I can only imagine the culture shock for Chasson Randle and all the U16 Team USA boys basketball players getting dropped off in Argentina last weekend for an eight-day adventure in the FIBA Americas Championships.

Following Wednesday's game online, though, I caught a glimpse of how tough the language barrier can be.

Tracking the game with the live stat application on the FIBA Americas Web site wasn't terribly difficult, though it helps to have an elementary grasp of the Spanish language.

"Robo" means steal, but don't confuse that with "robote," the Spanish word for rebound.

Cognates (Spanish words that bare a strong resemblance to their English counterparts) helped my cause, as did several online dictionaries.

Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the Spanish stat tracker during Team USA's 110-82 win over Brazil was the detail with which the program described turnovers.

On one occasion, Randle - our local hoops superstar who has Big Ten offers spilling out of his mailbox - was credited with a "perdida mal pase." That's a bad pass that resulted in a turnover.

On another occasion, I saw a "perdida mal manejo," which equates to "bad management."

But the absolute best was "perdida caminar," which puts a colorful spin on a traveling violation. The literal translation is "loose walking."

Spanish obstacle aside, I encourage anyone interested to check out the stat app during the remainder of Team USA's game's this week.

It can be found at www.fibaamericas.com. Choose your language (even English doesn't help with the stats, though) and then click on the USA game at the top of the main page on the scrolling text bar.

Thursday's game against Venezuela is at noon CDT, and Friday's matchup with Puerto Rico is slated for 4 p.m.