There have been a lot of alternate broadcasts over the years, but one of the most popular has been The Bird and Taurasi Show. Famed WNBA players Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi started that as an alternate ESPN feed for the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four and national championship game in 2022, then continued it for that event the next two years and also expanded it to a Christmas Day NBA broadcast in 2023. And ESPN announced Friday that Taurasi and Bird will return for this year’s Women’s Final Four and championship game:
They’re backkkkk 👀
‘The Bird & Taurasi Show’ alt-cast will return for the 2025 #NCAAWBB Final Four in Tampa, Fla.#BirdTaurasi | #WFinalFour pic.twitter.com/YQP8icATnm
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) March 14, 2025
The inaugural Bird and Taurasi Show drew incredibly favorable reaction, including Awful Announcing’s Ben Koo writing that “Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi absolutely blew past the Manning brothers’ ceiling I had in my mind of how good a MegaCast could be.” The combination of humor and analysis there continued on future versions of the show as well.
This altcast has continued to work well following Bird’s retirement from playing in September 2022. And Taurasi officially announced her own retirement last month, so this will be the first version of the show with neither of them still an active player. That could potentially see them doing this more often now they have less other commitments. But for now, Taurasi and Bird will be doing a familiar altcast for the Women’s Final Four, and it will likely be one well worth watching.