Doug Feinberg

That's where I'm almost like, I wish ...

You know, I was actually talking about this with Doug Feinberg today.

The last World Cup, they had five games in group play, or you know, the pool play.

Mm-hmm.

If AI is gonna take out all of humanity, we're at least gonna go down looking good.

It's Thursday, September 10th, and on today's show, veteran hoops reporter Doug Feinberg joins us from Berlin, where he's covering his fifth FIBA World Cup.

We talk about how this year's fan and media support looks different than at previous World Cups, the timing of this year's tournament just before WNBA playoffs, why he thinks Team USA benefited from their near loss to Italy, and what Paige Bueckers was really saying to China's 7'3" Zhang Zhu.

Plus, the puck drops everywhere, pack your mittens, and a lot of track with a little field.

The FIBA World Cup continues in Berlin today, and Team USA has an early 5:30 AM Eastern quarterfinal game with Hungary.

For those of you who don't listen to our pod at the ass crack of dawn, the game is likely over by the time you're listening to this, so we'll link to the results in the show notes and catch you up on all the highlights in tomorrow's show.

And stick around for a super fun conversation with the AP's Doug Feinberg, who's one of the very few US journalists covering the tournament on the ground in Germany.

[upbeat music] Sticking with the FIBA World Cup, before Team Australia's quarterfinal game against Italy on Wednesday, the team announced that Allana Smith, who plays for the Dallas Wings in the W, will miss the rest of the World Cup due to a lower leg injury.

He is the Associated Press National Women's Basketball Writer.

We welcome back Doug Feinberg onto Soulja.

Welcome back, Doug.

Justin, always good to see you, my man.

Truly appreciate it.

Our audience know, again, where they can see your work, where you're located on social media, and then anything else you want our audience to be aware of.

At Doug Feinberg on the Twitter world.

The AP, you can find my stuff anywhere.

But this younger generation is really hungry and really competitive and they're not afraid to say, yeah, we're going to win.

What is the coaching staff's perspective of this team? I talked to Doug Feinberg, who's in Berlin now, and asked about Team USA in terms of using this tournament as kind of like a blueprint to look at, you know, 2028.

And he said that they're focused on this tournament.

Things can change in two years.

Take a, um, um, you know, there's probably a lot of, uh, like on online, like tell Cersei, I want her to know it was me kind of stuff, basically implying the Adam Silver push.

But I'm credit Doug Feinberg, Alexis Philpoo of ESPN and Howard Megdahl of the title nine for breaking this and getting Kathy Engelbert and her comments.

Obviously this was coordinated with the WNBA for sure to get Kathy Engelbert interviewing before the announcement came on Friday, but good.

Those are three people who really care about the WNBA who've covered at the highest levels and are not just joining the WNBA media core this week to get into culture or bullshit.

Friday needs to leave the roster in a stable place.

From Doug Feinberg at TSN.

Seven teams have already clinched spots in the playoffs with Minnesota, Golden State, and Las Vegas leading the way.

Atlanta, Indiana, New York, and Washington also will be in the postseason.