Ball Up Top: A Women’s Basketball Podcast
Sep 7, 2026 · 31 min · 11 segments
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Andrew HobnerHost
Tyler DeLucaHost
I think my biggest takeaway is that by game three, we have finally gotten away from the two distinct styles of play that had sort of marked Team USA in the first two games, the group stage, right? I think there was this veteran group and then this young intern group, and they felt like almost two totally distinct teams and entities.
This is the first game that they've played in this tournament where I felt like, okay, this is the Team USA that I know, which is like every lineup is a death lineup, right? There were much more interesting rotations.
Kara Lawson made some changes to who she was employing out in the starting five and some of the different five rotations that she was putting out there.
Like they weren't going to get caught lacking the way that the Italians caught them.
two times in one tournament and so eventually we were going to pro regress back to the mean or progress back to the mean right so this was a this was expected this is the team usa that we know and you know there's tougher challenges to come but again this is team usa every game your opponent not only has to play their absolute best they've ever played in the history of their nation But Team USA also has to play the very worst they've ever played as a nation.
And even then, it's still not a guarantee that you are going to beat the Americans.
Like, we're still the juggernaut prohibitive favorite of this tournament, regardless of whether or not France is still lurking out there.
Yeah, I thought it was great that they were in action in a back-to-back like this.
I think palate cleanser is a great way to describe this one because, again, it was truly a return to the norm.
I think it was Steve from the Dunker Spot on Twitter called something like the older players playing with the young interns, the chaperones.
I thought fee had her best game easily so far of this tournament, but Stewie was a standout.
I think my biggest takeaway is that by game three, we have finally gotten away from the two distinct styles of play that had sort of marked Team USA in the first two games, the group stage, right? I think there was this veteran group and then this young intern group, and they felt like almost two totally distinct teams and entities.
This is the first game that they've played in this tournament where I felt like, okay, this is the Team USA that I know, which is like every lineup is a death lineup, right? There were much more interesting rotations.
Kara Lawson made some changes to who she was employing out in the starting five and some of the different five rotations that she was putting out there.
Like they weren't going to get caught lacking the way that the Italians caught them.
two times in one tournament and so eventually we were going to pro regress back to the mean or progress back to the mean right so this was a this was expected this is the team usa that we know and you know there's tougher challenges to come but again this is team usa every game your opponent not only has to play their absolute best they've ever played in the history of their nation But Team USA also has to play the very worst they've ever played as a nation.
And even then, it's still not a guarantee that you are going to beat the Americans.
Like, we're still the juggernaut prohibitive favorite of this tournament, regardless of whether or not France is still lurking out there.
Yeah, I thought it was great that they were in action in a back-to-back like this.
I think palate cleanser is a great way to describe this one because, again, it was truly a return to the norm.
I think it was Steve from the Dunker Spot on Twitter called something like the older players playing with the young interns, the chaperones.
I thought fee had her best game easily so far of this tournament, but Stewie was a standout.
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