The Bare's Den w/ Matt Bare

Basketball shoes and sneaker culture are a fascinating and popular topic for many, whether it be the original Jordan’s to the collaboration of sneaker releases with pop culture stars like Travis Scott.  Basketball shoes that were once worn just on the basketball court are now popular with men and women off the court and even accepted as appropriate with business casual attire.  Who better to discu...

Our discussion around the upcoming Summer Olympics continues and who better to join us for this chat, than someone who actually competed in the Olympics themselves.  Carrie Tollefson was standout runner at Dawson-Boyd high school here in MN where she was a 13-time state champion.  She has been inducted into both the Minnesota high school hall of fame as well as the national high school hall of fam...

For this episode I connect with my friend Jared Carver to chat some Duke basketball and the upcoming summer Olympics.  Jared is a sports encyclopedia and two topics that he knows a tremendous amount about are Duke hoops and the Olympics.  We share our thoughts on how we met at a Duke game a few years ago, the final upcoming season for Coach K at Duke and our favorite Duke player.   In looking at t...

The movie Hoosiers is universally adored among sports fans, especially hoops junkies.  It is loosely based on a magical season from 1954 of a small Indiana school called Milan, who made it all the way to the Indiana state championship where their small school, which had an enrollment of 160 took down much larger Muncie Central whose school size was 1,600.  In the movie the winning shot in the stat...

If you have a son or daughter that plays high school basketball in Minnesota, chances are you know who Nick Carroll is.  If you don’t, you more than likely are aware of or are familiar with his company – Prep Hoops.  And if you are outside of Minnesota you are becoming more familiar with Prep Hoops as well as it is now in more than 30 states around the country.  Nick, who is the co-founder of Prep...

This episode is a follow up to last year's episode in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.  Now that it has been one year since that major event made headlines, sparked conversation and change - it deserves another discussion.  Coach Larry McKenzie from Minneapolis North, Coach Omar McMillan from Richfield and Coach Dave Flom from Eden Prairie join to discuss things they've learne...

Today is said to be a time when high school officials are dropping off and there is not enough replacements coming up to fill the need.  For this episode Matt connects with someone who can speak to this topic.  Josh Thurow is currently the athletic director at Minnehaha Academy, has also been a girls varsity basketball coach and is currently a basketball official, football official and baseball um...

For this episode Matt connects with someone that is one of the shows sponsors but is also a good friend.  Pat Freeman from Midwest Basketball training has been heavily involved in basketball for years.  From his days at Champlin Park High School, to playing college basketball at Division 3 – St. Mary’s, working alongside Matt at the Timberwolves to now owning his own basketball training business a...

For this episode Matt connects with newly crowned class 1A state champion head boys basketball coach – Chris Pack of the Hayfield Vikings.  Chris comes from a coaching family as his dad was a high school coach and two of his brothers are currently coaching MN high school basketball as well.  Chris’s journey took him from an all-conference pitcher at the college level to coaching in the high school...

For this episode Matt connects with former Hopkins basketball star and current Baylor Bears assistant coach Jared Nuness.   Jared's title is Special Assistant and Director of Player Development and he is now a part of national championship team as Baylor knocked off Gonzaga in a highly anticipated matchup. Jared and I discuss the amazing turnaround of the Baylor Bears program, how they battle...

Matt is joined by Ryan James from Prep Hoops and Breakdown Sports.  Ryan shares his insight on the final four teams remaining in each class of the Minnesota state boys basketball tournament and gives us his prediction on a winner as well. We also hear Ryan's thoughts on new University of Minnesota men's basketball head coach - Ben Johnson and an update on some of the players he's lo...

Matt is joined by Minnesota Prep Girls Hoops writer Grant McGinnis.  Grant breaks down the final four teams remaining in each class of the Minnesota state girls basketball tournament and gives us his prediction on a winner for each class as well. We also chat a little Paige Bueckers, because why not, she is awesome!

The series on March Madness and the memorable moments that have come from it continues as I connect with someone who made one of the biggest shots in tournament history.  In 1995 Tyus Edney and the UCLA Bruins came in to the tournament as the #1 seed.  They had their backs against the wall against Missouri in the 2nd round of the tournament trailing by 1 with 4.8 seconds left.  Tyus Edney took the...

The series on March Madness continues as I am connecting with people who left their mark during the NCAA tourney.  Our guest for this episode didn’t have a game winning shot that advanced his team to the sweet 16 – in fact his team didn’t win game, but he certainly made an impression on many basketball fans during the 2009 tournament.  Ben Woodside and his North Dakota State Bison teammates made t...

March Madness , it's the phrase everyone that is a college basketball fan loves to hear.  It's the time to shine for a lot of college basketball teams and players as they head toward the Final 4.  For the next couple of episodes Matt is speaking with guests that had some memorable moments or performances when it was their time on the biggest stage.  For the first episode our guest is Ali...

For this episode Matt spent time on a topic that is close to his heart and also highlighted a person and program that is doing great things in the community.  A little over 4 years ago he lost his father to cancer, following that loss he wanted to get involved in some way to help fight this disease.  He is now a member of the National High School Coaches vs. Cancer Council and is working with high...

For this episode we continue to highlight Black History Month and we spotlight another African-American that is a leader in his field.  Coach Abe Woldeslassie is the head men’s basketball coach for D-3 Macalester College here in Minnesota.  Abe is coaching at his alma-mater working to bring that group to prominence in the always competitive MIAC conference.  Abe is also a leader for another reason...

For this episode we wanted to highlight Black History Month and spotlight someone who has been a leader as a person of color and has worked to make the world a more equal and better place to live.  Justice Alan Page is someone who both physically and academically has reached the pinnacle of the professions he has pursued in life.  The Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee made his mark on the gridiro...

For the final installment of the mini-series on Minnesota high school basketball legends Matt connects with one of the most decorated and celebrated high school hoopers the state has produced.  Khalid El-Amin won three consecutive state titles with Minneapolis North from 1995 - 1997.  The two earliest titles were in the Sweet 16 format where Minnesota only crowned one state champion.  The last of...

For this episode in the continuing series on Minnesota High School basketball legends Matt is joined by a father/son combo - Coach John Carlson and his son Alex Carlson from Litchfield.  John coached Alex and his fellow Litchfield Dragon teammates to an undefeated season in the year 2000, winning a state Class 2A title finishing 30-0.  That team left a mark on Minnesota basketball as that year the...

The mini-series on Minnesota high school basketball legends continues with one of the most important girls basketball players in Minnesota state history.  Janet Karvonen-Montgomery grew up in the Finnish town of New York Mills and was encouraged and influenced by her brother to excel at basketball.  She did just that as she became one of the most accomplished female athletes in the sport.  Growing...

The mini-series featuring former Minnesota High School basketball legends continues with former Staples-Motley Cardinal - Blaine Joerger.   Blaine started playing varsity minutes as a freshman for legendary coach Lynn Peterson.  Blaine and his team had some epic section battles with Morris, and finally made it past them his senior year advancing to the state tournament in 1995. That 1995 state tou...

This is episode one of the new mini-series featuring former Minnesota High School basketball legends.  We tip-off this mini-series with Barry Wohler who was a three-sport star at Bird Island-Lake Lillian High School.  Barry is one of three athletes in the history of Minnesota to play in three state all-star games and he did it in football, basketball and baseball.  He won back-to-back state titles...

Minnesota basketball guru - Ryan James joins Matt for this episode.  The episode begins with Ryan giving his background on how he got to be so involved in the Minnesota high school and college basketball scene.  It all started as a student manager for the University of Minnesota men's basketball program.  Ryan then spent 10+ years as a boys varsity assistant coach and now works for Breakdown...

For this episode Matt is joined by a great guy and someone with a lot of basketball in his blood - Ras Vanderloo, who is the head boys varsity basketball coach for Sioux City East High School in Iowa.  Ras comes from a family that lives and breathes basketball.  Ras's father coached at Sioux City East and he and his brothers played for him.  His brother Jeff then followed his dad as coach at...