Aliyah Boston, forward for the Indiana Fever and the 2023 WNBA Rookie of the Year, is joining the ESPN studio broadcast team during the upcoming NCAA Women’s Final Four in Cleveland. The forthcoming games from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will include broadcasts hosted by Elle Duncan with analysts Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumike and Carolyn Peck along with Boston. News of Boston’s role with ESPN for the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament was first reported by Mollie Cahillane of Sports Business Journal.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome such a legend to our set,” Sara Gaiero, ESPN vice president of production, said in a statement. “Aliyah will bring great energy to our already stellar crew, and we cannot wait to watch what she brings to our coverage as someone who won the National Championship just two years ago.”
For Boston, joining ESPN for the tournament is her latest broadcasting endeavor following her work as a studio analyst this past season for coverage of the Big Ten Conference on NBC Sports. Boston, who continues to play professional basketball for the Fever, worked alongside studio host Carolyn Manno and analyst Meghan McKeown on the studio program throughout the Big Ten Conference regular season.
“It is a dream to be a part of such a special weekend and I’m so glad that God has opened this door for me,” Boston said in a statement. “I could not be happier to join this incredible team. As a player, there was no bigger thrill than the Final Four. I’m really excited to return, share my experience, and shine a light on the amazing players we’ll see take the court in Cleveland.”
As South Carolina competes for a spot in the National Championship Game on Friday, Boston will be able to provide her perspective and analysis as a former player on its 2022 National Championship team. The South Carolina Gamecocks recently defeated the Oregon State Beavers in the Elite Eight in a matchup that drew an average of 3.1 million viewers on ABC.
As a whole, the Elite Eight averaged 6.2 million viewers, marking the most-watched iteration of this round of the tournament on record and up 184% year-over-year. The highly-anticipated National Championship Game rematch between the LSU Tigers and Iowa Hawkeyes on ESPN led the way as the most-watched women’s college basketball game on record with an average of 12.3 million viewers.
The NCAA Women’s Final Four begins on Friday night with a matchup between NC State and South Carolina set to commence at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN and streaming on ESPN+. Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo and Holly Rowe will be on the call for the matchup, along with the subsequent game between UConn and Iowa at 9:30 p.m. EST. WNBA Hall of Fame players Sue Bird and Dianna Taurasi will also present an alternate broadcast of both games on ESPN2 and streaming on ESPN+.
