Archambault bringing battle-tested Standing Rock squad to Lakota Nation
In one of the premier matchups of the first round of Lakota Nation, the No. 12 Standing Boys square off against White River.
As we head toward Lakota Nation, one of the really interesting story lines heading into this tournament is the massive throng of people that will be welcoming the folks from Standing Rock to Rapid City after a rugged battle over the DAPL pipeline.
Caught up with Standing Rock boys coach, Cyril Archambault Tuesday to visit about his boys team, the recent events in Standing Rock and the impending No. 5 vs. No. 12 clash with an Eldon Marshall coached, White River squad, on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. Kind of an interesting note here for the coaches as Archambault and Marshall played together in independent basketball for a number of years.
"Eldon and I played together in independent basketball and we have a lot of respect for him and he does a good job with his team," Archambault said. "I know he's a good coach all around it's kinda bittersweet because I want to beat him but he's a fantastic coach and has done a lot for White River."
While a good share of South Dakota youth paid attention to the protests up in Standing Rock, Archambault said his kids lived the experience as it was right in there back yard.
"I had a number of guys that spent time out there. Guys were hit by rubber bullets and the grenades," Archambault said. "They would leave the practice, go to camp and this protest means a lot to them. Water is everywhere and the events in their own backyard meant a lot to them."
When the announcement finally came that the Army Corp. of Engineers was putting a stop to the pipeline, at least for now, everyone went out to camp together and then they came back and practiced.
"The struggle was real and even when it got cold they were still there," Archambault said.
Of course you can't be part of a historic note in American history without the community coming together and bonding over such a close and personal issue.
"We should have a pretty good crowd especially when we saw the bracket. The community is ready for Standing Rock basketball," Archambault said.
There has been a different kind of excitement for this season, and Archambault said it started the moment the season ended last year. "They have been dreaming and working hard," he said. The Archambault brothers, Coach's nephews, spent some time in Florida this summer working on their games with another uncle. People from the community got to see the guys all summer as many of them were out running, or running and dribbling at the same time. The Warriors had their first game of the season snowed out and entering Lakota Nation, they do not have a game under their belts.
"We've gotten a lot of support from the community and you can really feel the excitement," Archambault said. "People are calling myself or the assistant coaches, people that don't even have kids on the team, and asking about practice, our first game and wishing us well."
They are ready....It;'s kind of a cool thing...I'd like to see that good old fashioned basketball...Standing Rock Warriors!
And so a senior laded team that is guard heavy just arrived in Rapid City.
Six seniors dot the roster with Rashawn Archambault 5'10", Corbin Claymore 5'11" Jace Long Feahter 6-foot-1, Gavin Bird 6-foot and Justin Fox 5-foot-8 and 6-foot-2 Joseph Yellow Fat expected to contribute.
Three semi big guys in there, all juniors in Trevoer Kuntz, Reese Three Legs and Adrian Shanley all going 6-foot-3 or better.
Archambault notes people should be prepared for the speed the Warriors are going to bring.
"They are real fast, love to move the ball. We have a lot of raw talent on the roster and they love to play defense and really get after people," Archambault said.
On the bigs that are junior oriented, Archambault says the guys have improved because of hard work.
"Reese is really solid, uses the board and he's an old school guy," Archambault said. "Trevor has improved after moving up to the varsity level and he'll start for us. He's strong down low, kind of Dennis Rodman type that gets off his feet quickly for the second jump."
And this team is deep! Archambault said he could go all 14-players deep and will decide playing time and minutes as the situation warrants.
No. 5 White River vs. No. 12 Standing Rock, Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time with two old buddies and ball players...Sign me up...I'm there!
Add Riley Hodgekiss a 5-foot-11 9th grader and Joseph YellowFat a 6-foot-2 senior.
Author's Note - About two weeks ago the site where I blog, Sportsblog.com notified me that their site was going down for maintenance, on December 15 for an indeterminate amount of time...WHAT?
I was horrified that this was happening just as Lakota Nation was getting started.
So, I'm packing up shop and moving my blog to liveticket.tv, a site that streams live sports video from schools around South Dakota. Really good stuff the ticket is producing and I'm very excited to delve even further into Dakota sports when the new Panic Button emerges on the site...Hopefully, next week!
In the mean-time, as I head to this new forum I'd like to encourage folks to send pictures, stats, videos and such for their athletic contests....Had a young man from Chamberlain South Dakota that sent me a few cell-phone photos and a couple of stats and he guest authored a blog on the Panic Button...Think it would be pretty cool to have one site, one place where people could see all the great things these young people do!
[Panic Button :: Seth Friesz sails into Chamberlain's 1000-Point Club]Could be a good opportunity for a young person interested in photography, writing or even journalism to dabble in something and get a feel for it. At the end of the day, the goal is to get more youth covered, especially in some of these rural areas in South Dakota and surrounding areas.
If anyone is interested in contributing, say hello on Facebook or send me a message at [email protected]
I would dunk videos all day!!
The site where I'll be moving is here...tonight's featured game is the Marty Braves at Colome Cowboys
[Sports Ticket Live]
