Every NCAA season, there are a few players widely regarded as favorites to be selected No. 1 overall in the following WNBA Draft. How strong each player’s case is depends, of course, on several things: area of greatest need of the WNBA team drafting at No. 1, how each of those players’ games develop during their final go-around in college or even a late riser or two who enters the lottery pick conversation late and surprises people on draft night.
This season, though, there’s one player standing head and shoulders (perhaps literally) above the pack. It’s South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston, and nothing has changed since the beginning of the 2022-23 NCAA season to move her down from the prospective No. 1 overall draft slot this coming April.
Boston, a 6-foot-5 center from the U.S. Virgin Islands, has made her mark not only as one of the most decorated players in South Carolina history, but also as one of Division I’s best frontcourt players in recent memory. As the Gamecocks’ starting center, Boston has led South Carolina to an incredible combined record of 120-8 since 2019-20, including two SEC Tournament titles, an NCAA Final Four appearance, and most recently an NCAA championship in 2022.
Indeed, what Boston means to South Carolina goes far beyond her…
