Savage Words: The South Dakota WNBA Finals continue

Tonight is Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. 

The Phoenix Mercury host the Las Vegas Aces at PHX Arena in the heart of downtown Phoenix. Games 1 and 2 were at Michelob Ultra Arena in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Those two venues make sense, of course, but an argument could be made that the seven-game series could bounce back-and-forth between the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls and the Summit Arena at The Monument in Rapid City.

That’s because this year’s WNBA Finals is an all-South Dakota coached series. 

The Aces are coached by Rapid City Stevens grad Becky Hammon. Sioux Falls Roosevelt grad Nate Tibbetts coaches the Mercury.

That’s pretty cool, and my guess is not a lot of people in the Mount Rushmore state know it. Maybe they do, and I just haven’t heard too much chatter about it.

Hopefully between the time I write this and when the Finals get underway that the South Dakota momentum will pick up, and that it’ll be the most talked about sports story in our state.

After graduating from Stevens, Hammon went to Colorado State where she was named a three-time All-American. While with the Rams, she set several Colorado State records, including points (2,740), points per game (21.9), field goals made (918), free throws made (539), three-point field goals made (365) and assists (538).

She was later inducted into the Colorado State Sports Hall of Fame, and her No. 25 was retired by CSU.

That’s impressive, but Hammon was just getting started and eventually became arguably the most recognized female basketball player on the planet.

That’s up for debate, but her resume is jarring. She’s a six-time WNBA All-Star, playing for both the New York Liberty and San Antonio Stars, which eventually became the team she coaches now in Las Vegas. Her No. 25 was also retired by the Stars, and she was also inducted into New York’s Ring of Honor.

But again, she was just getting going in terms of grabbing headlines. 

She served as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs under legendary coach Gregg Popovich. In December of 2020, Popovich was ejected in a loss to the Lakers and Hammon took over head coaching duties, becoming the first female acting head coach in NBA history.

She later took the head coaching position with the Aces and led them to the WNBA title in 2022 and 2023 and was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2022.

Pretty impressive for a Rapid City Stevens Raider.

While she was steadily moving her way through the coaching ranks, Tibbetts was doing the same, albeit a different avenue. After graduating from Roosevelt, Tibbetts played at the University of South Dakota where he was an All-North Central Conference point guard. He was later inducted into the Coyotes Hall of Fame.

After leaving USD, Tibbetts was an assistant at USF before becoming an assistant at the NBA’s G-League Sioux Falls Skyforce. He was later named the head coach of the Skyforce for two seasons.

It was another trip down the G-League highway after the Skyforce when Tibbetts was named the head coach of the Tulsa 66ers. He was later named an assistant coach in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Orlando Magic. He interviewed for the head coaching job at the Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, and Cavaliers. 

In 2023, he was named the head coach of the Mercury, who are now in the Finals to face his South Dakota counterpart in Hammon.

Pretty impressive for a Sioux Falls Roosevelt Rough Rider.

It’s pretty ironic, both Hammon and Tibbetts at 48 years of age, just two months apart, now coaching on the WNBA’s biggest stage against each other.

You may not be into the WNBA. You may not even be a sports fan.

But South Dakota, you’ve got the right to be proud tonight when these two South Dakotans go head-to-head on ESPN.

While the announcers will be screaming out “Mercury” and “Liberty”, I’ll be hearing “Rough Riders” and “Raiders.”

Pretty cool, South Dakota. Pretty cool.