NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nearly three years before Andraya Carter’s latest stop on her busy tour as a jack-of-all-trades basketball analyst for ESPN, she sat down at the SEC Network studio desk for the first time. She reached down to grab something with 30 seconds remaining before the show and knocked over a cup of soda sitting next to her. It spilt everywhere.
A puddle of liquid dispersed below the desk. Carter had met her co-host Alyssa Lang for the first time, too, and sat mortified as the clock ticked down.
“I can’t believe I did this,” a nervous Carter said.
The producer chirped into the earpiece: “Just leave it.”
At that moment, a career on one of college sports’ biggest stages began in a way that is impossible to forget.
Credit: Travis Bell / ESPN Images
Credit: Travis Bell / ESPN Images
“That almost helped me settle in,” Carter said. “It told me that this doesn’t have to be perfect or too clean.”
Plenty of experience has piled up since Carter’s first endeavor, and the young basketball star at Tennessee and Buford High School has found herself in the conversation about ESPN’s best young talents. Carter, 28, is one of the lead analysts and sideline reporters on SEC Network broadcasts. She’s one of the top names on ESPN’s newly revamped WNBA coverage and has worked on prime-time men’s basketball broadcasts.
Carter brings analysis, unique personality and a sharp basketball mind to her broadcasts. She recently added SEC football broadcasts and co-hosting a weekly football show, “Out of Pocket,” with Lang, who added that Carter could successfully cover cricket if she desired.
“Andraya Carter is a star in the making,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Andraya is uniquely organic. She’s been doing television for a short period of time, but she seems like it is her second skin.
“I’m super happy that we get to keep a great mind like hers in our game. I hope we’re able to keep her in our game for as long as possible.”
“Andraya Carter is a star in the making. Andraya is uniquely organic. She's been doing television for a short period of time, but she seems like it is her second skin."
Carter’s journey began in the hallways of Buford High School, even though she never saw herself stepping into the broadcasting world. She had a class, multimedia presentations, coached by her girls basketball coach Gene Durden. One of the class tasks involved running a news broadcast for morning announcements each Friday.
The broadcast had quite an amateur feel. She would compile bulleted PowerPoint slides with former Buford football star Nathan Staub (who played linebacker at North Carolina). Carter said Staub had a “dreamy look” and everyone wanted to stare at him, and she sat alongside her news partner.
All the while, Durden noticed a few things that gave him the impression that a teenage Carter could continue to use those skills. Carter commanded the room, he said, and many would listen.
“She’s always had an unbelievably unique personality and such a care for other people,” Durden said. “She is a rising star, and you saw glimpses of how good she could be. She is the total package.”
All the while, Carter made her mark on the basketball court. Durden said those who remember her playing days value her as a broadcaster for those same reasons. Carter starred at Buford along with other talented players, including WNBA guard Kaela Davis and even overlapped with Georgia Tech assistant coach Blanche Alverson for a season.
Carter was a highly recruited prospect, former three-time AJC All-Gwinnett County first-team member and landed at Tennessee to play under legendary coach Pat Summitt. According to MaxPreps, Carter was viewed as the No. 2 basketball player in Georgia. She continued at Tennessee, averaging a career-best 7.7 points per game in 31 starts.
“She has been my role model since the ninth grade,” former Buford teammate Tara Dambach said. “She’s the best basketball player and athlete I’ve ever played with. She made everyone look like superstars, including herself. You see the same thing on TV.”
From her hometown, Carter still gets plenty of love and support despite graduating nearly a decade ago. She will receive messages from some of her favorite teachers, Bonnie Davis and Tim Harris, along with classmates. Originally, though, nobody thought Carter would travel nationwide with a microphone.
Carter had dreams of working with children with special needs. She was involved in community outreach at Tennessee. She always had an appreciation for broadcasters, especially women, covering basketball. She reached out to the most well-known talents — Maria Taylor, Rebecca Lobo, Carolyn Peck and LaChina Robinson. She got to know them, but Carter still never saw it in the cards.
“Before one of our tournaments, they were running a highlight of me and how I was a key factor,” Carter said. “It meant the world to me that an analyst recognized my role on the team.”
Taylor finally urged Carter to try broadcasting. After Carter’s Tennessee career ended with injury, Taylor took Carter to Charlotte, N.C., to check out SEC Network’s studios, where Carter now stars. She got to try on a headset for the first time. Carter then went on to call Tennessee games for SEC Network-Plus games, and there it began.
Carter had plenty of unconditional support from those she reached out to. Suddenly, the rise from a local analyst doing online-only games to spending numerous nights on the sidelines and television channels came quickly.
“I was bad. So bad,” Carter said of her first experiences. “I went back to watch that reel, and it was cringeworthy. Everyone still supported me. They were lifting me up.”
Carter’s personality shines best when working with Lang in the SEC Network studios.
They talk as they would in a casual hangout. They’ll shamelessly laugh on air, and have a deep natural chemistry while Carter brings along plenty of analysis as a former player.
They’ll go both ways, too. Carter said Lang “held her hand” to walk her through shows, and Lang finds herself asking basketball questions at times in need of a teaching lesson. Overall, however, their work ethic (which involves Carter sometimes watching five games at a time) pushes each other to get better.
None of those will be surprised where Carter goes next. She’s juggling many responsibilities at ESPN, while feeling like the young kid who just started, with eagerness to learn. She’ll be sure not to spill a drink seconds before going on air again.
“It’s not a surprise,” Lang said. “She threw herself in completely and was always good. The improvement from then to now is incredible.
“She is a star.”
