Kim Mulkey

[j66kicker]

1 PLAYER. MY POINT.

Whatever... Just happens to be THE most celebrated Baylor WBB player ever, but no big deal.

 

[DEpup]

Brittney Griner does not do this. A couple years ago when I went to her book talk she said she had not even spoken to Kim Mulkey since she left Baylor.

That speaks volumes. I don't know of any 4 yr UConn player that doesn't return regularly and interact with all the coaches including Geno.

 

[DEpup]

And BTW-Griner enjoys the Geno and has played really great under his leaderdhip on the national team...

 

[j66kicker]

Coach Mulkey has received a great deal of comment and some criticism on the BY. I'd like to make a couple of observations about her commitment to women's athletics and basketball in particular. This is separate and apart from her work leading and coaching her Baylor Bears...Last year Coach Mulkey and Coach CTT arranged the Rumble on the Reservation a November 2018 game up on the Navajo reservation in Window Rock.

The background on this is that since arriving at ASU CTT has reached out to the native American community. We all remember Becenti one of CTTs early stars, a Navajo from Fort Defiance..

Part of this ongoing commitment is a game that's dedicated to bringing attention to the native American community. Usually the game in Tempe kicks off a couple hours before tip-off with booths and vendors and other cultural celebrations of Native American life.

Coach Thorne approach Coach Mulkey with the idea of playing a game up on the Navajo reservation at Window Rock. This is not an easy place to get to even for the Sun Devils. To her credit Coach Mulkey agreed and the game was held a year ago in November.

At halftime of the game both coaches were presented with Navajo blankets in gratitude for the game.

As a recent book Canyon Dreams ( I strongly recommend for a view of both the politics of basketball, Native American life, and Rez Ball) describes and most of us know native Americans love basketball.

The high school arena up at Window Rock for a small High School seats 6000. I was fortunate to get a ticket and arrive to 3 hours before game time. There were at least 2,000 people waiting in line for entry . If I'm not mistaken one of the officials in the arena said the line started to form at 8.

For those of you unfamiliar with geography up in northeastern Arizona in November there's typically a cold biting wind blowing through and on this game day that was the case.

Baylor had really nothing to gain from coming to this game and a great deal to lose. In fact ASU outplayed theeventual national champs for the first 17 minutes of the game.

This is a very personal example of Coach Mulkey demonstrating a commitment to advancing women's basketball by showing up. I'll always be grateful to her and CTT for arranging this game and having the opportunity to watch in person the number one team in the nation and national champ. It was an amazing day of basketball.

I drove out to that game. What a great time! Unbelievable high school arena - way better (and bigger) than some of the ACC gyms UConn plays in. Every one of the 6,000 seats is a comfortable individual seat with seatback and plenty of legroom, etc. All tickets were $5.00, and the local Native American population filled it up and were very enthusiastic. Quite the big deal - Rebecca Lobo and Kara Lawson were there to broadcast the game, with Holly Rowe as sideline reporter.

You're right about the difficult drive, but I stayed overnight and visited the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest on the way back to Phoenix. Very nice event and very nice trip.

Here are Kim and CTT with their Navajo blanket/coats...

 

[triaddukefan]