"Showdown on the Rez": #23 Arizona State vs. #4 Baylor | The Boneyard

"Showdown on the Rez": #23 Arizona State vs. #4 Baylor

From what I've seen, Smith is the real deal and a bit of an X-factor. Offensively she's quick, confident, with a little shake and bake inside. As time goes on we'll see what she has outside. Defensively she's a bit of a meh, but time and Mulkey will change that. Juicy looks like their quickest and most assured guard. Bickle has a nice stroke to the arc. They're going to need her consistency, Egbo, from what I've seen is surprisingly quick and athletic, with good speed. They still lack overall team speed, but they have good size everywhere and are deep. Again. They're tough, but against good teams they will succeed or fail by their outside shooting.

However, watching that promo gave me the goosies. In the name of Akecheta and Ghost Nation I say, man, I love this country.
 
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Really looking forward to watching this game. Glad the UConn game is being broadcast this morning (west coast morning). Having my coffee, reading the Boneyard, waiting for the game to start. Going to be a great day.
 
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Plebe said:
Great article at azcentral.com about how this game came together:

ASU women's basketball takes support of Native Americans directly to Navajo reservation
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Very cool. I’m leaving immediately after the UConn game in order to get to this game hopefully about 1/2-hour before tipoff. Sandwiches, water, heavy coat are in the car ready to go (forecast for Ft. Defiance is 46/16 today and 36/10 tomorrow for painted desert visit on the way back - I thought it was chilly here in Phoenix at ~79/57, BURRRRRR...). Glad to hear ESPN sent their 1st team - Rebecca & Kara - to do the game (although I’m sure they’ll have plenty to talk about while you’re trying to figure out what’s going on in the game).
 
j66kicker said:
Very cool. I’m leaving immediately after the UConn game in order to get to this game hopefully about 1/2-hour before tipoff. Sandwiches, water, heavy coat are in the car ready to go (forecast for Ft. Defiance is 46/16 today and 36/10 tomorrow for painted desert visit on the way back - I thought it was chilly here in Phoenix at ~79/57, BURRRRRR...). Glad to hear ESPN sent their 1st team - Rebecca & Kara - to do the game (although I’m sure they’ll have plenty to talk about while you’re trying to figure out what’s going on in the game).
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I'm not even gonna pretend I'm not jealous that you get to go to that game. This is a special event and I'm sure will be really special in person.

And yes, it can get bone-chilling cold up there. And the wind can blow...
 
j66kicker said:
Very cool. I’m leaving immediately after the UConn game in order to get to this game hopefully about 1/2-hour before tipoff. Sandwiches, water, heavy coat are in the car ready to go (forecast for Ft. Defiance is 46/16 today and 36/10 tomorrow for painted desert visit on the way back - I thought it was chilly here in Phoenix at ~79/57, BURRRRRR...). Glad to hear ESPN sent their 1st team - Rebecca & Kara - to do the game (although I’m sure they’ll have plenty to talk about while you’re trying to figure out what’s going on in the game).
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Will be anxious to hear your summary from the game.
 
Plebe said:
When you live in a city where it gets over 115 in the summer, anything below 60 feels chilly.
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True. My brother was in the military. He went from Fairbanks, AK to the Mojave Desert. Relative comfort levels at various temperatures change rapidly. At one point 20 or 30 below zero was normal for him in the winter ("but it's a dry cold" he always said), but after he moved to Cali it wasn't long before he considered 60 degrees a chilly day.
 
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For those of you who saw Ryneldi Becenti featured in the ESPN promo and were curious to learn more, Sports Illustrated did an outstanding feature on her back in 1993:

ASU's Becenti struggles to balance hoops & her tribe's traditions

Here's an excerpt from the piece:

The world calls them Navajo, but that name was given to them by someone else—an old Pueblo Indian word, some believed, meaning "thieves." They call themselves Diné, the People. They are the largest tribe in America, 200,000 strong, and their reservation, primarily in northeast Arizona, is the size of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Vermont combined. Within the sphere bordered by their four sacred mountains—Hesperus Peak to the north, Blanca Peak to the east, Mount Taylor to the south and the San Francisco Peaks to the west—they feel protected by the spirits, for in their hearts those mountains are their four support poles and the sky above them their roof, God's version of the Diné's traditional domed homes. This area they call Diné Bikeyah—Land of the People. When they leave Diné Bikeyah, something happens. They feel vulnerable. In 1864 the U.S. government sent them on a 350-mile journey to relocate them on flat, inhospitable land in New Mexico. Crop after crop failed, more than one quarter of the 8,000 Diné who made the infamous Long Walk died, and after four years the authorities were forced to let them return and reclaim a piece of their homeland. But their uneasiness would not go away.​
​
Who would have thought that a young woman bouncing a basketball would draw them outside of the safe place? They couldn't quite explain what kept pulling a few hundred of them through the yellow deserts, blood-red buttes and purple mesas of Arizona on the 5½-hour journey to Tempe to see each of her home games, which usually took place on Thursday and Saturday nights. They knew only that they must go, even if it sometimes meant turning around a few hours later and making the trip home, collapsing into bed at 3:30 a.m. to catch a few hours of sleep before work and then doing it all over again a day later.​
 
I like the pageantry but would've preferred to hear an adult sing in Navajo. The kid seemed off key, and while that's fine for a general kid performance, it didn't really show off the Navajo language imo.
 
vowelguy said:
I like the pageantry but would've preferred to hear an adult sing in Navajo. The kid seemed off key, and while that's fine for a general kid performance, it didn't really show off the Navajo language imo.
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I just kept thinking throughout her rendition, "Hmmm. Interesting choice." To say she "seemed off key" is a rather generous description, but she certainly looked amazing.
 
Impressive that ESPN sent Lobo & Lawson. Not an easy place to get to -- looks like closest airport is Albuquerque ... 3 hrs away.
 
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You can tell right away that Baylor is affected by the loss of Alexis Morris.
 
Isn't the male announcer normally covering UConn? The lesser opponents they play? Ekmark 5 pts
 
5 minutes into the 1st quarter and Baylor has 4 points????????? Very sloppy play.
 
Was great seeing Kim "talking" to one of the refs less than a minute into the game
 
Ekmark with some nice shots. Baylor not as impressive as I expected. Definitely missing Morris. Jackson is best at the 2.
 
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8 points for Baylor in the First Quarter?? and they scored over 100 last week. If they play like this when UCONN visits them later this season it's gonna be a blow out.
 
I dont recall ASU, shooting so many three's in past years. Let alone they are making them.
 
The key will be for ASU to keep their poise in the second half. Baylor will make some runs.
 
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