Barstool With a Night of Basketball

Tonight, the Barstool company hit the hardwood all over the country, and did not disappoint its fans. For those who didn’t know, Barstool has DUDES( a Gonzaga basketball reference). They maybe weren’t seen as much as they hoped tonight. On a night we all expected swishes, we were instead left puzzled, wondering if basketball is really this difficult of a sport.

Now of course, as a coach myself, I’ll do my best to throw in a couple of much-needed remarks to improve Barstool basketball as a whole. For starters...has anyone ever heard of a damn Mikan drill?!

KMS Comes All the Way Back to Beat Barstool NY

So I missed this one live, had to roll back the tape, which did allow me to rewind a few parts. Barstool NY jumped out in front through a ref-heavy first half. But their lack of ball handling proved to be the issue. Even with the major height advantage and sitting in a 2-3 zone, they could only muster 26 points.

Which, by the way, a 30-26 final in a 40-minute game is a storyline in itself, guys.

I once coached a freshman basketball game in a summer league running clock where we scored 85. To only put up 30? That’s something you basically have to try to do.

Both teams’ coaching was appalling in many ways. The lack of adjustments by NY was insane. The missed shots and absence of strategy changes had me wondering if there was a deal under the table made beforehand. For those who don’t know, Chris Klemmer shares a Barstool Dozen team with Kirk Minihane, the owner of the KMS organization. Very strange conflict of interest.

Speaking of KMS, you gotta tip your cap to the grit this team showed. It’s the type of hard-nosed work ethic you’d wanna show your kids. (Granted, you’d have to clip around all the fouls, dribbling violations, and bad shot attempts...)

But the hustle was there. The boys showed their admiration and love for their fearless leader, Kirk. Next up, we know Barstool NY will want another shot. But you might be wondering—what about Chicago? Well, do I have a story for you...

Chicago Combine Shocks The Basketball Elites

Just when I thought Barstool basketball was down bad, we get a combine of premier athletes across the company. From Mintzy to T-Bob (his first major Barstool event) who could be the next #1 college football personality. Or... can there be co-#1s? We’ll see this fall.

Back to the basketball.

All participants took part in a combine to name the captains for a future 3-on-3 tournament. And the big boys came to play tonight. This group could do work, to say the least. The promise is there. Potential for an all-around lineup that can actually do damage on the court.

The bigs, the wings, the ball-handling, all present for the boys & girls of Chicago.

Now... the montage of players, or as some are calling them, “the rest”, was a spectacle. It finished off with Ella Grif failing to win $100k, a moment that was just a bit too big for her.

Now, for the full breakdown of the combine results, head over to Ryder Stoolie’s blog. I’m here to give a bit more advice to the players.

For 3-on-3, it’s about space & pace. To be successful, you need to dictate the pace and maintain spacing. That creates scoring lanes and tires out the defense. Let’s not forget, Barstool employees generally aren’t in peak shape. With 3-on-3, you need energy, and that has me thinking... KB, Chef Donny, and Katic are sneaky game changers. They’ve just got another gear in them. If someone can handle the ball and find the open man, there’s gonna be plenty of room to shoot on that court.

A night of basketball for the ages, and yet another major W for Barstool. I’d also like to formally extend my services to run a basketball camp for all three entities...free of charge. This would include work on all areas of the game: conditioning, skill work, and basketball IQ. We’re talking a 3-day camp, with a couple of 60-minute sessions per day. Just throwing my expertise out there, and I’d love to tag-team it with Coach Tate too.

You can reach out through my social media or Barstool Breakdown.