In The Paint Show

On Episode 191 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", Chelsea Hopkins hosts a special ITP episode, the "2024-25 Preseason FAB 50 Rankings Release Show" to coincide with the release of the complete rankings on Ballislife.com. Chelsea’s fellow ITP hosts, FAB 50 compiler Ronnie Flores and grassroots basketball expert Ani Umana, break down the preseason poll, talk "Teams on the Rise", "Teams on the Hot...

On Episode 190 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana go hard on Duke's Cooper Flagg (2024 Mr. Basketball USA) signing an endorsement deal with New Balance. Is this a turning point in legit endorsements for college and high school players? Will Flagg be successful enough for other Nike competitors to throw big money at young endorsers? Is this a sign of Nike complacency...

On Episode 189 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana go hard on the 2024 Olympics in Paris and pull out the crystal ball for the 2028 event in Los Angeles. The ITP crew starts off by taking a look at boys and girls high school players to watch in 2024-25 based on recent grassroots events, including the Nike Skills Academy. Is any player on the heels of A.J. Dybansta as...

On Episode 188 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana go hard on the wild few weeks in the WNBA, and give their 2024-25 NBA predictions in light of the Boston Celtics capturing their 18th league championship. The ITP Crew goes hard on the Celtics' tandem of Jaylen Brown and Jason Taytum winning a NBA title and the NBA's young core of stars entering their prime. Will the...

On Episode 187 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana go hard on the NBA playoffs and the fast-approaching 2024 WNBA season. The ITP crew also touches on the high line themes of the upcoming NCAA live period (May 17-19) and if high school players will ever again be en vogue to college recruiters? First, Ani and Chelsea give their first take reactions to the NBA playoffs...

On Episode 186 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show hosts Ronnie Flores and Ani Umana go hard on the top high school players to watch this spring and summer. The fellas talk about each of the returning classes, who've they've seen in recent weeks and players they looking forward to evaluating the rest of the spring and summer. For the 2025 class, where does Cam Boozer go from here? Can names like H...

On Episode 185 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show, hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on a variety of topics, including the record-breaking WNCAA Final and WNBA Draft and separating hype surrounding those event from the actual basketball perspective. Before the ITP Crew goes in on the past few weeks in women's basketball, Chelsea and Ani give their insight on the 2024 Nike...

On Episode 184 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show, hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on the epic Monday Elite 8 games, particularly Iowa and LSU, and women's NCAA March Madness. Before the ITP Crew goes in on the Caitlin Clark phenomenon, Ani gives a quick breakdown on the high school scene and why its a bit mundane right now because of the success of older college teams...

On Episode 183 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show, hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on the upcoming men's and women's NCAA March Madness. Before the ITP Crew goes in on the NCAA Tournament brackets, Ron gives a quick take on Chipotle Nationals (April 4-6). Can any team beat FAB 50 No. 1 Montverde Academy (FL)? Chelsea gives her insight and first reaction to the WNCAA Tou...

On Episode 182 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show, hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana, Chelsea Hopkins and Horace Neysmith go hard on the epic weekend of high school hoops, where state championships were decided in power states across the country. The ITP crew also dish on the big controversy in New Jersey, where Manasquan (N.J.) lost on an egregious referee's overturned call to FAB 50 No. 40 Camden...

On Episode 181 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show, hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go freestyle on a variety of relevant topics, from the youth level all the way to the NBA and its product. Cheslea gives an update on the next EYBL Scholastic event and the ITP crew gives their take on the Oak Hill Academy program. Can it regain its former glory? Bronny James and his NBA Draft st...

On Episode 180 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show, hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on the one-year plan that was hatched for the late, great Kobe Bryant to turn pro out of high school with special guest Gary Charles, who was part of the small circle that knew of the plans for the 17-year wunderkind from Lower Merion High School (Ardmore, Pa.). Before bringing on Gary Ch...

On Episode 179 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show, hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins and Horace Neysmith go hard on two main topics: the U.S. American development system (from grassroots to the pros) and the dominance of international talent at the elite NBA level. Will NBA MVP go to a non-American for the next 10 years? the question was brought up by long-time NBA writer Chris P...

On Episode 178 of the Ballislife In The Paint Show, hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins and Horace Neysmith go hard on the 2024 McDonald's All-American Game and the announcement of the 24 players selected to play in this year's game (April 2 in Houston). The big news from the standpoint of reaction to the roster selection is having three players from FAB 50 No. 1 Montverde Academy (...

On Episode 177 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", ITP hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on various topics, from inclement weather affecting NFL games, the contenders for the women's NCAA title, run-of-the-mill NBA teams that need to make a trade, and everything high school hoops, from the big MLK results, to the new FAB 50, to players that helped themselves on the eve of...

On Episode 176 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", ITP hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on the high school basketball season up to this point, spotlighting the annual Elite All-American Team by announcing their Mid-Season All-American choices and previewing the top games and storylines from this weekend's Spalding Hoophall Classic. First, the ITP crew gives their instant...

On Episode 175 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", ITP hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on the holiday tournaments they attended, from the Tarkanian Classic, City of Palms, Les Schwab Invitational, The Classic at Damien, and Torrey Pines Holiday Classic. The ITP Crew break down the top teams in their FAB 50 spotlight and highlight stock risers and top 2027s on the come u...

On Episode 174 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", ITP hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins give a personal touch to their basketball takes on the last pod on 2023! The ITP Crew dishes on what they are grateful for and their New Year's resolutions they plan to keep! The ITP Crew give their reaction to the recent contract announcement of MLB's Shoehei Ohtani's to the Los Angeles Dodg...

On Episode 173 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", ITP hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on the recent Hoophall West, the college football playoff controversy and give a quick preview of the December tournaments the ITP crew will be scouting. We tip-off the latest pod with some big off-court news from Ani and the NBA In-Season Tournament. Why is it working and whom will a...

On Episode 172 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", ITP hosts Ronnie Flores and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on plenty of topics, including the NBA Rookie of the Year race between the Spurs' Victor Wembanyama and Thunder's Chet Holmgren and discuss the media push of young player highlights vs. contributions to winning teams. Is Holmgren, who was injured all of last season, now the ROY front-runner over...

On Episode 171 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", ITP hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins go hard on the situation involving LSU women's basketball star Angel Reese and the dynamic between star player and coach in this current NIL era of college basketball. Many online are trying to pit Reese against her coach Kim Mulkey, but this topic is much bigger in scope than just the defend...

On Episode 170 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", Ronnie Flores and Ani Umana give their hot takes on the young risers and early standouts of the 2023-24 basketball season at all levels, from the NBA, college and high school ranks! The ITP crew starts off with their dish on hoop hot takes that are meant as click-bait and how impressionable those are to young players and fans. Ron and Ani dish on...

On Episode 169 of Ballislife's "In The Paint Show", Chelsea Hopkins hosts a special ITP episode, the "2023-24 Preseason FAB 50 Rankings Release Show" to coincide with the release of the complete rankings on Ballislife.com. Chelsea’s fellow ITP hosts, FAB 50 compiler Ronnie Flores and BIL associate editor Ani Umana, break down the preseason poll, talk "Teams on the Rise", "Teams on the Hot Seat", p...

On Episode 168 of the new and improved Ballislife In The Paint Show, hosts Ronnie Flores, Ani Umana and Chelsea Hopkins give their hot takes on three main topics: USA Basketball coming up short and not medaling at the FIBA World Cup, the 2023 WNBA season and the recent G League Ignite games with its plethora of 2024 NBA hopefuls. In the ITP Overseas segment, Ron asks Ani and Chelsea some hard-hitt...

In ITP Overtime, Episode No. 4, Ronnie talks about the recent jersey retirement at Taft (Woodland Hills, Calif.) of multi-sports athlete and former NFL player Steve Smith (Giants) and discusses with Ani and Chelsea their definitions of a great athlete and what defines athleticism. How do you define it? Check out ITP Overtime, our series of short story bonus content that compliments our weekly ITP...