South Carolina Basketball: Aliyah Boston Guarantees National Championship

"“We want to win a national championship. That’s what we want to do, and we’re going to do it.” – Aliyah Boston“We want to win a national championship. That’s what we want to do, and we’re going to do it.” – Aliyah Boston"

Aliyah Boston, the reigning National Player of the Year and National Defensive Player of the Year, continued dominating college basketball in her senior season. While her raw counting stats are not as impressive as a year ago, she’s actually been better during the 2022-2023 season than last year.

According to herhoopstats.com, both Boston’s offensive efficiency (135.6) and defensive efficiency (69.2) rank better than fellow National Player of the Year candidates Caitlin Clark, Aaliyah Edwards, Haley Jones, Cameron Brink, and Angel Reese. In less minutes, through more double teams, and with receiving fewer touches, Boston has shot more efficiently and become even more immovable on defense. Boston’s dominance, though, is only part of the story for her South Carolina basketball team.

Boston is playing near her career lows in minutes because of how talented the roster is around her. The Gamecocks placed five different players on the All-SEC teams as Boston and Zia Cooke made the conference’s first-team, Kamilla Cardoso was selected for the second-team, Raven Johnson made the All-Freshman team, and Brea Beal joined Boston on the All-Defense team. Cardoso was also picked as the conference’s 6th Woman of the Year, and their Head Coach Dawn Staley was the obvious choice as SEC Coach of the Year.

Boston also received her second consecutive SEC Player of the Year award and took home her fourth straight Defensive Player of the Year trophy. She is a finalist for all of the National Player of the Year awards and is generally considered a top-3 candidate to win again.

Oh, and by the way, the Gamecocks are undefeated and a mere six wins away from becoming just the fifth program to ever go undefeated through an entire season and just the fourth to win back-to-back championships.

On Sunday, the Gamecocks beat Tennessee for South Carolina basketball’s 7th SEC Tournament title in 9 seasons. As she donned her third SEC Tournament Championship hat and stood over the sea of confetti that just rained down from the Bon Secours Wellness Arena rafters, Aliyah Boston was feeling confident.

Flanked by the rest of the “freshies,” Boston guaranteed South Carolina would etch their names in history. Speaking with ESPN’s Holly Rowe, Boston was asked about what the Gamecocks were focusing on moving forward. Her response was a bit of a deviation from the calm and quiet demeanor she usually embodies: “We want to win a national championship. That’s what we want to do, and we’re going to do it.”

If it seems hard to believe that the humble island girl from the US Virgin Islands would speak so boldly, here’s the proof:

This Sunday, March 12th, is Selection Sunday. The 8:00 broadcast on ESPN will reveal to the Gamecocks who will stand in their way of history. With Boston and company playing and speaking as confidently as they are, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament bracket is going to be littered with helpless victims as the juggernaut that is South Carolina is ready to crush anyone who gets in their way as they finish their ascension to the top of the college basketball mountain once again.