Ohio's Tate starts Dana Beers in Yuggernauts Game 1

The Yuggernauts haven't won a game yet, and Wednesday's opener was the first shot at fixing that. Tate posted his starting 5 a few hours before tip.

Ohio’s Tate

@OhioTate

Yuggernauts Game 1 Starting Lineup: Ebo Reed Nicky Smokes Dana Beers White Boy Rick

Some background on how low the bar is. The Yuggernauts are Dana Beers' men's league team in Chicago. He started it after 2 seasons running a men's league squad in New York, and Barstool Basketball Season 3 opened in January by admitting the roster was full of guys who can't jump or really shoot. Last season didn't produce a single win. Nicky Smokes, who's in Tate's starting 5, wrote an opening-night blog titled around whether they'll win a game at all this year.

The one sign of life came at the very end of last season. Big Cat took over as coach, and in his only game the Yuggernauts lost by 2 in overtime to the No. 1 team in the league, according to that same blog. The plan for this season builds on that game: play slower, feed the big guys, and give everybody a defined role instead of last year's figure-it-out approach.

Tate laid the whole plan out in a scouting report about 15 minutes after the lineup post. It covers the rotation, the point guard problem, the injury report and, somehow, the water situation.

Ohio’s Tate

@OhioTate

Notes: - Ronny Doitche is a Top 5 player in the program, but we do not want to play 3 posts at once (at least for now). We plan to rotate him, Dana, and Rick continuously and run a 2 post Pick & Roll / High-Low offense - Turnovers and/or lack of true PG is our biggest roster issue. I am handing the keys to Bosanko tonight. I trust Ebo. - Mikey Bets (Water Manager) has been ruled OUT for tonight’s game. The players will be in charge of their own waters - Steven Cheah’s illness really hurts the depth tonight. We cannot, by any means, need to count on Kody.

Ohio’s Tate

@OhioTate

Yuggernauts Game 1 Starting Lineup: Ebo Reed Nicky Smokes Dana Beers White Boy Rick

Here's what matters in that report. Tate calls Ronny Doitche a top 5 player in the program and still won't start him, because he doesn't want 3 posts on the floor at once, at least for now. Doitche, Dana and Rick will rotate constantly through a 2-post pick-and-roll and high-low offense. Tate says turnovers and the lack of a true point guard are the biggest roster problem, and he's handing the keys to Bosanko. Depth is thin too: Steven Cheah is out sick, and Tate says flat out they can't count on Kody. Water manager Mikey Bets was also ruled out, so the players were in charge of their own waters.

For a team whose ceiling has been losing by 2 in overtime, this is a lot of structure, and that's the point. Lining up 2 posts around a pick-and-roll is about the most realistic plan for a roster that can't run with anybody. Whether the turnovers kill it before the big guys get the ball is the real question.

Dana streamed Game 1 live on his YouTube channel at 10 ET/9 CT on Wednesday. He apologized for the late tip and pointed out that he doesn't make the league schedule. The next things to watch are whether Tate's 2-post rotation holds up, whether Doitche plays his way into the starting 5, and whether the Yuggernauts finally get that first win.