By Wheat Hotchkiss

From the moment the Fever won the WNBA Draft Lottery in November and secured the first-ever No. 1 overall pick in franchise history, it was widely assumed that Indiana would use the pick to select South Carolina All-American center Aliyah Boston.

But while the Fever kept close eyes on Boston over the ensuing months, traveling to a number of South Carolina games to scout the Gamecocks star, it wasn’t a guarantee that Boston would actually declare for the draft.

Despite compiling numerous records and accolades over her four years in Columbia – including a national championship in 2022 – Boston had the unique option of potentially returning for a fifth season, thanks to the NCAA’s decision to grant an extra year of eligibility to all student-athletes whose collegiate careers were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

That option created enough uncertainty that Fever head coach Christie Sides admits Boston “had us all in a little bit of a panic” at one point in the season. Sides and assistant coach Jessie Miller were scheduled to fly down to watch a South Carolina practice during that period and Sides remembers talking with Miller on the trip down as to if she should say something to Boston to convince her to enter the draft.

What Sides did instead turned out to be the best possible decision she could have made.

“I just said, “Aliyah, I just wanted to meet you face-to-face, talk to you for a second,’” Sides recalled Monday at Boston’s introductory press conference at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “’But really, I hope you’re not stressing yourself out too much. You need to do what you need to do for you and no one else.’ I think she looked at me like I was absolutely crazy in that moment

“…I just wanted her to see who I was and what I thought was important. And if she decided to stay and next year came around and we had a pick again, that she would be excited that the Fever drafted her.”

Sides’ message resonated with Boston, who called her mom after the conversation and shared what Sides had told her.

“It just kind of stuck with me,” Boston said. “Because people can say, ‘Oh you know, just come out, you’ll have a lot more opportunity’ even if staying in college could have been better for me for many different reasons. But her just saying that, it felt like she wanted the best for me in that space. So knowing that they had the first pick, it made me feel comfortable.”

Boston did ultimately decide to enter the draft and the Fever selected her with the first pick on April 10. Boston spoke with Sides, general manager Lin Dunn, and the rest of the Fever staff that night, then flew to California the next day to work out with her trainer for a couple weeks. She arrived in Indianapolis on Saturday and right when she got off the plane, there were Sides and Dunn, waiting to hug her and grab her bags as soon as she walked off the jet bridge.

“I told them if I knew they were going to be at the gate I would have packed lighter,” Boston joked.

Aliyah Boston has touched down in IND! ✈️

Head Coach Christie Sides and GM Lin Dunn surprised @aa_boston as soon as she got off her plane in Indianapolis. pic.twitter.com/kTADfOZSIB

— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) April 22, 2023

There were more surprises coming for Boston. She spotted her face on a billboard on the drive back from the airport, quickly snapped a picture and sent it to her family group chat. When she got to her apartment, three of her new teammates – Maya Caldwell, Emma Cannon, and Queen Egbo – were there to meet her. And when she walked in to the Fieldhouse on Monday morning ahead of her press conference, the loading dock was full of Pacers Sports & Entertainment employees who had lined up to give her a surprise welcome.

Boston has called several places home over the course of her basketball journey. She grew up on the Virgin Islands and first picked up a basketball at the age of nine, quickly showing a proficiency for the game. When she was 12, her parents made the decision to send her and her sister Alexis to live with extended family in Massachusetts, where they could receive a better education as well as more exposure for their blossoming basketball careers.

The move paid off, as Boston quickly emerged as a five-star prospect during a decorated high school career. She committed to play for coach Dawn Staley at South Carolina. Over the next four years in Columbia, she became one of the most decorated players in program history: a four-time All-America recipient, four-time Lisa Leslie Center of the Year, four-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year, two-time National Player of the Year, two-time Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, two-time SEC Player of the Year, and the 2022 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

Indiana is the next stop on Boston’s basketball journey, another one that she hopes to call home for many years.

While her parents are remaining in the Virgin Islands, Boston talks with them constantly and said they’ve been busy looking at flights to determine which games they want to attend this season.

“It was a lot of hard work,” Boston said of her journey to this point. “But I think all the credit goes to God but also my parents for making those sacrifices and even getting my sister and I started with basketball.”

The Fever open training camp on Sunday. Boston knows that there will be plenty of expectations surrounding her as the number-one pick, but enters training camp confident in her abilities.

“I try not to put any additional pressure on myself that I haven’t already placed on there,” she said Monday. “I’m just really super excited. It’s a new stage for me so it can almost feel like I’m a (freshman) again, but I don’t think that my freshman year at South Carolina I was really nervous. I think it was more I was just super excited to be there and be on that new stage. And so that’s kind of the mindset that I’m taking into being here with the Fever.”

welcome to Indiana, @aa_boston! @PacersSportsEnt employees gathered to welcome Aliyah Boston to @GainbridgeFH this morning. pic.twitter.com/Ur3TyJhUO6

— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) April 24, 2023

There will be some familiar faces for Boston in training camp. Second-year guard Destanni Henderson played with Boston for three seasons at South Carolina. The Fever also drafted Boston’s South Carolina teammate Victaria Saxton with the 25th overall pick. Indiana guard Grace Berger was teammates with Boston with USA Basketball at the 2021 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup.

Boston, Berger, Saxton, and other 2023 draft picks Taylor Mikesell and LaDazhia Williams will be the latest additions to a Fever roster brimming with youthful talent. Five draft picks from 2022 – NaLyssa Smith, Emily Engstler, Lexie Hull, Egbo, and Henderson – return for camp after spending all of last season on the Fever roster.

The Fever also have a few key veteran mentors for that young group, including leading scorer Kelsey Mitchell and former WNBA All-Star Erica Wheeler, who returned to Indiana in free agency this winter.

“It’s a young group, but I think we’re all competitors,” Boston said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. I don’t think anyone is going to back down from a challenge. I’m really super excited for that.

“I think I’m going to do a great job of pushing them and they’re going to do a great job of pushing me because at the end of the day, you want to win, but we also want each other to grow in this space and be successful.”

On the court, Boston should provide immediate contributions for the Fever on both sides of the floor. Over her four years at South Carolina, the 6-5 center averaged 14.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks while shooting 54.6 percent from the field. Boston was so dominant on the post early in her career that teams would focus their entire defensive game plans around limiting her production, a luxury opponents won’t have at the WNBA level, where there is a defensive three seconds rule.

“The thing that I’m most excited about for Aliyah is she’s going to be able to play in some space,” Sides said. “She hasn’t had that. I think junk defense has been the only thing you’ve seen over the past couple years, getting double-teamed, getting triple-teamed. So for her to play in some space is really exciting.”

On the defensive end, Boston has the potential to be a force right away as a rookie. Sides has said that her emphasis in her first year will be primarily on the defensive end of the floor. Boston is the perfect “anchor” on that end, both with her physical talent as well as her vision and communication skills to see the floor and call out coverages to her teammates.

Though her collegiate career only came to an end a few weeks ago, Boston’s professional career begins in earnest this week. She had a workout scheduled with Sides and the Fever staff for Monday afternoon, where they planned to work heavily on ball screens and operating out of the pick-and-roll. Camp begins Sunday, the preseason starts May 7, and Boston’s first official game will be at Gainbridge Fieldhouse against the Connecticut Sun on May 19.

It can be a whirlwind for players going straight from college into the WNBA, but for Boston, she’s looking forward to the challenge. There’s a reason, after all, that she decided to enter the draft.

“Super excited,” she said Monday. “This is a new part of my journey that I’ve wanted for quite some time now.”