South Carolina women's basketball: Senior Profile - Aliyah Boston
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In November 2018, South Carolina signed the top-ranked recruiting class in the country. It was a group of five players (four scholarship and one walk-on) hailed as potentially the best signing class ever.
Four years later, Laeticia Amihere, Brea Beal, Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, and Olivia Thompson have led South Carolina to the most successful period in program history and are on the verge of completing one of the most successful four-year runs in the history of the sport.
Part of what makes the 2019 class so special is that each member stayed all four years. They turned down the potential for greater individual accomplishments elsewhere to stay and win. On Sunday they will play their final home game.
This week GamecockCentral will recognize each member of that class. We’ve covered Olivia Thompson, Laeticia Amihere, Brea Beal, and Zia Cooke. The final installment is the GOAT, Aliyah Boston.
Aliyah Boston, #4, 6-5, Forward, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Bio:
Boston is, quite simply, one of the best athletes in any sport to ever play at South Carolina. If she somehow didn’t win a single award for her senior season, she would still be one of the most decorated athletes ever.
She has won every award possible in her career, as well as every championship possible. Boston’s junior season was arguably the finest season ever by a Gamecock athlete. Her name dominates the South Carolina record books, and yet her greatest skill is her unselfishness.
Boston is one of the best defensive players ever. She is able to defend every position and opponents change their entire game plan to try to avoid her.
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Then:
In her first game, Boston had 12 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 blocks (plus three steals). She became the first player in NCAA history to record a triple-double in her first career game.
And then she got better.
Boston was the national Freshman of the Year and won the Lisa Leslie Award as the best center in the country.
It’s funny to watch Boston’s freshman season now. She still had baby fat and would get winded, and on offense she was mostly catch-and-shoot. Boston was vocal on defense, but often faded into the background. She was good, really good, but not dominant.
Now:
Boston is breathtaking to watch. There are few players with her combination of size, strength, agility, skill, and IQ. She almost never makes a mistake. Boston is, as The Washington Post dubbed her, the immovable goddess.
She is also unselfish. Often double, triple, and even quadruple-teamed, Boston is willing to be a decoy. She draws all the defensive attention to her side of the court and then makes smart passes, opening up opportunities for others.
As a result, Boston’s statistics are down, but South Carolina is dominating. It’s a trade-off she will happily take.
The Sacrifice:
Boston’s sacrifices are probably the least visible. Her first sacrifice was leaving the Virgin Islands to live with her aunt in Massachusetts.
Dawn Staley and the Gamecock coaches have coached Boston harder than any other player. She’s not naturally an alpha player, and they forced her to become one. She sacrificed her summers, first trimming away the baby fat and then training with island-mate Tim Duncan to refine her post moves.
And she spent a year as the new face of the Agony of Defeat. Boston was reminded almost daily of her lowest moment as a player, as ESPN used her sobbing face to promote its women’s basketball coverage.
FAM Favorite moment:
“Happy tears, Holly!”
For the second year in a row, South Carolina’s season ended with tears streaming down Boston’s face. This time, they were tears of joy.
At the end of the 2021 national semifinal against Stanford, Boston missed a layup that would have given South Carolina the win. Boston burst into uncontrollable tears, and the Caridnal’s Hayley Jones and Fran Belibi ran over to console her.
The image immediately went viral as a moment of sportsmanship. Soon, however, Boston became a modern-day Vinko Bogataj as ESPN replayed her agony over and over.
I’ll be the contrarian and say it was brilliant marketing by ESPN, especially as Boston and the Gamecocks steamrolled through the season. The ratings prove that the story of Boston’s quest for redemption captivated the nation, as did her triumph.
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My favorite moment:
Boston has had so many incredible moments, it’s hard to narrow it down. Even the “Happy tears” moment is the product of multiple smaller moments. Fortunately, I get to cheat and write a few hundred words on the subject.
I love watching her defend both parts of the pick-and-roll, or watching a guard drive to the lane and either run smack into Boston and fall down or take one look at her and turn around. There are the games when she is vacuuming up every rebound in sight. I don’t know how many times she’d do something and I’d throw my hands up, shake my head, and say, “She’s not fair.”
There were the monster games: the SEC championship against Georgia, any of the Arkansas games, the “big-ass” UConn game, or the North Carolina game, which has to be on the short list of the best individual performances in Gamecock history.
But what will always stand out is something else: the day Aliyah Boston asked for Netflix recommendations.
In the summer of 2019, South Carolina had a media day for the freshmen. I spent time talking to Boston, and later someone asked what she was like. “A typical teenager,” I said, “bubbly and happy, she talks in cliches and isn’t beaten down by the world yet.”
For most of her first two seasons, that’s who she was. She was bubbly and happy but rarely spoke in more than cliches. Meanwhile, the coaches were begging Boston to be more forceful. “Always be dominating,” they begged her.
The message took root during the 2021 SEC Tournament. Boston won tournament MVP honors following a 27-point game in the final. She was becoming dominant, and instead of cliches, her interviews featured thoughtful responses.
Before the NCAA tournament, Boston appeared in a Zoom interview. Players would be required to stay in their hotel rooms for the entire tournament, and Boston said she would be watching a lot of Netflix.
“If you guys have any (Netflix) suggestions, like please just throw some out there,” Boston said. “I’m about to be finished with Criminal Minds and I don’t know what else to do.”
She had come into her own, on the court and off, and she was ready to dominate, albeit while still bubbly and happy.
Legacy:
Boston will go down as one of the greatest athletes in South Carolina’s history. Her accomplishments are matched by universal admiration, and she is as beloved off the court as she is on the court.
The bubbly and happy teenager is now a bubbly and happy adult. She always has time to sign autographs and pose for pictures.
In five years, her jersey will certainly be retired. I don’t know if she will get a statue next to A’ja Wilson’s. If she doesn’t the debate will rage for years and every time someone else is nominated, the response will be, “But Aliyah doesn’t have one.”
Career stats:
129 games (129 starts), 14.1 ppg, 55% FG, 10.9 rpg, 1.6 apg, 2.4 bpg, 1.1 spg
Records:
First
- Career double-doubles
- Career triple-doubles
- Offensive rebounds
- Defensive rebounds
- Consecutive games started
Second
- Total rebounds
- Blocks
- Career games started
And many more…
Awards:
- Honda Cup Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year (2022)
- SEC Female Athlete of the Year (2022)
- National Player of the Year (2022 unanimous, 2021 The Athletic)
- First-Team All-America (2021, 2022)
- Second-Team All-America (2020)
- Lisa Leslie Center of the Year (2020, 2021, 2022)
- Naismith Defensive Player of the Year (2022)
- SEC Player of the Year (2022)
- SEC Defensive Player of the Year (2020, 2021, 2022)
- 3x SEC All-Defensive Team (2020, 2021, 2022)
- All-SEC First Team (2020, 2021, 2022)
- National Freshman of the Year (2020 ESPN, USBWA, WBCA)
- SEC Freshman of the Year (2020)
- NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (2022)
- NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player (2022 Greensboro)
- NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team (2021 Hemisfair, 2022 Greensboro)
- SEC Tournament MVP (2021)
- SEC All-Tournament Team (2021, 2022)
- CoSIDA Academic All-America Team Member of the Year (2022)
- CoSIDA Women’s Basketball Academic All-American of the Year (2021, 2022)
- CoSIDA Women’s Basketball All-America First Team (2021, 2022)
Team accomplishments: 121-8 overall record, 55-1 home record, two SEC regular season championships, two SEC tournament championships, two Final Fours, 2020 consensus #1, 2022 national champions.
