Success of ESPN’s women’s tournament studio cast indicates promising future

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CLEVELAND — It’s 43 degrees outside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and the wind makes it feel even colder in the minutes before ESPN begins its pregame show for the women’s Final Four. The hosts at the desk — Elle Duncan, Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumike and Carolyn Peck — and show newcomer Aliyah Boston, are trying to stay warm before they go live.

They have electric blankets and hand warmers, and Peck even has gloves — whatever it takes to keep the body temperature up while they spend time talking to the crowd and going over segments with producers.

But at 5:58 p.m., it’s nearly go time.

They lock hands and it seems like Duncan is delivering a prayer. Or maybe a pep talk. After all, everybody describes her as the point guard of the group. But instead, they start an arm wave. It starts with Duncan, on the far left seat, and moves to Carter, Ogwumike, Peck and finally to Boston who then sends it back in reverse order.

They all laugh. The crowd loves it. Now, it really is showtime.

There are TVs on the left and right of the desk, so they can see whether they are on the screen or if a highlight is on. The show starts and their eyes go directly to those TVs.

ESPN has its Final Four intro, and Carter and Ogwumike are dancing to the music they hear from the broadcast in their ears.

Finally, ESPN throws the show to them, Duncan delivers her introduction and everything is off and running.

The show signifies the start of the Final Four, the beginning of the end of a women’s tournament that has been the most successful in the sport’s history. The ratings have shattered a new record every weekend, led by star power like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, LSU’s Angel Reese, UConn’s Paige Bueckers, USC’s Juju Watkins, and so many more.

Friday’s Final Four game between Iowa and UConn set a record with 14.2 million viewers — and it peaked at 17 million viewers. Last Monday, Iowa’s Elite Eight game against LSU set a record with 12.3 million views and the UConn-USC game after that had a staggering 6.7 million views. Sunday’s national championship between Iowa and South Carolina is expected to break every college basketball viewership record.

As the sport’s fandom reaches a peak both in broadcast ratings and on social media, ESPN’s show has delivered star power that matches the level of the basketball games it airs. With Duncan, ESPN has a broadcasting pro who has been in the field since 2013 and is perfectly made to set up everything for Carter, a baller at heart who consistently shows off her passion for the game, and Ogwumike, whose energy and knowledge of the game are unmatched. Add in Peck, a national champion as a coach, and Boston, a national champion and WNBA rookie of the year, and you have a show that ESPN producers believe is a dream cast.

“To see the support and the appreciation for the work that is being done and I think these women have worked long and hard for that and I think it’s awesome people are now noticing it,” said Kate Jackson, who is ESPN’s vice president of production.

But it’s also one that shines a light on Black women who aren’t putting on an act for anybody. Their authenticity resonates with nearly everybody who watches.

“I think with Elle, Draya, Chiney, Carolyn Peck and now Aliyah, Black women holding it down, taking it to another level,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “It’s quite remarkable. … It’s awesome. It’s intentional. … Somebody chose that group of women to uplift our game, and they’re doing a magnificent job. It’s different than years past.”

When Carter finished her fourth season playing at Tennessee, she had the option to compete overseas for a fifth year. She decided to step away from basketball due to injuries, but she wanted to finish getting her graduate degree. At the time, though, she wasn’t thinking about a career in broadcasting.

She was a broke college student trying to figure out life after basketball. She drove for Uber and Lyft, she trained players on the side, and she worked as a fitness coach at OrangeTheory after moving back to Atlanta.

She made her foray into broadcasting because she needed to make extra money. She built a good relationship with people like Peck, NBC sportscaster Maria Taylor and others. They advised her to see if she could be an online analyst for some Tennessee games so she did.

They offered her $200 a game. “I was like yeah I’m in,” Carter says now with a laugh.

Her growth in the broadcasting industry has shot off like a rocket ship. She fell in love with it while doing a few specific segments for SEC Network. The first was when her producer Rick Aneglo let her do one called “Dropping In With Draya.” That allowed her to go to schools early and do basketball drills with a player while interviewing them.

Also while at SEC Network, but on a studio show, she did a segment called “Doing Work With Draya” where she talked a lot about effort and hustle.

“When I realized, ‘Oh I can talk about what I enjoy and I can show people what makes these players and game special.’ Those were the moments when I thought, ‘This can be fun,’” Carter said.

That’s what the NCAA Tournament has been for her and the rest of the crew. Their chemistry shines through the broadcast, whether it’s moments like Carter and Ogwumike doing specific handshakes before Friday’s show kicked off or Duncan trying to fit in as many references to the band Queen as she can. “That’s two,” she said with pride during the first commercial break on Friday. It all comes through as authentic on set because they’re friends off the air as well.

Duncan has known Ogwumike for more than seven years and Carter for three years. “They’re my sisters,” Duncan said. That makes things fun even when cameras aren’t rolling. Carter and Ogwumike can trade shots on the court behind the scenes like they did in Cleveland.

gameday buckets with @Andraya_Carter ✨ pic.twitter.com/iH8M4CAXBk

— Chiney Ogwumike (@chiney) April 5, 2024

“Chiney, that’s my home girl,” Carter said. “We can kick it anytime. What we do on air would be us just watching a game together.”

Or they dance to the music in the arena, or are in the studio recording each other’s nervous reactions to games like Duncan did with Carter as she hid away in the studio to watch Tennessee play NC State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Our resident Lady Vol is sick watching this gm @Andraya_Carter 🤣🤣🤣#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/uyiqJXWDDV

— Elle Duncan (@elleduncanESPN) March 25, 2024

“If you’re going to spend 13 hours a day in a studio, hungry, cold, tired, you want to do it with your sisters,” Duncan said. As the trio has captured the hearts of viewers around the country, it wasn’t always known that Ogwumike would be on the desk with Duncan and Carter.

Rebecca Lobo was in the studio for the opening weekend, but she is always scheduled to leave to go on the road once the second weekend of the tournament begins. When Duncan and Carter found out about Ogwumike joining, they were excited. For ESPN, Ogwumike’s addition was intentional. They had all been together for WNBA Countdown during the WNBA Finals and ESPN loved their energy.

“I did think about that as we looked at our tournament coverage for this year, I think Chiney has such great energy and such great charisma on camera,” said Sara Gaiero, ESPN’s vice president of production. “She’s also super relatable in terms of the way that she presents herself. It just makes you feel as a viewer that I get it and this is fun. And her analysis is on point.”

Duncan has had a stellar career in sports media, even going back to her time as an intern with the show 2 Live Stews in Atlanta.

The only time she can remember getting this much praise about a show was when she did her “Girl Dad” segment in 2020 after the passing of Kobe Bryant. But this feels different, she said.

The success of the show begs the question, what’s next for ESPN when it comes to women’s basketball coverage?

The studio cast has navigated a packed schedule the last few weeks, including special guest hits on ESPN shows like First Take, Get Up and more. But as the ratings climb for women’s basketball and the show, the idea of a true postgame show has been on fans’ minds.

While the pregame and halftime shows have drawn rave reviews, there’s a block of time that goes elsewhere like on Friday when the games ran right into the Scott Van Pelt Show, but those shows have been led by women’s basketball topics.

Because of a tight TV schedule, traditional postgame shows are difficult, Jackson said.

ESPN has done digital post-game shows that are streamed live on the app and ESPN’s YouTube channel and remain there for replay value.

“That’s great because there’s only so many hours, there’s only so many networks, so exploring in the digital and social space is a great way to serve fans in other ways and reach them where they are,” Jackson said. “Not all fans are linear television watchers and I think we’re being very conscientious about that.”

Their impact goes beyond ratings, though. Ohio State guard Cotie McMahon tweeted, during the Sweet 16, that she couldn’t wait to have the same job one day.

Can’t wait for this to be my job 🤣 https://t.co/NQNmiRVBg4

— cotie (@cotiemcmahon23) March 31, 2024

McMahon isn’t the only one. Though some players will become coaches, many want the next journey to be on air.

That thought isn’t lost on Carter, who knows she can impact people the way Peck, Taylor and others helped change her life. “I hope for young athletes it’s not just, ‘I want to be on TV. But I want to be on TV where I can be myself,’” Carter said. “The ultimate goal isn’t just being on TV, but being on TV and being on TV and being myself.”

Duncan believes the same but knows that every time the camera comes on they have to be on their game. “You can be yourself,” Duncan said. “Broadcasters don’t look like one thing anymore. It used to be suits and sitting on a desk and being like Walter Cronkite and now it can be 2 Chainz references or dapping each other up. I hope they understand it’s a space for authenticity. They want you to be you.”

That’s all Friday’s show in Cleveland was.

A few minutes before the show, the crew was going through their segments one more time. Ogwumike had the best last-minute pep talk.

“If all else fails, we vibe,” she said. Everybody repeated: “If all else fails, we vibe.”

(Photo of Elle Duncan, Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumike and Carolyn Peck: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)