Welcome to another episode of the Adrien  Ross Show, where sports and culture  connect.  I got to tell you, I almost don’t know  where to start with this video. There’s  so much that I’m feeling, so much I’m  thinking. I will say this before I get  into anything else, and that is that my  heart and my prayers are with Sophie  Cunningham. At the time of this  recording, we don’t yet know the results  of the MRI, but by the time you see  this, maybe we do, but definitely going  to talk about Sophie more. Do that in a  separate video. I’m also going to recap  the game most likely. That’s also in a  separate video.

What I’m going to do in  this video  is sort of start at the end of the game  because I want to I want to do this  first. I want to talk about this first  and then everything else can wait.  Like I said, struggling with all that I  want to say and how I want to say it. 

But I’m going to start over on X at an  account by someone named Squirrel. I  think it’s a great place to get started.  The post says this, “We aren’t  celebrating because we beat Connecticut.  We are celebrating because despite the  innumerable challenges, injuries, roster  changes, locker room sabotage, FC civil  war, false narratives, shooting slumps,  missed calls, biased refs, every team  playing us like it’s the Super Bowl, the  torn ACL, the broken foot, teeth being  knocked out, the injured knees, the ups  and the downs, the highs and the lows,  the tear shed, fingernails dug in our  shoulders, black eyes, having every team  that beats us, using our now you know to  mock us. Despite all that, we ball. And  if that don’t inspire you and you ain’t  moved by that and the resilience of this  team don’t make you feel something  incredible, with all due respect, up out  our face, we ain’t with you and we don’t  want to be like you. Whistle that while  you kicking rocks and goodbye. 

My goodness.  My goodness. I don’t know squirrel  personally, but I know that there were  things in there that truly resonated  with me. So, for the people who are on  social media saying things like  celebrating for beating a Connecticut  team, you don’t get it, do you? And many  of you haven’t gotten it. And you don’t  get it still. Ain’t nobody celebrating  about Connecticut.

Who is Connecticut to  celebrate?  Connecticut is just another team trying  to win a basketball game. This ain’t  about Connecticut. Excuse the bad  English up in here. Okay, today. This  ain’t about Connecticut. This is about a  team  who despite  all kinds of stuff and mentioned locker  room sabotaging  Dana Bonner situation  went on with all the stuff till you  start to read it you don’t even believe  this thing is true forgot about the  teeth knocked out and the knees and the  and the eyes and oh my goodness the  people leaving the people coming the I  mean it’s been so much and this team  refuses to quit.

I’ve read comments  where people have said they need to just  quit because it’s over and this team  says not happening. This isn’t even  about winning and losing at this point.  Yeah, we want to win. Yeah, we want to  win. That’s not really what this this  video, what I’m talking about right now  in the spirit of people who are standing  up for this team and yes, this coach,  it’s not just about wins and losses with  people who recognize that there’s  something going on here that’s worth  celebrating.

If this team never made it  to the playoffs this season, if this  team never won a playoff game, if they  made it to the playoffs, what we are  seeing right now, some would say it’s a  great American story. And it is, this is  a God story.

Beyond that, this is a God  story of resilience and perseverance.  And yes, I am and have been a bit  emotional because I have seen I don’t  see it anymore because I’ve shut off the  noise as I’ve told you did that weeks  ago. Shut off the noise. So when the  noise comes to me, it’s because it  somehow popped up in one of my feeds or  or someone tells me about it. But I’m  not not feasting on the fester. Not even  not even having it come up in my on my  my feed except by some kind of fluke or  some comment I catch on X or something. 

But the resilience, the perseverance,  the love this team has, I know that  busts the narrative.  But it’s time for people, well, I  shouldn’t say that because there are  people who are going to die on that hill  of their narrative, but it’s time for  reasonable people who have ears and eyes  to say, you know what, this team is  something special, and this isn’t just  about basketball. Yeah, they balled out.  They came back 21 down when they could  have folded. And that was after  Sophie Cunningham was screaming on the  court and crying. They could have  folded. Yet another  adverse situation. And I know some  people out there have somehow not  recognized that this team has dealt with  incredible adversity. And yet what they  are showing us is character.

It’s fight.  It’s passion, not just for a game,  but for one another.  And I know again the narrative is they  can’t stand each other. They can’t stand  Caitlyn Clark. Caitlyn Clark isn’t for  the team. The coach is sabotaging the  team. The whole all of it.  Not to mention, everybody’s a coach and  everybody’s a doctor.  I could say a whole lot more on some of  the comments even about the coaching  because  I won’t say too much. I just know that  not everybody talking knows what they’re  talking about. I’ll just put it that  way. And some people do know what  they’re talking about. And some people,  thank God, are people  who have not crashed out, who have not  used adversity or their own  disappointment that unfortunately  Caitlyn Clark is injured, have not used  that  to rip people apart and rip character  apart and push nasty narratives.

Thank  God there are some people because I tell  you what,  a lot of us, and I’ll put myself in the  US, a lot of us can learn a whole lot  from this team.  So, now I’m going to show you some  footage of some comments that have been  made, some things that have been done.  Uh, this team, again, this is not about  beating Connecticut. It’s not about  beating anybody. It’s about standing  together. This is why God had put it on  my heart that this channel would be  about where sports and culture connect.  This is why you hear me say over and  over again that sports are a microcosm  of society because it’s playing out  before our very eyes.  When things don’t work out like you  wanted to,  character is revealed.  But it’s never too late.

If you know  you’ve been a part of the cesspool and  the narratives and the things that are  just for some diabolical,  it’s not too late.  It’s not too late to turn it around.  Some of you get it because we talk about  the live streams. We have been have we  had such a good time. We do. We have to  deal with some of the negativity and I I  I hold a hard line on that.  But we’ve had some incredible times. The  comments, the emails, the things from  people who say, “Thank you for a place  where we can come and just enjoy and  cheer on a team.” They’re they’re  encouraging.  So, we have a good time.

But we’ve  turned the page even where we are. We  are we’re praying for these players, not  just Indiana, but for the league. We’re  praying for them. We want the best for  them. And many of us understand that  what we’re doing is bigger than  basketball.  It is. Some of you get it cuz we we talk  about it. Some of you, you’re just not  at that place where you understand that.  And that’s okay. You are where you are.  But I encourage you to keep your eyes  and ears open. Be very, very diligent  in that. And I’ll leave that part right  there. 

I think I’ll go over to I don’t know.  I’m going to go to a few posts on X, a  few posts from the Indiana Fever. And um  like I said, I don’t quite know where to  go, but I do want to show you a few  things. And um I’ll put all the links in  the description of this video. So, I’ll  start here with Caitlyn Clark on X,  just a few of her posts from uh Sunday.  Battled battled battled  so proud. Battle battle battled so  proud. 

And another one MVP Kelse  I know some people didn’t like that and  still creating narratives about that  because they don’t want Kelsey and  Caitlyn to respect one another. Not most  of you thankfully, but believe it or  not, there are some. So, they’re want  they want us to believe that Caitlyn is  lying and she don’t really mean what she  said. I think I believe Caitlyn. And  then this one, Kelse.  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like I said, we’ll  do um a recap of the game. Here’s TSH.  I love my team. I love my team.  Remember, there are people out there who  are trying to tell you  that  they don’t love all the players. Oh,  they don’t love Sophie. They don’t love  Cece. They don’t love  I love my team. And we see it. We watch  it. We see it. We hear it. We know it.  Narratives will be what narratives will  be. But this team, if you didn’t know  already, this team loves one another. 

And I mean the whole team.  I’m so proud of you. Proud of you.  I’m gonna stop right here because right  there you heard this coach crying say,  “I’m so proud of you.” And immediately  you hear several people saying, “If not  everyone, we’re proud of you. We’re  proud of you.”  Listen, ain’t nobody perfect.  No player on this team is perfect. No  coach on this coaching staff is perfect.  They’re doing really well in light of  the adversity.

And they love each other  and they’re proud of one another.  I’m so proud of you. Proud of you.  Proud of you.  I’m so proud of you guys.  I know that sometimes it sounds like  just word when we talk about being  resilient,  but it’s not, man. It’s how we live.  It’s how y’all live. And it’s a tribute  to you. It’s a tribute to your  connectedness, your togetherness, your  your your toughness, your mindset,  your never give up gritty attitudes.  Like, that’s what it takes. That’s what  it takes.  We will never never be counted out  because that  is worth gold. That is worth goals.  God damn baby.  Put us on your back. 

Oh, big time breezy.  You are the consmate professional. We  love you. We appreciate you. You are  huge.  AB point forward  [Applause]  and look you can’t underestimate what it  means to have somebody like her who just  does whatever we ask right does whatever  I mean everybody really Lex that was a  huge  toss your toss your activity all  and that’s what it’s going to take okay  that’s what it’s going to take we got to  play  We got to play with no pressure, but we  fight  live that resilience every day and we  will accomplish what we want to  accomplish. Okay, come on. 

On three. One, two, three.  That’s beautiful. It’s emotional. I just  wanted to pause here because you can see  Sophie was right there.  right there smiling, getting up with her  team.  I got to be real with y’all because  that’s how I roll. I know some of you  haven’t been around long enough and some  of you don’t know me even before I  started covering basketball and and in  other things that that I’ve that I’ve  done that I’ve accomplished whatever.  But I don’t I don’t roll with let me  just say what everybody else is saying.  And some of you, some people have found  that to be a problem and they’ve tried  to bully me in comments. They’ve tried  to force me to say whatever they want me  to say.

Nobody who knows me does that  because you you if you know me, you know  there’s no price tag on me and there are  no puppet strings on me. So I’m going to  speak what I believe is true. And if you  don’t like it, then you just say I don’t  like it. But I will not be browbeating.  I will not be threatened. I will not be  anything into saying anything that I  don’t believe is true. And I know that’s  hard to find on social media because  people are used to threatening people  with their likes and their subscriptions  and all that. Listen, I love this  channel. I love everybody who um who has  shown themselves to be character people  who have supported me. All all of those  things just phenomenal.

Every like Oh,  bring them. I don’t mind the likes. any  subscript every subscription I don’t  mind all the members all all of that  but I will not sell out for a click for  a like for a subscription and I will not  follow along with the narrative I don’t  believe and what I believe is that what  you saw and what you heard right there  shows the character of this organization  the coach and the players in the room  and the players who are not able to be  in the room. We know that Caitlyn Clark,  well, maybe you don’t know, but Caitlyn  Clark was not there. Her boyfriend  Connor had a death in the family, his  grandmother. And so, obviously, Caitlyn  is going to be with her boyfriend. At  least that’s what we believe. The only  time she’s ever missed being with her  team, she’s with them. So, she gets on  social media when she can, and you hear  her battle, battle, battle. I just  showed it to you calling out Kel. 

So, this is one team. As they say, it’s  together. They say together. And  speaking of Caitlyn not being able to be  there,  we know that Caitlyn and Aaliyah have  this ritual. Caitlyn and Aaliyah didn’t  stop doing it when Caitlyn got hurt.  I’ve covered I’ve covered it a couple  times in this channel. But Caitlyn, like  I said, wasn’t there. But Aaliyah said,  “We’re not letting the ritual die.  [Music]  I’m feeling like the post I shared on X,  like if that doesn’t move you,  I’m going to quote Renee Montgomery.  You ain’t like us.  You ain’t like us.” And that was  obviously before the battle, before  getting down 21 points, Sophie going  down and this team rallying and getting  this win in overtime.  One team together. Let’s hear a little  bit from AB and Kelsey in the postgame  press conference. 

And then it gives us practice time,  which we’re going to need.  Tough situation just seems to bring the  best out for you guys. I mean, just how  the heck did you pull it off today? Um,  you know, when we came in at halftime,  we talked about one chipping away. Um,  being resilient. That’s kind of been our  story this entire season. Um, and that’s  just what we do. But I think right now,  even through adversity, um, I think  we’re able to see just God’s blessing  over us. I think we’re down 21 and we  come back.  Okay, that o that was a yes and amen  from Kelsey. Okay, I love that. giving  God  praise for being able not just winning a  game, but man, what we have gone  through. These are human beings. It’s  not just a game. These are human beings  impacted by every aspect that we have  seen all season long. Come on now, give  God the praise. I want me to get  started. Kelsey said, “Woo!” Kelsey done  went to church. Let’s hear that again.  right now, even through adversity, um I  think we’re able to see just God’s  blessing over us. I mean, we’re down 21  and we come back and we play and I think  what stands out most is just everyone  coming in and and affecting game the way  they did. Um and it’s just it’s just  been great. 

Kelsey, your second half with 34 of your  twice just  damn the last halftime. What took what  took over you? How did you get it done  on the floor? Uh I think it was more  about what we did from a standpoint of  like the mindset and the mentality um  from half to half. It it sucked for me  um first half. It just wasn’t you know  and I think that you know it wasn’t as  well for our group but the resiliency is  true in our room um seeing soap go down  and then knowing what happened with Sid  and knowing what happened with Eric and  then knowing what happened with Cece.  It’s like I think a lot of it was just  God and being able to like stay prepared  and stay in your mental, you know,  mental state to be able to compete.

But  I really think that that’s the most  resilient that we’ve ever been because  of everything we’ve been through. So I  think a lot of it just you just tap into  your team and you just love on your team  and I think you know great things can  happen.  Again God again resiliency and loving on  your team. Good stuff. Make sure you  watch that whole thing. Uh it’s it will  the link will be in the description of  this video. really good 16 minutes of um  these two and then coach White I’m going  to go over to some of her comments now.  Just start I guess with Kelsey Mitchell  and what she did today.  Yeah, I mean it’s  speechless really. Um you know what, 0  for seven in the first half and four  points and just put us on her back. Made  big shot after big shot. big play after  big play. Um, she didn’t settle. She  stayed aggressive and  you know, she she willed us.  What is it about this group, the  resiliency, things like what happened  this? What is it about them that that  seems to bring the best out?  It’s going to be hard to talk about  without getting emotional. I mean,  first and foremost, they’re good human  beings.  You know, they’re selfless.  They’re tough.  They don’t they don’t care who gets the  credit. They don’t care whose day it is.  They just they got something inside of  them that you just can’t teach. And you  know, we we they bring it out of each  other.

Um, and  it it allows us to  to go through these incredibly tough  times that we’re going through and  always gives us a chance. And and I’m  just so incredibly proud of them,  for continuing to believe, for  continuing to pull together,  for continuing to step up. I mean, every  single person on this roster impacts  winning for us. And every single person  on this roster  is valued for how they impact winning  whether they play a second or not. They  give and give and give to this team. And  I’m I’m I’m thankful for this group.  As a person who has coached young  ladies, who’s taught  boys and girls, who has through the  course of my life worked with young  people at church,  there’s something about a person in that  leadership position  and even when other people don’t get it,  there’s a certain kind of love that’s in  your heart for those young people,  people on the outside looking in. They  may not get it, but within your group,  you get it. And that’s what matters. 

Like a lot of people are they’re  looking, they’re let me let me find  something that Caitlyn said in this  interview that suggests that she doesn’t  like this coach or that coach. Let me  catch something the coach said, which  let me just twist it a little bit  because that that means that she was  trying to diss, you know, this player  and and and usually this people are  saying it’s Caitlyn and let me let me  find let me and I love what I’ve heard  this team say over and over again and  once again I choose to believe these  players.  There’s love in this team and as Sophie  herself has said,  she’s never had a stronger bond with  teammates before. There is such a bond  that you see a newcomer such as Odyssey  come in and you know they are swept away  with the commitment with this team.  So much adversity.

If you’ve ever  played, if you’ve ever coached, if  you’ve ever watched with an  understanding eye of what sports are  about, you know that one piece of  adversity can be devastating. But there  have been pieces upon pieces upon pieces  in this team. It affects everything.  people playing out of position, lineups  that are different,  ju just frustration level, having to  keep one another up. That’s why I say  and that’s why I get as emotion  emotional about it as I do because this  is about life. This is about resilience.  This is about strength. This is an  American story. It really is. I knew I  should have started my book already,  which I didn’t do after last season. But  alas, or not alas, alas kind of means  like, oh, that’s so bad. But no, I think  it might be a bit of, oh, yeah, because  there’s so much more that needed to be  added to the story.  I’m blown away by it. the great American  story, but the God story because there’s  so much more here. And those of you who  know it, say amen in the comments  because  for those who have eyes to see, you see  it. You see it. Other people, well,  they’ll post and say, you know, it’s  no.

I told you the noise from Latin  means nausea.  But I really do hope that some people  will realize, you know what, I’ve been  off here. And instead of doubling down  and dying on that hill, let me just  acknowledge  what is obvious to those, like I said,  with seeing eyes and ears. Um, I just  think,  you know, I my one of my books is called  Push Your Way to Purpose, and I’m not  here trying to sell a book, but it’s  Push Your Way to Purpose: How to Get  From Where You Are to Where You’re Meant  to Be. And that’s what I that’s what I  do. That’s what I talk about. I talk  about purpose, right? It’s not Yeah.  Yeah. You know, I know a thing or two  about basketball, but it’s more than  that. I talk a lot about purpose. And  and the title of the book was push is  push your way to purpose. I see that in  this team. And I’m going to say again  what I said before. If they never won  another game, and I believe they will,  and I believe Caitlyn will be back, and  I believe I just leave it at that. But  regardless of if they won or not, they  have already shown us what it means to  fight, to stick together, to face  adversity. Maybe they butt heads at  times. Who doesn’t? That’s what happens  when you spend a lot of time with people  and you have strong opinions, but you  come back together and you let the  naysayers be the naysayers. I imagine  there may be people in the comments here  who don’t like what I had to say.

Number  one, you know, I’m smart enough not to  take in a whole lot of that. So, I’m  thankful for comments that I do see, but  there are many that I don’t see, and you  guys get to chop it up with one another,  but it won’t change my stand on what I  see from this team and how much bigger  than basketball it is. So proud of this  team. so proud of the people who have  continued to support the team and didn’t  bail out and didn’t push all kinds of  stuff. Um, and I’m not talking about  differences, opinions. We have those.  I’m talking about, y’all know what I’m  talking about.  So, I’m going to end it right there. And  like I said, I want to do a couple other  videos, but I just wanted to point out  the resiliency, the perseverance, the  togetherness of this team.  Wow. Last night, they moved up in the  standings. After dropping the seven,  they moved back up. But more importantly  than that, they showed up for one  another.  I’ll catch you next time, God willing.  God bless you abundantly.