The Bare's Den w/ Matt Bare

Two Minnesota boys basketball experts join me for this episode to preview the upcoming MN boys basketball state tournament.  Ryan James from Prep Hoops and TC Hoops Czar are here to give us their insight into each bracket for the 4 classes, some of the top players to watch and who they think will win it all.  Surprisingly they agree on 3 picks.

Ryan James from Prep Hoops is back to preview the MN boys high school basketball season.  RJ shares his thoughts on who the top teams are to watch in each of the four classes for Minnesota boys basketball and highlights the top players to keep an eye on.  He also gives an overview of the University of Minnesota Men’s basketball team under the new leadership of Niko Medved.

Grant McGinnis from Prep Girls Hoops is back to preview the 2025-26 Minnesota Girls High School Basketball season.  No one knows the girls basketball landscape in MN like Grant and he gives us his thoughts on the favorites in each of the four classes and tells about the players to keep an eye out for.  He also gives a recap of the recently completed Girls Breakdown Tip-Off Classic.  To up your knowledge for this basketball season check out this episode.

For this episode I’m joined by one of the best Minnesota boys high school basketball coaches to ever pace the sidelines.  John Oxton led the Lakeville North boys basketball program for 33 seasons, appearing in 12 state tournaments, capturing the 2014 class 4A state championship and finishing his career with 706 wins currently leaving him with the 6th most wins in state history.

Prior to arriving in Lakeville, “Ox” was the head coach for Gardiner High School in Montana and led them to a state championship in 1989 and he also won a state title as a player for Fargo North High School in North Dakota.  We cover a number of topics including his two-year coaching sabbatical that he took at Lakeville to watch his daughter play high school basketball, JP Macura and the 2014 state title team and how so many Lakeville North players ended up at Wisconsin.  

Winning the first boys basketball state title in school history is nice but winning it with your son and nephew in your starting five is extra special.  That was the case for Alexandria head coach Forrest Witt as his Cardinals secured the first state title in program history.

Forrest has the pleasure of coaching his son Mason and nephew Talan as well.  Along with those two the team was led by their biggest star Chase Thompson who was selected as Mr. Basketball in Minnesota and is headed to play for the Clemson Tigers.  Alexandira came out on top in Class 3A with a bracket that was absolutely loaded with top teams.  The other cool thing about this episode is hearing that one of your guests has listened to most of our podcast episode, so thank you to Forrest for that.

I really enjoy seeing teams or people do things that haven’t been done before especially in the basketball world and that’s exactly what happened at Concordia St. Paul this season with the Golden Bears men’s basketball team and Coach Matt Fletcher.

For the first time in school history the Golden Bears finished atop the NSIC conference in men’s basketball, in fact it was the first time in their programs history that they finished above 3rd place.  Led by all world guard Antwan Kimmons and Marcus Skeete the Golden Bears also advanced to the division 2 national tournament.  Coach Fletcher shares what went into the success this season at a place he calls a “dream job”.

For this episode I’m joined by two MN boys high school basketball experts to help break down the upcoming MN boys state basketball tournament.  Ryan James from Prep Hoops and TC Hoops Czar are here to give us their insight into each bracket for the 4 classes, some of the top players to watch and who they think will win it all.   These guys do a great job sharing their insight into the 2025 tournament.

Rob Grace IV is used to being around a basketball court.  As a youngster he used to run around the gym at Minneapolis Southwest High School when his dad was the coach.  He was also present at Target Center for many NBA games as his father was creating excitement with fans as “hoop man” as those fans try to make a shot into basket hovering above his head.

Now Rob is grown and is a senior at Macalester college and also shoots content for the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Rob had a great career at The Blake School where he was an all-conference player as well as a 1,000 point scorer.  He then went on to play college hoops locally for Macalester but it was a simple Instagram message that helped spark his career to where he is today filming content for an NBA team. 

For this episode, I’m joined by one of the most prolific brother/sister combos in Minnesota high school basketball history and they are Matt and Marissa Janning.  The Janning’s grew up playing for Watertown-Mayer high school and put up some amazing numbers.

The older of the two Matt graduated in 2006, and was somewhat of a late bloomer.  He played 3 years of varsity basketball, was an All-State player and left as the school’s all-time leading score and 3-point maker.  His senior year he averaged a metro area best 31.8ppg and scored 954 points.

Marissa graduated in 2012 and started playing varsity basketball as a 7th grader.  She ended her career scoring a school record 3,587 points and earned all Metro honors as well AP Player of the Year.  Her senior year she averaged 30ppg and was named Minnesota’s Miss Basketball.

As siblings they also have two of the more accomplished college careers as well.  Matt played collegiately in Boston, Massachusetts at Northeastern University where he led the Huskies in scoring his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.  He was voted all conference 3 times and graduated as the programs 4th leading scorer in school history.  He was inducted into the Northeastern athletics hall of fame in 2024.

Marissa attended Creighton University and was the Missouri Valey Conference freshman of the year in her first season.  The next year when her school switched conferences and moved to the Big East she was awarded Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore.  She was a 3-time All Conference 1st team player and graduated as the schools 4th leading scorer all-time.  She was inducted into the Creighton Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.

Ryan James from Prep Hoops joins the show to semi-preview the MN boys high school basketball season and will share some highlights from the Breakdown Boys Tip-Off Classic and the Granite City Classic which always bring in talented teams from all over the state.  RJ shares his thoughts on some of the top performers that he’s seen along with his take on who the top teams are to watch in each of the 4 classes for MN boys basketball.  He also share some insight on the top players to be on the lookout for the Mr. Basketball award.