Karsen Barnhart’s basketball team involved in fight
Title says it all. Paw Paw’s varsity boys basketball team was involved in a bench clearing fight against South Haven last night.
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:34 PM ^
I hope he pancaked someone
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^
Funny you say that. WWMT has video of the fight and you can see a large Paw Paw player book it down the court and “pancake” a South Haven player when the fighting starts. I don’t know if it was him, but he was my first thought when I saw it.
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^
He's number 42 in red so that was definitely him taking someone out in the video
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:17 PM ^
It does look like he was #42. Seems to me it basically went like this:
1) Single smaller player in red (Paw Paw player) maybe did a hard foul under the basket. He's standing there as a player wearing white is on the ground.
2) A bigger player on the white team gives the smaller Paw Paw player a shove clearly after the whistle was blown. Then he shoves the smaller Paw Paw player a second time.
3) The smaller Paw Paw player in red does a bit of a half-assed shove back on the bigger player in white, at which point it seems to me it's clearly going south.
4) The bigger player in white starts to go after the smaller Paw Paw player in red for the 3rd time (now more aggessively). Due to the size & posture of the player in white, it looks like to me the smaller Paw Paw player in red is about to get his ass beaten pretty badly.
5) As the bigger player in white presumably is about to really lace into the smaller Paw Paw player in red, Karsen comes flying down the court & uses his body & momentum to knock the "bigger" (but now comically out-sized) away from Karsen's much smaller Paw Paw team mate wearing red. But due to his size/speed, he basically "de-cleats" the kid a foot or so off the ground and pancakes him.
6) All hell breaks loose from there, as the smaller/slower kids from both teams then enter the chaos.
I have no idea what transpires after that and don't know what Karsen did or didn't do. But based on the early unfolding of the fight, it looks to me like he was rushing in to prevent his much smaller teammate from getting the tar beaten out of him by the bigger kid. But due to his own size & momentum, basically blew up the would-be "bigger" aggressor.
EDIT: After looking at the video more closely, you can see a slightly bigger Paw Paw team mate start to help defend his much smaller team mate from the bigger kid in white BEFORE Karsen arrives. Clearly Karsen started running down to help out his small team mate first, but by the time he arrived that other Paw Paw player was already stepping up to the kid in the white uniform to defend the smallest Paw Paw player. The player in white was STILL bigger than the 2nd Paw Paw player, but the size disparity wasn't quite as huge. Then Karsen pancakes the original player wearing white. So basically:
White Jersey >>> 1st RedJersey......White Jersey remains aggressive; then
White Jersey > 2nd Red Jersey...... White Jersey seems to remain a threat, but less so; then
3rd Red Jersey (Karsen) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> White Jersey is now pancaked & no longer a threat.
Chaos ensues.
Video LINK:
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:32 PM ^
#5 is the best part of all! Dude looked fast for a lineman. He was pissed his teammate was getting picked on. I kinda like that temperament.
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:44 PM ^
good assessment. my main takeaway is that i'm now interested to know if he might have a future at DT.
December 22nd, 2018 at 6:56 PM ^
Our OL needs aggression too. And needs it more badly at this point.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:03 AM ^
ExcellNt analysis
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^
Ok, cool. Dutch hook ‘em
December 22nd, 2018 at 6:55 PM ^
Say what?
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:42 PM ^
“70 people involved” Lmao. That’s gotta be some kind of high school basketbrawl record.
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:09 PM ^
That's all of South Haven, Paw Paw, and their cousins visiting for the holidays
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:43 PM ^
South Haven isn't my favorite place. It has nice tourist part near beach but also has a whole other section which is lousy. I grew up down in that County and did my internship in that office. I loved it when they sent me to the South Haven office to "work" but had so many cases from the the Walmart in South Haven. Walmart keeps many people in law enforcement employed single handedly.
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:45 PM ^
Still trying to figure out what you're talking about.
Yep, still nothing.
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:49 PM ^
I take it he works for the prosecutor’s office. The county courthouse is in Paw Paw but there is a branch in South Haven.
December 22nd, 2018 at 8:06 PM ^
I am also from that county.
What he means is it's really segregated.
I'm sure you can guess who is allowed in the nice downtown and who is kept in Walmart.
Sigh.
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:47 PM ^
Video or it didn’t happen...
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^
Believe me, it happened
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
Looks like Michigan OL signee Karsen Barnhart was involved in a nice little scuffle last night during the Paw Paw-South Haven boys basketball game.
— Aaron McMann (@AaronMcMann) December 22, 2018
Barnhart is wearing No. 42. https://t.co/5tcCqjOb6O
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
Yep just heard this morning.
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
Nice.
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:09 PM ^
Nice if nothing further comes of this like assault charges. I live in south haven and they are discussing this especially since he came all the way across the floor without anything physically being done to him before he makes contact.
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:19 PM ^
Yeah it definitely looks like Barnhart could get in some trouble for what he did.
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:24 PM ^
He was coming in to prevent a much "bigger" (relatively) kid on the white team from curb stomping his much smaller Paw Paw teammate. Any scrutiny would involve whether he should have slowed down or used less force, but it's clear to me that if Karsen hadn't done what he did, that other player in white would have started beating the tar out of Karsen's much smaller team mate.
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:30 PM ^
Right, but they are gonna argue that he could have just gotten between the two and held/shielded his teammate away from the kid in white. He literally ran full speed and threw his entire body into him and crushed him. I’m not saying what he did is wrong, but they can turn this whole thing on him because he intervened when the kid in white was really just pushing a kid. We can’t really assume that the kid in white intended on kicking the Paw Paw kid’s ass.
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:43 PM ^
True, but a lot of also depends on context of stuff that wasn't on video. Was the kid in white an aggressive player all game? If so, then it may be an entirely reasonable judgment to think that he was about to start pounding on soebody. Conversely, is Karsen known as a hot-head or has he gotten into trouble before? Or is this an isolated case where he rushed in to make sure the bigger opposing player wasn't a threat to his much smaller teammate, but in the heat of the moment & with his large size/strength, just didn't gauge his approach & slow to a walk to use his body as a wall like a perfectly zen/calm person might do?
December 22nd, 2018 at 4:01 PM ^
Let the refs and coaches diffuse the situation...I don’t think charges should come from it, but to say he couldn’t have handled himself better is incorrect. He could’ve ran down there with a little more control.
December 22nd, 2018 at 6:15 PM ^
that is some real snowflake thinking right there. you are kidding, right?
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:44 PM ^
That ain't assault. Who are "they" anyway?
Might dude miss some games for this? Sure. If that's assault then just about everything that happens after the whistle in football is assault.
December 22nd, 2018 at 2:58 PM ^
He’s fast as hell! Nice athleticism big fella
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:07 PM ^
so a michigan recruit is involved, that should guarantee headlines on espn for a week and a nice 3 hr. rant from pete weenibaum on harbaugh and his outlaw recruiting.
December 22nd, 2018 at 6:11 PM ^
It'll probably get a lot of run on RCMB as well. If anyone can spot criminal activity it's those guys. Maybe they can give us some pointers on how to cover it up.
December 22nd, 2018 at 3:21 PM ^
I saw this story but did not know it was his school.
I watched one of these occur between my high school and Lincoln Park in like 1979 or '80. I was seated in the top row and there were a lot of fans going onto the floor. But I said no way. Surprisingly, no one was really hurt. Fights were a common occurrence in those days. But they never made the news. Nowadays, not so much.
December 22nd, 2018 at 4:17 PM ^
He's gotta do what he's gotta do, but be careful.
December 22nd, 2018 at 4:41 PM ^
I was expecting more when it said that at least 70 people were involved.
December 22nd, 2018 at 9:03 PM ^
I don't think anybody would want it with Barnhart. Dude could probably take on half the opposing team himself. Hes a big boy
December 22nd, 2018 at 10:08 PM ^
That's school of choice for you.
December 23rd, 2018 at 7:09 AM ^
It's always funny to me how Michigan fans look at something (potentially) bad that happened and immediately give their guy the benefit of the doubt.
Barnhart flew in there and flattened the dude on purpose. Good (he was defending a teammate!) or bad (he assaulted that guy!), that's what happened.
December 23rd, 2018 at 8:05 AM ^
That is hilarious to me as well. “He was defending his teammate!” As if the guy in white wasn’t doing the same thing and wasn’t nearly as reckless.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:19 AM ^
Very well said
As an administrator, this is my nightmare. This is not a good thing, and it can't be spun that way by anyone here. This isn't boys just being boys either. I've had something similar happen on my watch, and it isn't as innocent as most are portraying. The coach will definatly be sitting down with the AD and Principal most likely to discuss what happened, how to prevent it going forward, and most likely multiple game suspensions, most likely for Karsen.
This is not a good thing for Michigan in any way. As a high profile recruit, especially from a small town, this is a very bad look. He didn't shield his player, he became the aggressor and it was premeditated. There is ground for legal action here.
December 24th, 2018 at 9:46 AM ^
Agreed 100%
December 23rd, 2018 at 1:58 PM ^
That's our boy.
December 23rd, 2018 at 2:51 PM ^
- Barnhart looks like a fool in the video. Isolated incident, but running down court and deliberately attacking someone shows a complete lack of judgement. I’m not impressed
December 23rd, 2018 at 6:46 PM ^
Or it shows that he is Taylor Lewan 2.0. Taylor Lewan was an All-American, 1st round pick, and now perennial Pro Bowler.
I would accept that if the worst thing he ever does is push some poor kid in a high school basketball game.