ESPN’s College GameDay basketball broadcast has never had a woman permanently on the weekly show.
Until now.
According to a report from Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich on Monday, former Lady Vol and current ESPN analyst Andraya Carter will have a full-time role on College GameDay this season, making her the first woman to have a permanent role on the well-known program.
The report states that Carter will join host Rece Davis along with Jay Bilas, Dan Shulman, Seth Greenberg, and Jay Williams on the weekly show.
Carter, a native of Flowery Branch, Georgia, first arrived in Knoxville in 2012 to begin her basketball career but was shaken up by two shoulder injuries early in the season. Carter would go on to have surgery in the middle of her freshman season but bounced back in a huge way during her redshirt freshman season in 2013-2014.
The 5-foot-9 guard was named to the SEC All-Freshman team after starting 21 of 35 games that season and averaged 7.8 points on better than 45 percent shooting from the floor.
Carter became a skilled thief during her third season on Rocky Top. The redshirt sophomore racked up the most steals by a Lady Vol player since Alexis Hornbuckle in 2007-2008 and led the SEC in steals (80) and steals per game (2.3) during that season.
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Injuries would once again provide a challenge to Carter’s career at Tennessee and forced her into an early playing retirement after her redshirt junior year in 2015-2016. While Carter’s playing days were coming to a close, though, another door was about to open wide.
Carter turned her basketball knowledge into an advantage and began calling Tennessee basketball games, which would eventually turn into NBA G-League games. Carter’s star only continued to rise in the following years as she joined the ESPN team in a bigger role and began covering college football, NBA Countdown, NBA Today, and the WNBA.
According to ESPN Press Room, Carter has been named to “The Athletic’s 40 Under 40: Rising Stars in Women’s Basketball, The Athletic’s 40 Under 40 in College Sports and The Athletic’s 20 for 20: Who’s Shaping the Future of Women’s Basketball.”
It seems likely that Carter could be returning to Tennessee with the College GameDay crew this season, too. Rick Barnes’ team is currently ranked No. 9 in the country entering the season and will host several prominent opponents in Knoxville this season including Florida, Alabama, Texas A&M, and Kentucky.
Tennessee played host to ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast once last season for the Top 10 clash between the No. 4 Volunteers and the No. 10 Texas Longhorns in late January.
