my quad up and reach up in the
air and do a quad pole because I was like
petrified because I was so far out of my comfort zone.
I had never I played, you know, fifteen years of
basketball being one of, if not the best player in
every gym I was in. Because I was young and
dumb and didn't really force myself to step outside of

(14:53):
my comfort zone and challenge myself more. And you know,
I got to Rider. It was complete culture shock with
the with the guys I was around, I was even
Ryan Ryan O'Leary is my other walk on teammate who
I spent two years with. He was even light years
better than me, Like he still can't fucking dribble, But
I was this, yeah, Ryan will hear this? Sh Yeah.

(15:19):
So he was even light years better than me. And
that's because he had a couple more experiences out before
college that helped prep him for that moment. But I
knew right away, like we were hedging ball screens in
a warm up drill, and I had absolutely zero idea
what the word hedge even meant. And I was paying
attention thoroughly to the like explaining the drill and what

(15:40):
we're gonna do. And a lot of college coaches are
very short winded to the point not going to give
you much of an explanation kind of expect you to
just go out and pay attention to the first rep
they show and then just be able to follow it.
And I tried my hardest, but there's always there's you know,
coordination and steps and certain things that need to you
need to get down and understand. And I'm physical learner,

(16:00):
so I was always always struggled with like just watching
something and then being able to go out there and
do it. And so you know, I was getting screamed
at within like the first five minutes of my first
ever college basketball practice, which is fine. I didn't It
wasn't about getting screamed at. It was like, I just
want to get it right, and I know I only
have like maybe two tries to get this thing right
otherwise I'm getting off the court. So I would say

(16:21):
I knew pretty quickly going into writer that I was
definitely not going to play and that I had a
long way to go. Like I had so many obstacles
to climb, barriers to knock down just to even get
on the practice floor. And I do think that I
got to a certain level of comfort in the second
half of the season where I was like good to go,
Like you could have used me, utilized what I had

(16:43):
on the scout team, but they didn't put Bryan or
myself on the scout team at all. We sat there
for the majority of the time and watched and we're
not utilized whatsoever, even though in practice, in practice, never
never practiced like like literally, I mean I would because
we never practiced. I would literally make sure that I
woke up at like five five, six am every single

(17:05):
day and I would get in the gym or the
weight room, both didn't matter which one was first or second,
and I get an hour workout on the court and
I get an hour lifting, and then I'd go get
a meal at the dining hall. I'd come back slug
of protein drink, and then I'd be in the gym
by like nine thirty waiting for practice to start at ten.
And that was damn near every day from you know, September,

(17:26):
October November, those three months of the preseason leading into
the start of the season for my both my years there,
where I was like up and at it because I
knew I'm about to sit around for two and a
half hours from ten to twelve, sit in the film
room from twelve to twelve thirty and so it was like,
I gotta get my own work in because if I don't,
then I got to do it later on at night
after classes in the afternoon, and now I'm in the

(17:48):
gym at eight pm, nine pm, and I gotta wake
up for practice next morning. It made more sense to
do it all in the morning. So like it sucked
because it was like, wow, I just I wish I
could just get the same work out in that might
eMates are getting in, but no, I had to fucking
I had to do two and a half extra hours
because it was like I gotta, you know, I gotta
feel like I'm reaching my goals. I gotta feel like

(18:09):
I'm getting better. But I don't think I really under
I think I really underestimated what else came with that
on the mental side of like understanding the game of basketball,
because like when coach would kick me off the drill
and stuff, or like I'd be sitting there watching like
I am not participating, so I am just supposed to
observe what is going on in practice, and that was

(18:30):
my time to learn. But a lot of the times
you're standing there when you're a freshman and a sophomore,
the only thing going on in your head is like
am I gonna get in? Are they gonna tell me? Like?
Do I have to go in? Like I'm standing here
for an hour and a half and I'm really stiff, Like, uh,
there's no way that I can play. My point is,
though to paying attention to the mental side is like
I missed out on a lot of what I could
have learned with just basketball and paying attention on what

(18:50):
the system of college basketball was like a lot earlier
because I was just I lacked attentiveness to like what
was going on, because I was so focused on like
why am I practicing? Why don't they like me? Why
don't they talk to me? Why? You know? So I
had all these other young immature that some were valid,
but immature thoughts going on while I was watching basketball
practice when I could have just been learning, I was

(19:12):
just fucking in my head, being insecure, being uncomfortable, and
I ended up not you know. I went to my
second school, the Division three school, and I remember they
were asking me what a flex action is or telling
me like, yo, run flex and obviously we don't all
know what flexes. That's fine, It's just it's a very
simple action that's like universal, and the one kid looked
at me it was like because I was like, I
don't I don't know where do I go? And this

(19:34):
is already two years after two years in the Division
one program, and he was like, you guys didn't run
flex at Rider, Like you guys never ran flex. And
it never clicked in my head on what flex was
until I understood it the last two years of like
oh wow, like I really was lacking attention at Rider
because I had so much other ship on on my mind.
Do you, um, I think you were saying something about

(19:55):
some of them were valid thoughts, other were insecure. But
do you think that through all of that you're overdoing it?
You're mentally drained. But at a certain point, when do
you realize like you're being like emotionally abused in the
in the situation, and when you will go from like
killing yourself physically and mentally to try and prove something
to this person, you know, the coach at writer to

(20:17):
realizing that that's just never gonna work out for you.
Um yeah, I think I picked up on it quickly
when I realized that, like, you know, the coaches would
barely even talk to me outside of basketball like God
forbid they ever coached me on the court during a
drill that I was allowed to do. But I mean,
like you'd see, you know, I'd be in the gym
all the time. We used to always hang out in
the locker room. It was like the spot on campus

(20:38):
for us fifteen guys, and like, you know, we'd see
them in passing all the time, and like I'd be
with four of my teammates and it would you know,
just be conversation with them, and it would just be
like I was a ghost standing there, like and so
I knew, like, Okay, these people aren't even saying hello,
They're not asking me how I am, How are classes,
how is everything going on? How are you adjusting to college? Like,

(21:00):
you know, your trades are excellent, Like you probably had
one of the best. Yeah, I think my freshman year
of college, I've finished the year with like a three seven.
It was probably the only semester or only year of
my NERD that I tried in college. Literally nerd but
just like naturally smart and they're ignoring you, and you
know you had like you have this whole other side

(21:22):
of you that no one even knows about. Yeah, I
remember my second year at Rider, we were preseason number
one for our conference, and we started off the year
six and oh in conference, and then we lost five
games in a row, and I remember after we lost
the fifth game, we had this big meeting, and I
remember like after the meeting, I ran out of the
locker room and I like ran up to coach Bags

(21:43):
and I just like, I just like felt compelled to
say something to this guy about what was going on
because I'm sitting there observing everything, watching, you know, losing
the games with them, even if I wasn't playing. And
I just remember giving him my take, my perspective, my
point of view, and this motherfucker really looked at me
and was like, you know what, Noah, up until this point,

(22:04):
I didn't think you were here at all. I didn't
think you were all there. I didn't I didn't think
he cared. I just thought you were just happy to
be here. Like I am so impressed, and I I
gotta say, I respect you now, and I was like, yeah,
pretty much. Three semesters in, was finally like and then
I remember one of my teammates was standing there during

(22:25):
the whole conversation and he was gassing me up. He
was like he was like, oh, come on, coach, Like, no,
it's a genius, Like you know, you know he's been
paying attention to watch hing blah blah blah like and
from that point on, like because the season was winding
down shortly after that, and I was already knew I
was transferring, and I just remember my final conversations with
him throughout the year were always like I got a
lot of respect for you, now, you know I got

(22:46):
And it was always just stemmed from that one conversation.
And I think that that one conversation I had with him,
you know, it didn't change his philosophy and outlook on
walk Ons and I got that explanation from him in
my exit meeting, but I think it did change the
respect level, uh for him to me, you know, to
then help me get to du Kane a whole year
after not even being at right or going to a

(23:07):
whole another school, spending the whole year there and then
contacting him and asking like, hey, can you can you
help me out? And um, I don't know, how did
I not have that conversation with him. I don't know
if he would have helped me because we really had
no relationship there was. I had one one and a
half relationships with the coaches, and it was with coach
Luber who recruited me there, and coach ben Ka, who

(23:30):
was like the director of player development and it was
like an unpaid position. He was just paying his dues
to climb the coaching ladder. And he was a great guy.
He was one of the d three coaches that recruited
me at the time. And when he had his first
day at Rider in my second year there, he was like, so, yeah,
I know who you are. I recruited you. You never
text me back. You never, And I was like, mistake.

(23:50):
He's like, this is your karma. Why do you think
that um college? Like why do they have walk ons
and then mistreat them? Like why is that culture that way?
And like how do we how do you proactively be
a part of changing that? Like what's the point? It's
a great question because a lot of the walk ons
I've talked to, and it always is like program dependent
have had great experiences, and then there's other walk ons

(24:12):
who are not valued in the same regard, which makes them,
you know, be treated like they're less than And I
think it all comes down to, like I said about
some of the coaches a rider, Like it's very philosophy dependent,
Like if you like care and want to allocate all
of your time to everyone equally, that's your choice. If
you feel like, you know, these walk ons are here

(24:32):
as team g p A boosters, as locker room morale
guys and practice players, that's it, Like you know then yeah,
I know. So the thing is is like you don't
have to let a walk on practice. You don't have to,
you know, let them be a part of a lot
of the team things. You can You cannot give them
a pair of shoes. You cannot give them a pair
of slides. That's happened to me plenty of times. But

(24:55):
you should still be respectful. And I think that that's
like where the discord is is, Like some of these
guys like just because you know, a lot of my
assistant coaches at some of these schools, like just because
I was a walk on and I wasn't contributing to
the team's overall success and the team's wins, it's like
programmed their mind to think, like, yeah, I'm not even

(25:15):
gonna bother with him. I got thirteen other guys I
gotta really worry about because we're paying for them, so
I ain't worrying about that motherfucker, Like he can figure
his own ship out. And that was we don't care
that he's paying. No, Yeah, they no, they don't know that.
From from my perspective, it's like if I was a
coach and I had fifteen guys on the team and
two of them are paying to be there. They want
to play basketball in this program so bad that they're

(25:36):
willing to pay sixt k to be here, when all
the other guys that we're paying probably wouldn't be here
if we weren't paying them. Like I feel like if
I was a coach, I would hold my walk ons
in a higher regard of like, you know, they really
want to be here, you know, and because of that,
it's like the bare minimum. I'm gonna treat you like
a human being and you know, let you be in
a drill or you know, give you some sort of like, oh,

(25:59):
I don't think that you could play for this team,
Like give you something to look forward to, you know,
Like just you talk to you before, like I really
I'm like you were You said you were doing workouts
like every single morning two hours before and you weren't
just watching the practice, just like you had to stand
up the whole time, like they didn't even let my
dog sit down, like no seats available, take it like

(26:22):
he did, Like I'm standing on the sidelines, like I'm
standing up in my shoot as if you were going
to go in but r yeah, like I'm still You know,
there could be you know, there'd be drills like hour
and forty five minutes into the practice where it's like,
oh I can do this, I can. That is a
level of emotional and physical abuse. Because that's why did
you go ahead? You've had two people who have come

(26:44):
on too, both said like, okay, I spent two years
in this program and I realized this isn't for me.
I am being physically and emotionally abuse or mistreated, and
so I quit. Why did you continue? You went through
three schools, You went through three programs that sense didn't
treat you as if you were equal to all the
players on the team. So why did you Why did

(27:05):
you continue going? Yeah? Um, I would say that Ryder
was the most of like I am not equal, Like
the word walk on was thrown around as if like
I was just like this some disgusting being of like
look you walk on, Like that's what it felt like,
Like you even let you sit down, Like I can't
ask the walk on get away from us, Like that's

(27:26):
what it felt like like. And I don't think that
at the next two schools, Like obviously I went to
a Division three school, so it wasn't it wasn't the same,
and I went there with an injury. Um, so that
was like that was to my downfall for that. But
Duquesne was definitely a little bit different in terms of
like the treatment, like the coaches, they're like couldn't have
respected me and like brought me into the family more.

(27:49):
I don't think there was like an opportunity for me
to really play at Duqueene or like learn, um what
they did to then help me get on the court,
because again, like it was like we're gonna allocate our
time to our thirteen scholarship guys, and you know, you
have to learn on the go. You don't get the
reps Like I remember like my third day during COVID
it was like July, third day of practice at Duquesne

(28:10):
and we're practicing in groups of four and Coach d
was like, no, you get every fourth rep. And I
was like I literally started like like, so we would rotate,
but I had to wait for you know, three times
and then I could go, like for three other people
or if there was only two of us, like for
them to go three times and then I could get

(28:31):
the fourth rep. So every fourth rep, I got to
get one rep. And I remember, because I was in
my fourth year at that point, I was already used
to it. I just started laughing because I was like,
I'm not going to take that personal, Like now I
know where it comes from. The problem at writer was
like I just had no idea, Like I didn't know
that that was a thing, and and they, you know,

(28:51):
there was no communication there to me that like, hey,
you're never going to practice. It was simply just like
the times I tried to practice, I would just get
kicked off. And then the time when I was just
standing there, I was not utilized unless we had a
couple of bodies injured or someone was really gassed and
needed like a you know, two rent breather, and I
would get in there. But to answer your question, Corey,

(29:11):
like I don't think I quit because in my mind,
throughout the whole process, like I had an end goal.
It was like you know, there's plenty of people who
don't play a lique college basketball can go get a
try and be it, you know, an overseas walk on.
They go try out and they make a team. And
in the back of my head, like at that time,
I love the basketball so much playing that, like I
was like, man, I'm just I'm just gonna get what

(29:32):
i can out of this, like utilize these resources and
and the training facilities and everything I can here to
then do that. But obviously it kept dwindling and dwindling,
and the dream kept fading. But I was like, I'm
never going to go to college and not be a
college basketball player. Like in my mind it was like
I'm a college basketball player, Like I'm not. I'm not
going to school to be a regular student, Like I
don't do school. I do basketball. And like, as crazy

(29:56):
as that sounds, like that's what it was. Like. I
would do my schoolwork on the side, but I it
was always working out, lifting, eating, meditating, you know, watching film,
whatever the hell I could be doing that involved basketball.
That was always priority number one. And I never wanted
that to be priority number two. And if I quit,
and I think that it would have taken a back seat,

(30:16):
and I could be working at nine to five in
finance right now or something like, and I never wanted
that to be the case. I always knew I wanted
to keep hoping or at least be around basketball. So
I was like, if that was a case, and I
needed to keep eating ship and not quit and just
ride the wave, are you glad that you didn't quit? Yeah,
I'm so glad I didn't quit. So it's funny because
my first year at Rider, I was the sixteenth man

(30:37):
on the roster and the last three guys two were
red shirts scholarship players, and the other one was Ryan
who we mentioned earlier, and they all red shirted, and
in order to red shirt, you have to technically be
on the fifteen man roster. So I was not red shirting,
and I was left off the fifteen man roster. And
so in our exhibition game, like I was not allowed

(30:58):
to play. We were up by like thirty five points,
and I was not allowed to get put in the game,
and no one knew this. All the guys on the
bench are going put no in, put no in, like,
and at the end of the game, like coach pulls
me into it, or I just went in there. He
didn't he was not going to communicate this with me
if I did not ask. And I forget what the
term was that they called me because I was not
on scholarship and I was not on the technical fifteen

(31:18):
man roster, but essentially like I was not allowed to
enter the game because I wasn't on the fifteen man roster,
and so therefore I technically did red shirt, even though
that's not what I was there to do. So I
didn't even know any of those things were happening until
like literally the first game of the season. I was like, wait,
I'm not even eligible to play, Like, so I have
the red shirt, Like I have to burn my red
shirt year. So that was like crazy, and I don't know,

(31:41):
I so oh, that's what I was trying to say.
It's like that first year though, like we won our
conference and we came in first place in our conference,
got the number one seed in the tournament, like the
team was loaded, like we were so good, so much talent,
And then fast forward five years till my last year,
and I'm a part of a team that loses seven
and team games in a row in conference play and

(32:03):
I'm the walk on on the end of that bench.
So when you're the walk on on the team that
comes in first and you're not getting any burn, it's
not really a big deal because it's like, oh my god,
the team is so good, like we're just vibe and
we're winning. It's fun. But then when you're the walk
on on the team that loses seventeen games in a
row and you still don't get any burn, now you're
just the guy at the end of the bench, that's like, wow,
I'm really embarrassed to be here, like we're so bad

(32:26):
and they're still not even gonna give me a chance
to get on the board, Like this is really bad.
So my point is that I got to see the high.
I got to start my career on a real high,
like being a part of so much winning, and then
as the years went on, like you know, my fourth
year a Duqueane, we were nine and nine during the pandemic,
and then my last year at Duquene we were literally
one in seventeen in Conference six and four overall, Like

(32:49):
I got to see everything about winning and everything about losing,
and maybe I wish I could erased the last year
just because of the losing was so brutal. Um, but no,
I don't. I don't think I again like I wanted
to be. I wanted to identify as a college basketball
player like for as long as I could so or
a basketball player for as long as I could. Okay,

(33:10):
quick break. Hope everyone is enjoying. Please don't go anywhere.
There's so much more funny stuff coming right up. After
the break from my brother Greg about the year I
went to school with him and the back injury that
I was dealing with. True top three highlight of the
episode coming up. So stay put, We'll be right back. Okay,
Walk You Talks podcast on the College Athletes Network is back.
Make sure you leave us a review on Apple podcast

(33:32):
if you're enjoying, and let's bring back in the team Jillian,
Greg and Corey. This is like my only perception. But
I also don't think that you quit because you have
a lot of friends. I mean, I think that if
anyone was in your corner, if it wasn't those coaches,
a writer like you just said, you have fifteen really
good friends from writer that you're still in contact with,
and then you have these relationships that you've built up

(33:52):
at Duquene that potentially has pushed you into now a
career with you know another now close friend mentor so
I think that not I think quitting would have meant
that you would also have lost those relationships, would have
been quitting them and supported you even though you weren't
getting on the court and even though you weren't playing.

(34:12):
Those relationships like we're more important to you than like
walking right, And I think but I think it's funny though,
is that when Noah went from writer to to D
three school, which was the college that I was going to, Like,
I don't think that he didn't have any friends, but
I don't think he was there long enough to form
the same bonds. And like the city, he was hurt
with a herniated disc, like you couldn't even play and

(34:34):
more than the herniation, but we'll leave it at that. Yeah, yeah,
spine curvature in the X ray, it looked like his
neck was like I had a transitional vertebrae, a cracked
spine at the bottom of like my L five and
I had a herniated disk and I was an absolute
posture is still terrible. So yeah, seriously, seriously, I'm sitting

(34:56):
block right now, guys, I'm straightenbout I I brought it
up though, because like, it's funny because even in that moment,
you weren't playing because you were hurt. And now you're
at this D three school that's not really offering you
anything because the whole reason you were going there was
to get game film to go back and hopefully get
a scholarship somewhere else. And now you're just there watching
these D three practices with people you don't even know,

(35:18):
and yeah, you're going to my school. And it was like,
you still wouldn't quit, and I every day it was like,
you should quit, you should, you should you should, you
should quit, and then you should fucking drop out of
this school. You're like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I ever
asked you to come here. This was a terrible idea. Leave. Yeah,

(35:39):
And he wouldn't do it. He would not quit, And
I'm like, I don't get it. I don't get it.
Greg was telling me to quit in September, he was
telling me to quit in December, and in February, literally
like even before the last game of the season, he
was like, you should go. You should just quit as
soon as you got it hurt again, because you are
he can't. He was better once he got there and
then he got hurt within five days of practicing, and

(36:00):
once he got hurt again and was like, oh, I'm
not I don't I'm gonna be out for a while.
I'm like, you should withdraw from all of your classes
and go home. Man, I want you to be at
my college. But this, You're just gonna lose a year
of eligibility. This is so stupid. The fucking coaches of
douche bag get out of here. And he's just sitting

(36:20):
there like I love basketball. No, I love basketball. I'm like, dude,
me too, but fuck this. Yeah, no, it was. It
was a major funk this Like it was every day
that I I look back on that, I'm like, I
cannot believe I went to those practices every single day.

(36:41):
I went to those games like because there came a
point where I was healthy and I was sitting on
that bench ready, I was getting in shape every day
during practice. I had a nice gear up. Took me
a while, It took me like two months. Like once
I was quote unquote healthy because I was away from
the game for eight total months, like I was. It
was like I tore my c l knock on would
but like the back stuff piled up kept me out

(37:03):
for that long, and I was sitting on that bench
like the whole time going I could just be sitting
on Rider's bench right now, Like this is terrible with
my with my friends, Like I thought that I wasn't
friends with kids at Ramapo, but like you said, like
didn't have a lot of Like I missed a lot
of stuff in the preseason, so I wasn't around them
a lot. Like I was missing some of the away
games in the beginning of the year because I was

(37:24):
going home driving an hour and a half to get
like extra rehab, extra you know, what's the what's the
Tammy therapy, greg Um release. Yeah, I was trying to
get mild fascial release and like you know, cryo freeze.
I was doing fucking everything in the world. I remember
we were joking around that Noah. Noah was like Lebron
he had a team of doctors. Yeah I did. I

(37:46):
had like three factors working on me. I was going
to know I had. I had Mommy, Maddie, uh, mr Kozil,
Tammy and the doctors in Ramsey up by Ramapo. So
I had like a team of five different people like
coming from my back like you can you. Yeah. Yeah,

(38:09):
So I I'm glad I didn't. Like I look back
on that, and I'm glad that I didn't walk away.
Like there's always that like feeling of like because if
I didn't finish, I'd be looking at it like I
could have just rode that out, Like I'm two years
out of that situation, and any time I think of it,
I'm always like, man, I'm so happy I stuck that out,
Like it just gives me like a it gives me

(38:30):
like some sort of like toughness batch of like it
was so fucking bad, so miserable, honestly more miserable than
any bad thing that happened at Rider that I'm like,
I got through that, like I did it. It's cool.
I can smile about it, I I can laugh about And
then the pandemic hit and I got four and a
half months to totally unwind, chill, do whatever the funk
I want to figure out my life. Knew I was
not going back there. Um, but yeah, I think that

(38:52):
like looking back, if I did quit, I'll probably i'd
feel a little bit different because like, ID like, I
didn't anything. No, but also I have this correlation that
I always think about about me, myself and you only
because it is a little interesting. This woman said this
to me. Nasty, nasty woman. Um, when I was a senior.

(39:14):
She was a mother of a girl who was just
such an excellent singer and such an amazing dancer, and
she got into every conservatory for musical theater and she's perfect.
And this mother was like, oh, I heard you got
in nowhere. And I was like, you're right, I got
absolutely absolutely nowhere. I tried like we're talking about our parents, like,

(39:34):
you know, like pushing us up. I tried out for
the best. Just to preface this, I have a point.
I tried out for the absolute best, top top top
musical theater schools in the country. They take eight girls,
eight guys, like, you're not getting in, like not. If
someone had a real conversation with me, they would have
looked me dead in the face and said, hunt, you're good,
but you're not getting in. You need to figure out

(39:55):
plan B, C and day because you're not getting it.
So I didn't get in. This woman looks at me
said this to my face, and I was like, you're right, lady,
I'm gonna cry. So say what you're gonna say, and
she was like, well, you know, it's just you're great
in a small pond. And I was like, you're right.
And my point is to this knowing, not to say

(40:16):
you're great in a small pond. My point is to say,
ironically enough, I did get in somewhere, ironically enough, eventually
I did get in somewhere, but I had to do
it all over again. But out of those five years,
I never was in one play. I was never in
one musical. I was never doing one thing that I
said I was gonna do, even though I went to
the school to do it and someone said yes to me.

(40:38):
And the hindsight of that is it really is just ironic.
And the difference between me and you is that I
genuinely can say that I didn't try. I was not
on a bench. I was not waiting to get on
that court. I was not waiting to go to these auditions.
I was not trying. So if I actually sat on
the bench, maybe I would have been in one play.

(40:58):
Maybe would have been the black Box that the random
kid you know directed, and it wasn't a who cares
like I would have done something. But you, even though
you sat on that bench, you were one step closer
than I ever was, So you don't you don't quit
when you have a vision. And I think that even
though your vision wasn't fully complete, there's an iron like

(41:21):
an irony to the fact that, like, oh, I did
this thing, and then I sat and I watched a
bunch of people play. I never played, but like I
was there, and it's like it's weird. It's a weird thing.
And you know, I think it has a lot to
do with aiming too high too soon. So I didn't
need to try out for the best musical theater schools. Ever,
I could have went to Montclair and I could have
had a great education, and I could have maybe ended

(41:43):
up in a musical. You could have went D three
or maybe went to a prep school and had a
different course. It's just that we aims so high, thinking
a little too highly of ourselves. Yeah, right, No, that's
exactly what it was. I don't think that I had
like anybody that was more unbiased in in my circle
that could have said like, hey, man, like you are

(42:03):
a good player and you could have Division one potential,
but like you need to work on these four things
and you need to have a better understanding of the game,
Like I just went in blind off people's words of
like you're a six five shooter, you're a D one baller,
Like that was it. That was literally what it came
down to. It was like your six five would have
clipped like you can play D one. Your height isn't
the only thing that was going to carry you through that,

(42:24):
that's not. But also the name tag of D one,
like what's you what's you're in the environment a D one?
And then or just around college athletics, like it's about
playing like you're you're you want to play, like it
doesn't matter that you have the thing connected to your name,
you know, if you're not playing. Because you know, there's
kids that we know that maybe could have went D one,

(42:45):
but they did. They decided to go D three and
they they spent four years at a D three school
and they, you know, average twenty seven points a game,
and they had this whole career and they played basketball
for four years. And then none of these people are
like I wish I went to D one. No, And
a lot of these kids are just as good as
some of these maybe not when you get to the
mid majors and the high majors. But like a lot

(43:06):
of these D really good D two players, really good
D three players, they're fucking badasses, and they didn't they
didn't need to go up against that competition or fight
through the politics of D one to prove that they're
just like I'm just gonna go to the school and
do the thing that I love and play. But you know,
we we got too caught up in the in the

(43:26):
name recognition. I'm so boogie too. Like when I the
year I spent at the D three school, I was like,
you know, they're handing me ten bucks, were taking a
fucking school bucks a school bus to like like Montclair
or wherever we were going, And it was on us to,
like during the girls game that we had to watch
prior to our game, you know, walk around the area

(43:47):
of the school and go get some food. Like I'm
eating Burger King and McDonald's with ten dollar fucking per diem,
you know, before the game, and I'm like, Yo, this
is so not what I want to be doing. I
would literally rather eat it at the end of the
bench then be eating ten dollar Burger King before this game. Seriously, seriously,
I was so boogie that, like I remember you know,
even going back to making the decision out of high school, like, oh,

(44:09):
I want to live that D one life, like to
travel the gear, the planes, the road trips, like all
the meals, and it was great, Like it was everything
you know you could ask for being on a D
one team, Like we got catered to so much. And
then I got to see the other side of it
of college athletics when you're not catered to. And then
I jumped, you know, triple the level. I went from

(44:29):
a low major atte Rider to a D three all
the way to a school in the A ten and
I'm being handed gear with my favorite players symbol on
it with a crown on it, and I'm like, oh,
hell yeah, Like I don't give a funk what happens here.
I'm getting custom bronze. He's like all this dope ass ship.
That's like, this is what I this is what I'm
here for. I'm making the connections, I'm making friends, I'm
making relationships. I'm playing basketball. I might not be getting

(44:52):
in the game, but I'm playing basketball, like and I'm
learning basketball. Like there was always like those positives that
you know, they kind of fade into the background sometimes
when all the negative ship is like more apparent, but
it was always still there, like talking about it with
you guys, like it was always still Like I did
get all those amenities. I did get catered to. I
did get weekly massages like I was fucking livid. Like

(45:13):
I got two meals a day, Like for two years,
I was getting two meals a day an apartment off campus,
Uh every two weeks. We got groceries, like there's amazing.
There's amazing amenities to being a Division one basketball player,
Like I was able to eat six meals a day
last year because it was it was available, And if
I was at a Division three school, like I wouldn't

(45:34):
have had money to pay for those type of groceries
and meals. Tyroid, you should check your thyroid. I think
you're hungry, too hungry for Yeah. Also it's like, yeah,
these are amazing things that you were afforded, But I
feel like I still watched you go through so much mentally.
I don't know how much you want to include, but

(45:56):
you brought it up to me earlier. There was a
point in October, so I had known you for years.
So you're on your your second year Educande where you
came to me after practice and you were fully bawling
your eyes out. I think it was like one of
the first times I've ever seen you cry, like fully
bawling your eyes out. Mentally, you were just not doing
good and like, yeah, the good seems great. You went
from a low level like D three you were taking

(46:19):
a yellow school bus to go around with ten dollars
in your pocket to get food, to you know, getting
food two times a day, to having lebron emblems on
your stuff, like you're living lavish, getting massage this weekly excuse.
So mentally, yeah, you're being afforded all these great things.
It's coming out of price. Do you think that price

(46:41):
is worth it? Um Sometimes yes and sometimes no, I
don't really, Like I think the one thing that makes
it worth it is that now that I've gotten through it,
it's over, it's done. It's history. Like it's the same
thing with not quitting at Ramapo, Like I'm able to
look back on those situations and feel like, honestly like
a sense of gratitude of like, yo, that ship made

(47:03):
me tougher, Like it was hard, but like it made
my skin thicker and it made me just like kind
of have a better outlook on how people will treat
people or how I want to be treated, So therefore
I have to treat other people that way as well.
And I think like just being able to see all
those things and being exposed to it just made me

(47:23):
tougher and it made me like, I don't know, I
don't know what the word is, um, but I don't.
Like I think in the moment, it's easy to say like, no,
that's not worth it, Like I don't want to be
you know, verbally abused and whatever. But like, honestly, like
I am, I am not an outlier, like and I
think you all are aware of that. Like I would
say of kids that play college sports, like in some
capacity are being verbally abused, Like college coaches are on

(47:46):
fucking power trips and they don't really care they're and
you know, they're they're coaching the game because they love it,
but they're also making a hefty check and they're making
a living off that. So it's like there's pressure on
them every day to win ball games and prove the
athletic director that they were the right to sit to
higher and so like sometimes like a nineteen year old
kids feelings are they don't give a funk like it's like, dude,
help me win a game or sit the funk down,

(48:08):
like and yeah, like that's that's the brunt of it.
It ain't always like sweet, but I think like being
around that, seeing it, being a part, like it happening
to me, it just made me tougher. And I don't
really think like I would trade it. I think like, yeah,
of course would have liked to been treated better more consistently,
but like it's just I don't know, it's weird. It's
weird to say like that helped me, like have it,

(48:31):
like being treated like shit help help me have a
better outlook on how to treat people. I don't know, Yeah,
I'm rambling. I'm also kind of thinking of of a
you know, just the way we were raised and not
I don't want to call like middle class or lower
middle class, but I mean as far as our financial
situation growing up, it wasn't necessarily like you know, lavish,

(48:51):
and I think, you know, there's like a standard when
you get older where you're like, you know, I would
like to have that in my life. I'd love to
have this affluence or this you know, this next level
that I didn't have as a kid or even as
a young adult, and I think that you know, it
draws you in. There's a lifestyle that you have, you know,

(49:11):
gotten over the last two years being at Duquese that
potentially is you know, attractive. And the fact that like
I paid my dues, I was at two different schools
and and like treated like complete crap. And so even
if I'm on the bench at this school, they don't
treat me any crap. They've seen me like a human
and there's a lot of perks and I'm going to
take them because I deserve them. Yeah, I think they

(49:31):
I think they were just so cool, like at Duquine
because like the staff had been together for so long
and it was like for them like super family oriented
and like any kid that they gave a scholarship to
was like, yeah, come be a part of the family.
And I don't think that when they told me I
could be on the team that they really thought like
I was coming there to be a part of the family.
Like I think they just looked at it. I was like, yeah,

(49:52):
this kid wants to get into coaching, like wants to
finish out his career here, like put him on the team. Whatever.
But I like made such a good impression on that
because I was older, I had more experience, like and
I was less insecure, less nervous, like and just was
being my more of myself that they accepted me so quickly,
and like you know, some of those coaches, like most

(50:13):
of the coaches, like I enjoyed hanging out with then
a lot of my teammates over the last two years,
Like if anybody followed Duquesne basketball, like guys have been
on and off this team. There's been roster turnover like crazy,
and there's no not it's not I'm not singling any
individual out, but like I wasn't necessarily around some of
the best guys ever, Like these team dynamics at Duquesne

(50:34):
were nothing like my team dynamics at Rider, who are
some of my best friends, like I said earlier, and
I think like the coaches just you know, open their
arms with a warm welcome, and you know, now they're
all my friends. Like they're all older men, but like
they're literally my friends. Like we funk with each other,
like we're gonna go golfing, go get a drink, Like
I'm thirty years younger than these guys, but like that's
like where the bond has gone to, and like that's

(50:56):
I think something I'll never trade as like the relationships
that I got out of these experiences. Like we should
preface that you would talk to the old guy in
sixth grade at your you know, sixth grade basketball game,
so this is like normal for you. What old guy.
I don't even remember what Noah would be like at
his sixth grade basketball game and like talking to one
of his friends dad's or like you know, the grandfather

(51:17):
that was like watching the game and he'd have like
a full conversation with like a person that's like forty
years fifty years older than him. Because You've always been
like that. I say it all the time. He's like
an old man. Like old say like you're an old man. Like, so,
I'm not surprised he is an old man. He called
himself a youngster the other day. I'm like, dude, are

(51:38):
you fucking a hundred years old? Hold on, I'm surprised
that the word youngster is Like that's no one under
seventy is saying youngster like that. I think that. I
think all of us, in our own way have old souls,
but Noah's is like ancient like Noah's like definitely has

(52:01):
been around before. And your energy like attracts that, Like
I think the bond and the mentorship that you have
with your coaches is because of like who you are
at your core, Like it attracts this energy that like
you also want to be around because you want to
get better and you want to learn. But these guys
also see it in you, like, oh, you're only twenty three,

(52:21):
Like they see that you're not like your average twenty
three year old at all. Last break coming up, Stay
with us. We tie the episode together and kind of
come to the conclusion about what my journey really was,
and we touch more on the mental side of everything,
and they all gas me up a little bit at
the end before we wrap it up. Super cool stuff
coming your way, Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(52:44):
And we're back with episode ten of Walkie Talks podcast.
I'm your host, Noah Bono, and today remember we have
my siblings Jillian and Greg and my girlfriend Corey on
with us, so let's bring them back in and ride
out this home stretch of episode ten. And I think
that you were really young, you were a kid, and
you were really truly mistreated there, and I think it
really fucked with your head. And I also think that

(53:05):
your insecurity levels were already rocky because you were so
young at that time, that the way that they handled
the situation, like like Greg said, like they couldn't even
do the decent thing and treat you like a human
and so then to like kind of see you because
the noah like in a room, the Noah towards friends,
the Noah towards like meeting new people, Like that guy

(53:26):
doesn't care. He's like, I am all set if you're
my friend, or you're not my friend, or you invite
me here if you don't invite me. But that person
was not that in a basketball setting with writer, because
they were like kind of monstrous to you. And so
then it just you lead with like insecurity fear, like
probably debilitating anxiety. I mean, there were countless phone calls
I had with you, and I'm sure way more with

(53:47):
Greg that were like visceral emotional things that you were
going through because people were genuinely not even hearing you
seeing you, Like these people didn't even see you and
you were a kid. And I think, like the one
I mentioned about the structure of you know, it being
with like kind of an epidemic in in college sports

(54:07):
that why have a walk on if you're not going
to even hear this kid their kids like even if
you want them to you know, get like do what
you say, Like, they're still kids, so there has to
be like some empathy to the fact that they left
their families. And like Greg's point, you paid to be here,
so you clearly want to be here. So it's it's
kind of infuriating that these families would send their kids

(54:31):
off in the hopes that they're well taken care of
and their mental state is probably worse after the fact.
And you know that I don't think is that arc
of like being worse, Like you were not in and
you weren't better off, you were worse. You were like,
oh am I good? Should I you know just tomorrow?
Should I go? Or just like the idea of just

(54:51):
like you're you're putting yourself in debt to be in
this situation and you're a kid and you're in the
hands of these like older men and they're not only
like abusing you emotionally, but they're also fucking destroying your dream.
It's like you literally like and it happened to me,
that's why I didn't keep playing. I'm like, you know,

(55:12):
between all like the losses that we did or like
and and you know we were in a good team
in high school whatever, but just like the people that
were around me, it was like, you're not making the
game fun anymore. Like whatever reason I had for doing this,
like I no longer want to do it anymore. I
gotta figure something else out. And like luckily Noah through
the five years found another niche inside of it, and

(55:35):
it's like, oh, you don't have to be the star
player on the court. You could be a coach, you
could be on that out, you can make a podcast,
you could do whatever the case may be. But it
was like I think that highlighting like how you know,
you go in there with so much fucking hope and
ambition and you are literally treated like ship to the
point where you're like I don't even like the one

(55:56):
thing I love, I don't even want to do anymore
like you you you all ruined it. And I think
that goes to what Noah was saying about like why
he didn't quit. It was like this prideful thing of
like nobody's gonna take this away from me. Like I'm
just gonna get to the finish line and I'm gonna
figure it out because I love this too much, even
though you suck the fun out of sucking playing, Like
I'm gonna figure it out. I'm gonna make the most

(56:18):
out of it. Specifically Writer. We're discussing Writer right now.
You know what's funny about that though, is that like
for three straight years, so two years at Writer, third
yet Roundpoe, I would you know, if practice in the
morning or if it was later on in the day,
Like I would go to practice and there would not
be a bone in my body that was like I
want to be here, Like for three years straight, it

(56:39):
was like, oh my god, Like I gotta go to
that gym for two and a half hours, three hours,
Like it was brutal. It was like I I literally
just forced myself too because it's what I chose to do.
I was taking loans out, paying money to be there,
and it was like this is what I gave myself.
So I think that like that part of it, and honestly,
like touching on like some of the mental health stuff,

(57:00):
like at that time at Rider, like I was not
in an understanding of like what was really going on mentally,
like I brought up like the sadness and the depression
I felt. And at one point I was seeing it
like an on campus therapist, Like it was like through
like the student counseling like at Ryder, like I was
seeing a therapist. And I think I went for like
three or four straight weeks and then I ghosted her

(57:22):
never went again. Um but like I went, and I like,
I'm proud of that. I even I mean it was
nineteen years old. I took the initiative like I need
to talk to somebody, like this is crazy. Um, but
I don't think I understood, like I am depressed. I
have anxiety, like like I said earlier, like I didn't
really understand, like I wasn't a person until a certain

(57:43):
certain period of my life, like when I got to college,
because I got out of that shell and got out
of the bubble of my hometown, pop the bubble. All
of a sudden, I became a person. But I never
knew that feeling that I always had was anxiety. I
never knew, like before a game in high school when
I was like petrified I had to go out there,
worried if I was going to perform, worri if it
worried if I I was gonna play well, if we

(58:04):
were gonna win, if I was gonna help my team.
Who was going to be watching? Like that feeling that
I had was performance anxiety, And I had no fucking
clue that that was even a thing until I read
a book called champions Mind that was written by a
sports psychologist, And this was after my two years at Rider,
and he talked about performance anxiety. And I'm highlighting my
ass off in this book because I'm like, oh wow.

(58:25):
So for like four years of high school, a couple
of years in middle school, like a couple of years
at Rider, I was dealing with ultra mega supreme performance anxiety,
whether it was on the practice court or on the
actual game court. Like and so I think for me,
it was just like I learned things slowly in some
of these areas, whether it was like the i Q
of basketball, the xs and ohs, or it was identifying

(58:47):
that I have crippling anxiety and it's coming from basketball,
like a game I love, Like I have anxiety from
this game, and like I don't know how to deal
with it, and I, you know, obviously learned how to
do it. I like plowed through, you know, talk to
the right people, all of you like, and I had
a great support system, so I think that always helps.
But I think like identifying those things, like in the moment,

(59:09):
I had no idea, like it was I was so young,
Like everything just goes back to me being young, Like
I was so young. I didn't know enough about me,
I didn't know enough about the world about Like the
system is kind of rigged against you though, because if
we could do all of these things again, like I
would be the valedictorian if I was going to college
right now, seventy dollars a year, number one in the

(59:32):
class number one, Like if we're talking about Redos, I
would have never showed up. Ever, I would have fucking
I went to I would have went to vocational school
to became a mechanic, says colossal waste of time. Man,
just that for some people, Gregory feels like I was

(59:53):
all set, like I didn't need that. And then for me,
I feel like if I had it as more of
an adult, I would have appreciated it, more, applied myself,
more bad better grades, Like things would have just been different.
And I feel like everything that you didn't really know
or were unaware of when you were at Rider was
rigged against you because you were a kid, like you know,

(01:00:15):
and it's unfortunately the system and it's how we do
things is that you send your you know, eighteen year
old off to go figure out what they're gonna do
for the rest of your life, which usually isn't the case,
like you're usually not going to do that thing for
the rest of your life. And I and I think, like,
that's not your fault, you know, So everything that transpired
these last five years is kind of based off of

(01:00:38):
maybe a mistake, but like maybe literally may be a
mistake that evolved into your life's path, like, Oops, I
made a mistake. Oops, I did it again and again
and again again. But I'm gonna keep doing it because
it's gonna lead me. Oh okay, I guess I'm okay
with that. It's like it took you this, like it
took the mistake and right, and it's not bad. It's

(01:01:01):
not a bad mistake. You know, some people when they
turn eighteen they start doing heroin, Like, no, it just
went d one when he shouldn't have. And that's fine,
you know, it's fine. Yeah, you know It's like some
mistakes are are far worse than like is it here here,
it's right lined up with your neck. The next you

(01:01:22):
can feel like a meteorologist. I'm sucking sitting on a
stool like an idiot. Go ahead, Greg, finish your finish
your thing. No, I mean yeah, And that was five
years is predicated on a mistake, like looking back on it,
with the family dynamic that we had, the money situation,
the whole thing, like obviously probably should have went to
a school that was gonna pay you to be there,
and you could have grown a little bit more and

(01:01:44):
you could have gotten some good game film and then
you know, if D one came knocking, D one came knocking,
or maybe he did four years at the school, but
but you made this mistake going D one and it
ushered you into a like a college path that was
filled with these great connections that we're gonna keep you
in the game. And that's what me and I have
talked about a lot, is that he could have had

(01:02:06):
this amazing D three career and maybe that would have
led to a D one scholarship or playing overseas, but
maybe it wouldn't have let like he would have got
to the end of it and not had these connections
to stay in the game or to like maybe maybe
potentially coach at a high major school or do whatever
he's doing. Now you know that he's out of basketball.

(01:02:28):
I think that that's the key thing, is that this
mistake like opened the doors that these so many different
worlds that like I don't think me and Noah ever
even new fucking existed when we were in high school.
We were just like, oh, you go D one and
then um, you go to the NBA, and then if
you if you don't go to the NBA, then you
just you just go overseas and you you make a

(01:02:50):
couple of hundred thousand dollars and you have great You
have a great life. This is also coming from that mindset,
is that there was like many steps miss like between
his career. There's just like a misstep of like that path. Yeah,
there was like a lack of I don't want to
say guidance because I had guidance. I think there was
just a lack of understanding of like what was the

(01:03:11):
most realistic and best situation to put me in. But
like a lot of it was on me, Like I
was adamant like I said earlier, like I need to
go do you one. I need to prove these people wrong,
Like and yeah, I think that the whole thing. It's
funny you guys say that, like it's probably predicated off
of a mistake, because yeah, I mean, I mean, yeah,
I made great friends and I had some cool memories,
but all on all, like probably, yeah it was a mistake,

(01:03:34):
like literally, but I also think that making mistakes don't
exist because ultimately you are exactly where you're supposed to be.
So even if it was a mistake, in hindsight, the
mistake created a new plan that was actually the plan.
So ultimately it wasn't a mistake, it just hindsight, it
just wasn't exactly the course that got you what you wanted.
So it's like, now the course shifted what you what

(01:03:57):
you envisioned for yourself, which ultimately made you grow up.
The part of you that wasn't growing up, the party
that was clueless, the part of you that didn't realize
you had anxiety, was the part of you that was
woke up. You know, So maybe without the pain and
the strife and the agony and the anxiety, you would
have never woke up you've just been like, oh my god,
everything's fine, I'm gonna go play overseees like you wouldn't
have known. Yeah, you either when or you learn, you

(01:04:19):
know it has learned. I learned, though I definitely did
not win, Dick, but I learned, and I think that
that's cool. You weren't a good you weren't a good
student in the classroom, but you're you're a good student
on the court. You know you really you really hung
in there while they're they're throwing fucking fastballs right your head.

(01:04:43):
They're like, quit, you stupid bitch. We don't want you here,
and you're like, I love basketball. I love basketball. I
won't quit. Like delusional love. Yeah, I was like, oh
you can. You could kick me right in the balls
and I'd stay right here and I'd watch the rest
of this practice in even more pain. I was going

(01:05:04):
to kind of segue from there and kind of ask
I have this thought, and I could be wrong, but
if you were to take a basketball pause as far
as being on the court or even thinking twice about
being a player, could you imagine yourself pursuing that in
any way? Because you are only twenty three. No, I'm
done I'm complete, as sad as that is to say, yeah,

(01:05:28):
I shed my last years when we lost in the
ten Conference tournament, and I have a quite bit. That's
what I'm getting at, is like twenty three year old
brain is not And I guess is there an inkling
of you that could see that more mature version of
you that could go maybe I maybe I would entertain
that when I'm not this age. At this point, it's

(01:05:49):
like basketball always ends at some point. I would rather
just get a headstart on like just pursuing. You know,
I did it for so long, and it's like I
think that the journey, like throughout, was slowly sucking my
joy out of it and my desire to want to
get better and like prove people wrong because you need
like a fire inside of you to keep playing. I'm like, like,

(01:06:10):
what is it? That's some people just straight up love
the game and love hooping, but other people like play
because there's something burning inside them that's like I gotta
do this for this person. I gotta do this, you know,
because these people said I couldn't. Like I think I
I'm burnt out of all of that, Like I love
I actually think the opposite. I think My mindset is
is that you spent so much time doing things to
prove people wrong that if you ever were to make

(01:06:32):
that choice, when I say ever, because you are only
twenty three, that if you were to make that choice
and like I'm dead inficating myself to actually achieving this
thing that I want to do with this sport, for me,
like that would be an acceptable reason to go chase
that if it ever happened. Yeah, I think that I
just genuinely don't feel like I want to play anymore.
Like sometimes like I've been asked to play pick up,

(01:06:52):
like a couple of months after the season, and I'm like, no, yeah,
you go, you go through that. I still I didn't
play for over not even any pick up at like
two years maybe, And then I got into Ramapo and
I played intermural for like the first that was my
first ever like game with a ref since I was
like eighteen, And I played like my last game of

(01:07:15):
a U and it was awesome because for the first
fucking time of my life, there was no pressure to
do anything, like I'm just balling with my roommates, you know,
and I don't have to prove anything to anyone, like
I'm just out here playing basketball and there's nothing I'm
trying to gain from this except for just to have fun.
And you know, it was a blast. It was the

(01:07:38):
fucking first time I had fun playing basketball in years.
I was like, oh, this is why I dedicated my
childhood to this fucking sport. You know. But definitely once
you come out of it, you're like I'm good, Like
I'm taking like the necessary like I don't know how
much time it will be, but like aside from basketball,
like Corey can attest to this, like I've barely been

(01:07:59):
in the gym working out either, Like I don't even
go late anymore, Like gym sucks. Yeah, And I will like,
I like, it's crazy you went from like waking up
six am and being in the gym for like four
hours at a time to absolutely nothing. I think, and
I've seen you go to the gym three times being

(01:08:20):
a motivated athletic amazing. I think that you're doing like
a good like recuperation time, like rejuvenating, getting your I
think mental health back first before you go in the
gym and start crushing it again. I think it's just
some some like revitalization of like I was putting in
so much work, and I love working out and sweating,

(01:08:40):
and you know, it's great for my brain, It's great
for like how I feel throughout the day. It's a
great feeling to work out, push yourself and get that.
I don't know. I get very satisfied from my workouts,
but I think, like, I don't know, it was so
long and grueling, and it's like just taking a little
bit of a layoff. I'm waiting for my credit card
to get shipped, and then I will use my credit
card to then line up for gym membership and I'll

(01:09:01):
be right back where I started. But like very personal
information for all. He's going to get a credit card everyone, no, no, no,
so you can catch it before he does. So here
I had a credit card and in December I lost
it in a bar and I have called Capital One
four different times to ship it, and they keep shipping

(01:09:21):
it to the wrong address. So someone has gotten a
credit card of mine and no one's made any charges.
But I finally have I think the episode is sponsored
by Capital One. Do you want to do like a
quick hitter? Quick hitters? I only had one that I
could think of. A big part of our conversation was
about you know, just you didn't get the highlights on

(01:09:44):
the court, but you made a lot of great relationships.
So I feel like it's only right to, like, you know,
shout out your favorite teammate. Yeah, yeah, who's in your
top who's in your top teammates? On my space? My favorite?
Is he my favorite teammate? Like on the court, my

(01:10:04):
favorite teammate? No, there's a lot of funk that dude,
the guy you like the best. Yeah, that's ridiculous. The
person I had the closest who Yeah, yeah, okay, it
like that. My dog Ryan O'Leary. He was walking on
with me at Rider and he ate all of the
same ship that I ate. Right next to me. He
actually got a better play of ship than I did.

(01:10:26):
And he'll admit that. Like he used to always come
up to me and be like, man, I don't get
treated well here, but you really don't get treated well here,
Like like there were levels. Yeah, shout out to my boy.
All right, well we're good. We'll wrap it. Good that
we'll wrap it. This is an excellent experience. My first

(01:10:46):
time on a podcast. I was so nervous, but I
think I did a really good job. Any did I
did I did that was gonna get off. Yeah, Greg, sorry,
you guys have been interrupted each other all day. We
did all right, and it was just the ing. I
think we've been pretty good. And Noah, you did amazing.

(01:11:08):
You didn't cut a single person off, not once I
was waiting. I would like this. I would like to
say to you as your sister, which I think that
I've already said in other ways, that is on the record. Yes,
this is on the record. Older sister is saying on
the record that we are very proud of you, and
it does not matter that you were ever on that
court because that was not the point. And the thing

(01:11:30):
that you are doing now is like so exceeds all
of the expectations. I think any of us ever had,
like the idea that you have done this podcast, like
from your brain, Like you just were like, I have
an idea, and then like did it. You know, not
a lot of people will do those things. And I
think every time you have a little inkling of like

(01:11:52):
only eight people listen this week, who cares? Who cares?
Because there's someone that's writing doing a podcast and they
got too and they were and you are putting something
out there that is important and the more consistency you
give it, the more traction it will get. And I
think that this conversation is completely valid and important and
you will help create change in the walk On collegiate

(01:12:16):
journey because of starting something like this. Yeah, I I
feel like, um, I need to step in and one upper.
I've been through Noah's basketball career. You know, from the jump.
I remember him not wanting to go to tryouts when
he was twelve because he wanted he was a baseball player.
He was just a baseball player. And then you know,

(01:12:36):
he pulls up to the wreck try out and he
makes every single shot. I don't even know if he
ever fucking shot a basketball in his life, but he
just had like natural ability and like a natural love
for the game. And you know, I'm just like just
super proud of you and everything that you've accomplished. And
you know, from my perspective, like you learned a lot,
you met a lot of cool people, and you're gonna,

(01:12:58):
you know, build a career in basket ball, and it's
and it's it's awesome that you found another aspect of
the game that you really like. Me it's just like
it's a shame that college basketball missed out on an
absolute dog, you know, because they didn't get to see
the boy at work, but I did, you know, and
I feel I feel special because of that. I'm like,
these motherfucker's don't know what they're missing because my boy

(01:13:19):
is a dog. And I'll I'll literally die saying that Noah,
given the right opportunity, could have been a well known
name on the college basketball court. No doubt. In my mind,
I would literally go to I would. It doesn't matter
who I'd have to argue with. You know, it could
be Lebron himself. I'd be no, no, no, My brother
is a dog, like, given the chance, he probably would
have been better than you. Nah. Um. But just overall,

(01:13:42):
just like the podcast ideas dope and you know, you
you went through a lot, and you're you're taking what
you went through and you're flipping it on its head
to try to help other people out. And I think
that's super dope and I'm glad that on the tenth
episode we all got to be a part of it.
Fucking Walkie Talkie Gang Forever Boy w t Z. Yes, sir,
thank you, Corey. Gass me up really quickly. Okay, I

(01:14:06):
don't know, I think in the same one year said
I'm extremely proud of you. I think I met you
when you were you were kind of down, bad emotionally
and as selfish as it is to say, I'm glad
that you went through the because I wouldn't have met
you if you hadn't had a horrible time at writer
and then gone to another school and then had a
bad year and then gone to another school. It's like it,

(01:14:28):
and in the same way that you continue to show up,
I continue to show up and watch you, you sit
there across the room doing little finger hearts or whatever.
I'm proud of you and you've just you've grown a lot,
even within two years, and it took a lot to
create this and happy you didn't mappy. I can listen
to it, even though you don't really like listening to it.
But thank you and thank you all Um. All right,

(01:14:50):
that's a wrap for episode ten of Walkie Talkings podcast
on the College Athletes Network, featured on I Heart Radio.
I'm your host, and actually today your hosts were Jillian,
Greg and Core and I think they did a kick
ass job. Honestly, might have to have you guys back
on the show, um, because you jell, your jell, your
kick ass interviewer. I'm not even going dead ass really
about the fucking gas. Jian brought the gas. You might

(01:15:12):
have your own little podcast coming up soon. Um what
a vibe, man. I had a really good time recording
that with my people. Uh we went long enough and
throughout the episode, I literally forgot to even talk about
what I'm doing now post college basketball. Uh. And you
heard us talk about the whole time connections and this
walk on Journey gave me the connections and the opportunity
to now work within basketball as I will be working

(01:15:35):
for a new basketball player development startup business called Run
This Show that was founded by a former coach of
mine at du Quine and someone who has become just
a great friend and mentor to me, Steve McNeice. Shout
out to my guy, Steve. Steve has giving me the
opportunity to be a coach to the youth, to high
school college players right away out of the gates of
being a college basketball player and learned the ropes and

(01:15:57):
also being the gym with a ton of pro guys
and assistant their workouts and just continuing to learn and
learn as we continue to grow the company. Um, I'm
really excited to be a part of it, and you know,
also be leading a new scouting service called the hoop
herold or I'll be evaluating young talent, writing up reports
on players to then help colleges find those players. You
can check out our Twitter at the Hoop Herald, where

(01:16:18):
we post all sorts of different kind of basketball content,
and our Instagram at run the Show dot us to
follow us along our journey. You know, originally I did
plan to try and be a graduate assistant for a
Division one program, but this opportunity to stay around hoops
in a different capacity was a perfect situation for me,
you know, especially after my strenuous five years and finishing
my basketball career on a seventeen game losing streak definitely

(01:16:41):
left a little sour taste in my mouth. So I
kind of needed a break from college hoops and I'm
just happy to be a part of these companies and
you know, grateful for Steve and our other owners for
bringing me along. So really special stuff going on. Go
follow us on those socials because we are just getting started.
And thank you again to everyone who's tuned in. This
was was again really a special episode and I'm happy

(01:17:03):
we got to get it out there and that my sister, brother, girlfriend,
we're all able to be a part of it with me. Um.
I'll have more about my story as we continue to
climb the ladder, no doubt, but this was a good
ice breaker. Uh. And if you go on Apple Podcasts
and scroll down on the podcast page, there will be
a button to leave some stars and write a review.
We would really appreciate it. Whether you liked it hated
it does not matter. Just go give us some reviews.

(01:17:25):
We we love them, we need them. And Uh, if
you haven't already and you enjoyed this content, please make
sure you are subscribed to Walkie Talkies Podcast on the
I Heart Radio app, on Apple podcast or wherever you
listen to your podcast so you don't miss any episodes.
It is always appreciated. Thank you again to everyone who
hung out with us. I hope you all did enjoy
and remember the motto of this podcast. Walkie Talkies Podcast

(01:17:55):
has been a presentation of I Heart Radio and the
College Athletes Networks as ass

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EP #10 | Get To Know WTZ Host - Noah Buono: 5yr CBB Walk-on |

Episode Transcript

Host

Noah Buono

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}EP #10 | Get To Know WTZ Host - Noah Buono: 5yr CBB Walk-on |