The Bare's Den w/ Matt Bare

Jake Sullivan is one of the greatest shooters to every lace them up in a Minnesota gym.  Jake starred for Tartan high school graduating in the year 2000 but not before he put up some massive statistics.  Jake amassed over 3,000 points in his high school career and led Tartan to the Class 4A state title in his senior season.  From there he went on to have a great career at Iowa St. including being...

For this episode we bring back our mini-series on Minnesota basketball legends as we are joined by Jordan Taylor.  Jordan was a standout player at Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School.  He led the Red Knights to the state championship in 2008 along with fellow star player Armond Battle.  Jordan graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer and also won the Mr. Basketball award his senior season....

For this episode we connect with Mountain Iron-Buhl girls varsity basketball head coach – Jeff Buffetta.  Jeff has led the MIB girls program for the past 20+ seasons and has established that program as one of best in the state at the Class 1A level having reached the state tournament 11 of the last 12 seasons.  Oh and by the way Jeff is also the head boys varsity coach at MIB where he has now led...

This episode is a dive into the Minnesota boys high school basketball season with Ryan James from Prep Hoops and Breakdown Sports.  Ryan recaps the recently completed Breakdown Tipoff Classic and share his thoughts on some of the exciting games and big performances that came from that event.  He also gives a nice preview for each class of MN basketball this season from 1A to 4A and highlights the...

Grant McGinnis from Prep Girls Hoops Minnesota is back as a guest to preview the Minnesota high school girls basketball season and I could not think of a better person to have on than him to give his insight.  Grant shares his thoughts from the Breakdown Girls Tip-Off Classic that was held recently at Hopkins and highlights some of the big games and performances he witnessed.  We also get into dis...

Coach Tauer is back as a guest as we discuss their school's unprecedented jump from Division 3 to Division 1.  We chat about last season for his team as it was their first year as a division one program as a member of the Summit League.  They played with basically the same roster as their previous season which was made up of players recruited to play at the D-3 level.  They had a nice first y...

This episodes guest is professional golfer – Erik Compton.  Erik has an unbelievable story both on and off the golf course and is someone that many around the country admire.  Erik is a two-time heart transplant recipient who received his first transplant when he was just 12 years old.  In his 20's Erik had a heart attack while driving and ended up needing a second heart transplant.   Erik ha...

University of Minnesota head men’s basketball coach – Ben Johnson joins for this episode.  Ben is entering his second season leading the Gophers program and is also a former Gopher player himself.  Ben was also a star locally at DeLaSalle high school where he helped lead them to 2 state championships.  For this episode we discuss Coach Johnson’s first season as head coach, building a program on th...

For this episode I am joined by a former girls varsity basketball coach, current social studies teacher and author – Carl Pierson.  Carl spent 17 seasons as head coach at 4 different high schools and is also the executive director of the MN girls basketball coaches association.  He is also the author of two books – “The Politics of Coaching” and “The Other Side of Glory”.  Carl and I chat about hi...

Our guests for this episode are two former University of Minnesota basketball teammates – Jim Shikenjanski and Richard Coffey.  Jim and Richard were apart of the same recruiting class playing from 1986 - 1990 and were also a part of the team in Coach Clem Haskins first year as coach.  Their team had struggles at first but found success as they reached the Sweet 16 in their junior season and the El...

Joining me for this episode are two newly retired MN boys high school basketball coaches – Kris Fadness from Austin and Dana Kallman from Chaska.  Between the two of them they were in the head coaching role for 47 seasons and have combined for nearly 800 wins.  Both have coached their team in the state tournament, won numerous conference titles and were passionate about coaching the kids in their...

In this episode we explore the world of Junior College Basketball.  I think it’s slightly misunderstood and is an important area in the collegiate basketball landscape.  Joining me are two legendary Minnesota coaches that were both successful coaches in the JUCO world.  Jay Pivec has over 600 wins and a good majority of those came from his time as head coach at Minneapolis Community College.  Jay...

Timberwolves radio play-by-play voice Alan Horton joins for this episode to chat about his path in broadcasting and the Timberwolves.  Alan's career has brought him to San Diego, Seattle and then to Minnesota.  He was the play-by-play voice for the Minnesota Lynx during their championship seasons of 2011 and 2013 and has now been the voice of the Timberwolves for 15 seasons.  Alan shares what...

This episode newly crowned Minnesota class 4A boys state champion head coach James Ware of Park Center high school joins the show.  James led the Pirates to a 31-1 and record this season and the first boys basketball state title in school history.  James was also  a decorated player himself starring at Hopkins high school and playing in college for both Colorado St. and Texas Tech.  Hear about his...

We brought back Ryan James from Prep Hoops, North Star Hoops and Breakdown Sports to preview the 2022 Minnesota boys state high school basketball tournament. Ryan gives his thoughts on some of the top teams and players and gives his prediction on a winner for each class.  We also touch on some MN Mr. Basketball and Gopher men's hoops as well.

The mini-series on Minnesota basketball legends continues as we are joined by Randy Breuer.   Randy was a dominating big man in Lake City who was 6 foot 8 as an 8th grader and grew to reach 7 foot 3.  Randy helped lead Lake City to back to back to state championships in 1978 and 1979 where they finished the 79 season undefeated.  He was also the Minnesota Mr. Basketball co-winner in 1979.  He then...

Basketball is in the family to say the least for Isaiah Dahlman.  His grandfather (John Kundla) was the first coach for the Minneapolis Lakers and also coached at the University of Minnesota.  His brother Noah and sister Rebekah were also prep stars that went on to play collegiately at the D1 level. Isaiah was one of the best players in the entire state in the early 2000’s at Braham High School an...

Starting with this episode we are going to bring back the mini-series on MN basketball legends.  Last season’s guests were some of our most popular episodes where we had on Barry Wohler, Janet Karvonen, Blaine Joerger, Coach John Carlson and his son Alex and Khalid El-Amin.  This season I’m excited to speak with a few more players that were standouts on the hardwood here in Minnesota.   Dusty Rych...

The 24th Winter Olympic Games are about to begin and who better to have on as a guest than an Olympic gold medalist.  John Shuster from Chisholm, MN will be the skipper for the US men’s Olympic curling team again this year and will be participating in his 5th Olympic games.  John and his US squad won the first ever curling Olympic gold medal for the United States back in 2018 and he is looking for...

Gerald Kingbird from Red Lake joins the program for this episode.  He shares how important the game of basketball is to those on the reservation in his area and beyond.  We're also approaching the 25th anniversary of one of the most memorable Minnesota state tournament games of all time, where Gerald's Red Lake team took on Wabasso.  As a sophomore in that game Gerald helped lead his tea...

There can't be many media members in the local market or nationwide for that matter that work as hard or are as involved in many ventures as Justin Gaard.  Justin is very prevalent on KFAN and is best known as the producer for the popular "Bumper to Bumper" show with Dan Barreiro.  "JG" or "Gaardsy" as he is affectionately known is also the sideline reporter for...

Ryan James from Prep Hoops is back as our guest this episode to preview the Minnesota boys high school basketball season.  Ryan gives us his prediction of a state champion for each class.  We also spend time discussing one of Minnesota's biggest prep basketball events in the Breakdown Tipoff Class which is taking place this weekend.  Finally the show wraps up discussing the Minnesota Gopher m...

The Minnesota boys and girls high school basketball seasons will be tipping off very soon and this weeks guest has a lot to look forward to.  Tara Seifert is the head girls basketball coach at Chaska high school. She led her team to the class 4A state championship last season capping off an undefeated run finishing 18-0 and securing the school’s first ever girls title.  A highlight of their state...

This episodes guest is Mounds View head football coach Aaron Moberg.  Aaron played high school football at Mounds View and then played collegiately for Bethel.  Aaron has been both the head girls hockey coach and football coach at Mounds View, and has led both teams to a state tournament appearance.   I had heard a lot of good things about Aaron as a coach and how he engages the community to build...

After a little time in between episodes we are back and Matt connects with Chad Hartman for a discussion on his time with KFAN, his Timberwolves broadcasting days and the one-year anniversary of the passing of his father - Sid Hartman.  They also get into some fun back and forth with Chad on a segment of overrated/underrated/properly rated that he uses on his own show at WCCO.  Chad has been in th...