Episode #26 - Blaine Joerger (MN HS basketball legends series)

The Bare's Den w/ Matt Bare

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 tournament is where Blaine and his team really put themselves on the map. That year the Minnesota State High School League changed the format to a "Sweet 16" tournament where the 16-teams participating were a mix of schools of all sizes and they played to crown one state champion. Staples-Motley (who started 2 seniors and 3 sophomores) ended up advancing all the way to the championship game where they faced heavily favored Minneapolis North and Khalid El-Amin. S-M led by 14 in the first half but could not hold on as Minneapolis North made a put-back in the final seconds to win 54-52. Blaine led his team with 28 points in that game and put up 100 points for the games in the state tournament. As Blaine mentions most people don't remember who the second place team was, but they do that year because of the near victory they almost pulled off. After being lightly recruited until that time, he ended up committing to Division 2 - Mankato State University. Blaine had a great career for the Mavericks and is the schools 10th all-time leading scorer.
Blaine is also the brother of former NBA head coach and current NBA assistant coach - Dave Joerger. We discuss what that state tourney run was like along with how you handle having a brother coach in the NBA. Enjoy this conversation in the Bare's Den with former Staples-Motley Cardinal - Blaine Joerger.