1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Henry Bilcic on college tennis, growing up playing basketball, Husker upcoming weekend matches: January 13th, 2026, 11:25am

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

As a tall tennis player, Bilicic talks about growing up playing basketball. College Tennis has a great fanbase at matches. Nebraska-Omaha preview. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

If weight management is one of your new year goals, Quicksilver Scientific's GLP1 amplifier can help. This science-backed formula supports metabolic balance, curbs cravings, and promotes healthy blood sugar levels, making it easier to stay consistent and in control. It helps give your body the boost it needs to keep you on track. Feel confident and energized this year with Quicksilver Scientific's GLP1 amplifier. Get 10% off and free shipping at tryqs.com slash podcast.

Again, that's tryqs.com slash podcast for 10% off and free shipping. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Back to one-on-one with DP. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation on 93-7 the ticket. Oh, man. This is what we bought. This is what Henry's here. He's offering himself. He's offering the program. we Henry offers Bach the chance to come down check out the risk right see whether he can handle like he can he get Bach can you get a servant perhaps I don't know I got safety you can do it give me a yeah let warm up give me some deep you know pointers maybe I can get

there well we're gonna get you trained right yeah I mean he's not gonna just throw you in the water and say swim and shark bruh like but we just want you we want you to be you you you need to be our catnets. You need to go down and go. You need to volunteer and then tell people what you saw. I'm not even at the college level. I've tried. I was very humbled when I tried the tennis once.

And it was like, you know, playing with somebody that was playing in high school. And I just couldn't even like, it wasn't even flow. Like, you know, when you play with somebody that just is like, it's their first time, they're, again, it opens up your eyes to how, more much more difficult it is than it would well we're gonna what time do you guys practice um

usually around eight back someday we just right just go down and be a reporter yeah i can do that go down and be a reporter and and between peter and henry and the whole crew they'll get you like we just need for you i need five serves from you we'll take care of you right right just to send you down there. Oh, man, that's crazy. So, Henry, your, your basketball's a part of your heart and the work that was done. Give me

some high school numbers. What were you putting up? I was a shooter. I loved that. Look at Box. Head big. Perk up. Box a member of the shooters club. Yeah, no, I mean, I was a stretch big, though. That could really help out. Yeah. Yeah, I used

to, I mean, I grew kind of late. So I came in high school. I think it was probably five, seven. I left. I was six, nine. Wow. So I grew very quick in high school, but I was always, I was kind of a stretch for, but, you know, I always, a lot of my old teammates always mess around me that I couldn't defend a chair. So I wasn't exactly putting up Tony now, Tony Allen, you know,

numbers on defense. But yeah, I could definitely shoot it. I mean, I loved it. I love the corner especially. Look at Bach over there, corner three. Oh, yeah. Yeah, look, Austin Ormond in there, corner three. Three Club. Look at all you. What is it? What is happening with all you corner three guys? Yeah, I loved it. Yeah, I mean, I was a I was big fan too on the baseline. If I would catch it, you know, they would close out hard and I would rip, rip through left and then go a little floater. Um, yeah, I should have, I should have spent some more time in the post. And I knew how big I was going to be, but I still was just, I fell in love with the three for sure. Listen, Anthony Davis had the same deal, right? It's just he didn't know, David Robinson didn't know. Yeah. You didn't know till you knew. And it was like, wait a minute. Okay. but from the skills go with you. Yeah, for sure.

Even when you do that, have you, have you talked to coach Hoyberg at all? I've talked to them a little bit around the training table, just here, and there nothing, nothing too, you know,

too long, but he's a great guy. Did you go and record like a, your own, like recruiting tape? Just the show, like, just you shooting,

knocking down three. I've been to, I've been to two practices, actually since I've been here. And, man, those guys, those guys are some dogs. I'm going to need a little more time

to, to knock the rust off a little bit. Well, they had a moment a couple of years ago where, where, you know, Bach was it COVID year? What was that? Or before that where they had, they were short on players and they went and got. Oh, that's right.

They wouldn't got a couple of athletes from other programs to dress out. Yeah. And of course, Brand banks, he missed the free throws. He got in, got to the free throw. I missed free throws.

But yeah, I think we should have that conversation. No, it would be, uh, it'd be fun for sure. How fun is it as a basketball fan and as a Husker to watch this basketball? It's unbelievable.

And I mean, you know, obviously they're ranked very high in the country. I think they're up to eight now. And, you know, they're 16 and 0 and a winning street, you know, dating back to the last season. But for me personally, just, I think you can relate to this too, just as a basketball fan, it's the wins are great, but it's a lot of it is how they play. I mean, they're absolutely battling from the first tip until the final buzzer sounds. So for me, as a fan, that's what that's the most fun to watch. It's just the way they play and how harder they play.

And they're so well coached. And every guy that comes in there is just, you know, they're diving after loose balls and they're winning all 50-50. So I think that for me is, especially as a Nebraska athlete is the most, you know, thing that I hold the most pride in with what they're doing is just the way they play. And, you know, I've talked to some of my friends who have played college basketball and, you know, they play in the Big Ten. And they're, they're texting me.

And, you know, everybody's must-see TV right now. Everybody's watching it. And a lot of it just goes back to, how hard those guys work. And, you know, especially on the defensive end, I mean, they are getting after it. So I think for me, that's the most fun part for me to watch. And it's great

for Nebraska athletics just to see that for other teams to see how hard they're playing and how well they're playing right now. So it's been great. You're the example, one of the Texas was talking about Indiana football, finding its way through some lower level players and then bringing them in.

But that's what's happening in tennis right here in Lincoln, that literally from lower levels, they're players that just need time to develop and grow. For you, what can Nebraska offer that Trinity could? Yeah, I mean, that's a very question. Feeling sluggish from all the extra food, drinks, and celebrations, kick off the new year with a science-backed reset. Quick Silver Scientific's push-catch liver detox is a patented simple two-step system that supports your liver, gut, and whole-body detoxification, helping clear out with slowing you down so you feel

energized for the year ahead. It's more than a cleanse. QuickSilver Scientific's push-catch liver detox helps reset your system. Get 10% off and free shipping at tryqs.com slash podcast. Again, that's tryqus.com slash podcast for 10% off and free shipping. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. I think the biggest thing it offered me is, one, our team, the level we had is the day and day and day out with practices. The level is going to be a lot higher. And also, like, there's just overall rules in Division III that just make it really hard. Like, when I was there, we had pretty much a four-week fall season.

And then the coach couldn't be on court with us from pretty much. I think it was early October until March. So that's one of the biggest things is just now it's, you know, anytime you want to and call it, like, hey, P, let's go work on some four-ins. He's like, see you there. I'll be there in five minutes. So I think that's the biggest thing is just the overall access you have to the coaching. and the level of coaching too.

I mean, like I said, the level of play, and you're just playing against a higher level. But I think, too, the biggest thing in Nebraska, I think the coaches have really helped my game. And I've spent a ton of time over there at the facility. But I would say, yeah, a lot of it is the Division I rules allow you to get a lot better, which was my always complaint about Division III,

was just like, you know, you're not on court with a coach from October to March. You can get better in certain ways. Maybe you have, you know, outside resources. But I think that was one thing where I really felt like I could go to, to a higher level. And I started getting results at the division three level where I was like, you know, I can I can play with these guys. Like, let's do it. Let's see. Let's see. And yeah, I think for sure the coaching has been great and the level of play. Is, if I asked you about if you

collected all of the division three number ones. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Could you put together if you took six of them. Could you compete in the big 10? That's a good question. I mean, actually a few of us are actually, you know, transferred to Division I schools. One of the guys on USC, actually, Trishon Bradley was a fellow D3 player. We actually played, we played each other actually back in the day. He went to a school called Bowden. So I really do think that the level of Division III is very high. I mean, especially when you're playing one, you know, day and day out,

you're playing guys that could easily play Division I tennis, guys that were, you know, top 20 in the country. And for whatever reason, they show us a Division III route maybe academically or maybe because they wanted to balance more. But yeah, I think you could definitely create a squad. I don't know how well they would do in the Big Ten, but, I mean, they would go out there in battle for sure, for sure. There are things that happen.

There's a love for the game for lower level players. And then an appreciation that happens because you're being developed and somebody's investing in. Right. Right. And we understand that when we talk about the money of NIL, tennis is a different conversation. There are no, we're not talking about mass,

massive amounts of millions of dollars being thrown. around. In the consideration part of it, at the top of the list for you, what were you looking for when you decided you were going to leave Trinity and go somewhere else? What were the things at the top of the pyramid? Yeah, I mean, it was a really hard decision for me. Like I was saying earlier, I spent three years there. So I spent a lot of time there. And honestly, Trinity took a risk on me coming out of high school. I really honestly didn't have the results to even play there. And my old coach, my old coaches both took a chance on me and a risk on me and trusted me to come in potentially play. And I was able to, you know, I put in a lot of work to just, I just try to get

better each day and I end up stacking a lot of wins. But yeah, for, for sure, when I was in, when I was in the portal looking for different schools, the biggest thing I was looking for is, one, the team culture part. That's huge for me. I think a lot of us, because how, how it was brought up, it was massive for me. I wanted to go to a team that one wanted to win, two were really close to each other and three like you know worked really hard and part of that it comes along with it is looking at the coaching staff um and at the time sean was the head coach who's now the coach michigan but pt was the assistant and like i was saying earlier when i when i met with them i really felt like you know they had constructed a plan for me they were like here's what we're going to do

your first year we think you're going to register your next year this is how we think you're going to look your last year this is that we think you're going to look so for me i was really blown away by that and especially pete pete told me you know like you said he said he's He was, he's very tall himself. And he was like, you know, he had a similar background to me. He was a high school basketball player, big basketball player, kind of got into tennis late, wasn't the most highly recruited guy. So he told me that as well.

He's like, I was you. You know, I was in your position. And here are my results. And, you know, his resume speaks for himself. But, yeah, that's one thing I really, really felt like the coaches believed in me. And with the school, the last thing is I was blown away by the setup in there. With the life skills and the academic support, for me that was. big, I couldn't believe the, you know, the resources we have here.

And I met so many people that are still helping me to this day. Like Keith and life skills, he's been great, great for me. And so, yeah, I think that's, those are three things. I would say is the coaching, you know, the team culture, and then like the academic and support that school has. And I want to circle this. And Bach, we'll make note of it. If you ask the average fan, their belief system is that money is the top thing.

and I'm just pointing out that it wasn't. And when I tell you in identifying the right people for your program, if your culture matters, integrity and heart have to be a part of it. And in the star system, did you have a star when it comes to tennis? Not really. I think it was, I think at a high school, I was probably like one or two star recruits. So, I mean, I was nowhere near like a top recruit, pretty much.

I mean, I was, you know, like I was saying before, I mean, I was very, in terms of, you know, UTR is a very high, you know, it's like a rating system and a lot of people use. And I was, honestly, like I said, was saying, I was so happy Trinity took me. I just couldn't believe I was going to be on a college team because I started so late and I didn't have the stars for it. And but yeah, I mean, so it wasn't like I was like, you know, a five star recruiter or any of that. I'm going to say this to people. And I've said it, Bach has heard me say it. And my problem with the star system, my problem with some of the conversations about NIL and transfer portal, my problem is that people do not understand. In order to develop, there must be a foundation.

And the foundation is coachability, intelligence, heart, integrity, character, all of those things. Discipline. You can talk about athletic ability. It certainly helps being six foot ten. But listen, six with ten without heart and character, integrity, doesn't get it done. Right. It doesn't get it done. And it has to be you cannot measure.

You can't, we still have not figured out how to measure heart. We haven't done it. And so I, people get caught up in the sexiness of up, we got a five star, up, we got a four star. Yep. Hey, recent news tells you, uh, commitment is not necessarily in the star system. Exactly. It really isn't. It's true.

You can tell me you're committed and then, yeah, we'll see the other way. All right, we'll throw it a break. We'll come down. We're going to ask him, he's a Jets fan. We're going to ask him to break down the playoffs for us. We've got a pretty, like, just simple. It's four games. It's got to be, we're going to time.

And then we're going to get you a 30 second pitch to get people to come down to Dillington or watch you guys play this weekend. We'll be right back to one-on-one. Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch. You're listening to one-on-one with DP on 93-7, The Tickets, and the Ticketfm.com.