📈 How Strictly B-Ball Took Over the Internet

Happy Wednesday,

If you look at most successful sports creators today, they probably didn’t just stumble into it. More often than not, they spent years experimenting, posting into the void, and running pages that never really went anywhere before one finally clicked.

Strictly B-Ball is a perfect example of that path.

This week, Jake and I sat down with Joe Doerrer and Nolan Newberg, childhood friends and co-founders of Strictly B-Ball, a modern sports media company that built its audience by covering basketball earlier, differently, and more consistently than almost anyone else.

Before Strictly became a nationally recognized brand, Joe and Nolan were making videos on Vine, bouncing between platforms, and learning how attention actually works online; all of which proved to be a valuable training ground for a much larger breakthrough.

🎧 [Listen to the full episode with Joe & Nolan]

5 Takeaways From Our Conversation With Joe Doerrer and Nolan Newberg

1. Strictly started with experimentation, not a business plan

When Joe and Nolan first started posting online in middle school, it was never their intention to “build a business.”

As Joe put it, “The first videos that we made were on Vine in 2013… that’s where we got the kind of passion for making videos.”

They bounced across platforms for years, learning what worked and what didn’t. That trial-and-error phase mattered because by the time they found basketball, they already understood distribution better than most people covering sports.

2. High school basketball was the gap, not the goal

Strictly B-Ball didn’t choose high school hoops because it was small; they chose it because it was ignored.

Joe explained the realization: “Once we fully got into the high school scene… it was something that was going to be repeatable forever because there’s always going to be new players and so many teams across the country.”

Covering players early meant:

• Constant new stories

• Built-in renewal as classes graduated

• Fans who wanted discovery, not just headlines

That repeatability is what turned a page into a business.

3. Voiceovers turned highlights into stories

The biggest unlock wasn’t better footage. It was control.

By narrating clips they shot instead of just reposting them, Strictly B-Ball could add context, pacing, and personality. It made the content feel intentional rather than disposable.

Nolan remembered the turning point watching one of Joe’s early videos: “I just remember watching the video and I was like, ‘I wanna be there. I wanna watch Chet.’”

That reaction signaled that the format worked.

4. When the game isn’t great, the story still matters

Not every night delivers a highlight reel.

Joe was candid about the challenge: “There are games where we really struggle to figure something out.”

Instead of forcing basketball analysis, they look for human moments. Joe explained how their hooks evolved: “If some kid sticks his tongue out at a guy on the other team, that might be the first five seconds… and then we guide it into the rest of the video.”

That mindset keeps the content consistent even when the action isn’t.

5. Strictly operates like a media company now

What started as posting clips has now become a real operation.

They plan content months ahead, archive everything they shoot, and think carefully about monetization. Joe was clear about their approach: “We really prefer doing deals with leagues… because it fits in with our content and doesn’t even feel like a brand deal.”

Instead of chasing ads, they’re building IP inside the content itself.

Looking ahead, Joe said, “We’re trying to do what we did with basketball with another sport… that’s why we’ve been talking about volleyball.”

Really, it’s the same playbook just with a bigger surface area.

Why It Matters

In my opinion, Strictly B-Ball is the blueprint for how modern-day sports media should be built.

Joe and Nolan didn’t win with access, credentials, or institutional backing. They won by understanding distribution early, committing to a repeatable format, and showing up consistently in a space most of the industry ignored.

High school basketball was the entry point, but the real advantage was timing. Fans want to discover athletes before the spotlight hits, follow their progression, and feel like they were early. Strictly B-Ball built its audience by owning that first chapter.

That early trust compounds. As players move from high school to college to the pros, the audience moves with them. By the time larger platforms pay attention, Strictly B-Ball already has credibility and distribution.

Just as important, this is a sustainable model. Joe and Nolan didn’t rely on one viral moment or flood the page with ads. They built a product people returned to, then layered monetization in ways that fit the content.

• Lean team

• Master distribution

• Repeatable format

• Unique access & angle

That’s the blueprint.

🎧 [Listen to the full episode with Joe & Nolan]

📩 And don’t forget: Bottom of the Ninth is back this Friday with the top three stories in sports and business from the week.

See you then,
Tyler & Jake