CLEVELAND – Former South Carolina women's basketball star Aliyah Boston's broadcasting career has just started, but Dawn Staley already knows she is "going to be a star in this space."

Boston is at the Final Four with ESPN's broadcasting team and she interviewed her former coach after the No. 1 Gamecocks beat No. 3 seed NC State on Friday to advance to the national championship on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC).

"It's super fulfilling to know that you can be a part of your players' lives, where they can fulfill imagined dreams and unimagined dreams," Staley said Saturday. "I mean, she was playing in that game last year during this time – and to have her flip it and be really good at it, it does the heart well. It fills my heart with so much joy."

Boston has been widely praised for her work as an analyst with Big Ten Network this season.

Boston was on the desk with four other Black women: ESPN host Elle Duncan, Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumike and Carolyn Peck. The trio of Duncan, Carter, who played for the Lady Vols, and Ogwumike, a two-time WNBA All-Star, has been incredibly popular among fans throughout the NCAA Tournament.

"Black women holding it down," Staley said. "Holding it down, taking it to another level, and it's quite remarkable. And for Aliyah to be a part of that, she knows. She knows now what she's reaching for, because she's seeing some of the best analysts that I've ever been around."

Staley praised the crew for giving credit where it's due with all the teams at the Final Four, because "that's not always the case." She also noted their ability to break down the game into its simplest form to make it accessible for all fans – die-hard and casual.

Staley said the all-woman desk was "lifting out game up" in male-dominant spaces. She questioned the male-dominant talk shows that parachute in to talk about women's basketball as it has skyrocketed in popularity the last few years.

"I think some of these male talk shows don't really know about the fabric of our game," Staley said. "They don't know the inner workings. They don't even know how to break the game down. They're just going off of probably what someone is telling them to say or social media."

Staley listens to them as she's working, and sometimes the analysis is so good, she pauses to give them her full attention. Staley joked it's so good sometimes she asks herself if she can find some strategy in the breakdowns.

"It's awesome. It's intentional," Staley said. "Somebody chose that group of women to uplift our game, and they're doing a magnificent job. It's different than years past. It's a lot different. Like, it's colorful, it's intentional, each and every dynamic to our game, and they're doing it beautifully."

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Dawn Staley says all-Black women ESPN desk 'holding it down' at Final Four