INSEP

Alright, I'll go back into the chat, then I'll go back to some of these fan questions.

Insep in the chat says, what's DiamondEye's dream trios match?

You mean like ever or do you mean now?

Why

Like that, that France talent pipeline is not going anywhere.

Um, INSEP is, has, has just poured so many resources into basketball and it's all starting to pay off.

And, and you know what? You have this y- you've had this Gabby Williams generation now too, right? Where players, young players are gonna look at this program, um, and they're gonna want to be part of it as well.

Like, that's one of the big things with, uh, with FIBA.

And, um-

Real quick, I had, uh, Dom, Dominique Malonga, and she-- you know, in France they have, what is it? INSEP? And I actually explained in that moment when she was talking about INSEP, I was like, "For those that don't know, it's very similar to the Australian Institute of Sport," and that's what you're talking about now.

So you went to the Institute at 15, 16.

Yeah, yeah.

So I've been to Japan's High Institute of Sport, which is their elite training center.

I've been to INSEP in France, their elite training center, which has a regional center at the heart of it, and then it has connected center, a network of centers throughout France.

You have USOPC, which is the US Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee, has a elite training center in, in, uh, Colorado.

Um, and what we see, uh, with these centers is they're at, at the highest level.

They've just got so much talent, so it's kind of like a lucky time for them.

But then also they've really, really invested in the last few years, you know? INSEP is a huge sports academy and other countries send their federations over to check it out to see what they're doing, how they're training their players because it's become kind of world renowned for all the work that they do and the way they train up their athletes.

So it's sort of a perfect storm for France right now, and then two, it's just been a little bit of like a, a renaissance in the way that they look at basketball, right? They're starting to become a lot more competitive.

The younger generation really, really wants to win whereas, you know, Gabby Williams told me before when she first started playing for France it was kind of like, "Oh, if we win, yay.

You know, Pauline Astier straight up said that they're gonna beat the US this time.

And you know, when I asked that question to Marine Johannes she was like, " Oh, like I wouldn't say that." You know, she's kinda dancing around it, so it just shows how different it is for those youngsters that are just really ready to, to go out and compete.

So I'm curious what you learned i- in reporting on this story about INSEP and-

Mm-hmm

I feel like she was kind of talking about Leila Lacan there.

Carla Leite, who is not really part of the France pipeline necessarily because she didn't play at INSEP, which is kind of like the UConn.

of French women's basketball but she has insisted herself a role on this team because of how well she's played for the Portland Fire she's an incredible downhill threat I think she could get Team USA into foul trouble and she's a great defender as well so you have these four elite perimeter defenders that are then flanked by the best rim protector in the tournament and And then you also have Pauline Astier, who is another great downhill threat, another great scorer who's really difficult to guard.

And you have an American team that's kind of small at the same time.