How Alex Giannaros grew into BU women's basketball's "everything person"
Once a sharpshooter, Giannaros is now one of the best three-level scorers in the Patriot League. But her growth off the court makes the senior BU's unquestioned leader.
BOSTON — BU women’s basketball head coach Melissa Graves concluded practice on October 3 the way she usually does — she rounded up her Terriers and brought them into a huddle at center court, where she rattled off a few quick points and words of advice. After about a minute, Graves broke the huddle and the coaches said their goodbyes for the morning.
But this huddle wasn’t over for the players. There were some things on the mind of senior guard Alex Giannaros, who told her teammates to stay. For the next two minutes, every ear in the huddle listened to the All-Patriot League guard as she spoke with blazing conviction.
It reflected one of the more firm consistencies among BU practices. To her fellow Terriers, every sentence Giannaros speaks is gospel. She shouts advice to her team mid-scrimmage. She directs traffic during drills. If Giannaros believes a teammate needs to move somewhere for a certain set, the teammate is likely going to sprint over to that exact spot.
“I don’t think she understands quite the impact she has in such a positive way, how people respect her and love playing with her,” Graves said.
The way Giannaros dazzles on the basketball court captivates her teammates. Sophomore Aoibhe Gormley told Graves last season that Giannaros was a “god.” It’s hyperbole, of course, but not an unwarranted metaphor. As a junior, Giannaros lit up the courts last season as one of the top three-level scorers in the Patriot League, just one year after she introduced the world to her unrivaled prowess from behind the arc with a nation-leading 51.5 3-point percentage.'
The two-time captain is the heart of her team’s lineups and the soul of a squad that yearns for a Patriot League title.
“I like to call Alex our ‘everything person’ on and off the court,” sophomore guard Bella McLaughlin said. “If you need Alex, she’s there in an instant.”
Giannaros’ body of leadership hasn’t finished growing, though. She wants to be the best source of guidance she can, and is always finding new ways to become more available for her team.
“As a senior, you kind of feel like you might know everything at times, but I have a lot of growing to do myself, especially with such a young team,” Giannaros said. “My leadership is something that I’ve been trying to work on.”
Giannaros’ development into a leader throughout the years didn’t come without growing pains. She’s a fierce competitor and hates few things more than losing, which means she prioritizes eliminating weak basketball from her team. In that effort, she gives thoughtful advice from her heart, but she admits the delivery sometimes pierces her teammates’ hearts.
“I get so competitive that sometimes my response may not come out in the most positive way,” Giannaros said. “So I’m trying to work on my reactions, not letting my competitive side turn into something where it’s having a bad attitude or body language or things like that.”
“She just wants to win so bad,” Graves said. “It doesn’t come from a nasty place. It just comes from a ‘wanting-to-win’ place.”
It’s taken time for Giannaros to find her true voice as a leader. At this time just four years ago, she was still trying to paint her own self-portrait. Her high school peers painted a persona for Giannaros that bore no resemblance to her, but she let them hang that picture up in the museum in her mind. She started to use that unrecognizable portrait as her reference for who she was.
“I didn't focus on who I was as a person,” Giannaros said. “I kind of let other people around me and the environment around me dictate who I was and who I wanted to be.”
That didn’t make adjusting to college easy for her. It even affected her as a basketball player, too. She let some of her own self-doubt seep into her game, constantly kicking herself over slight mistakes. She had yet to find out who she was, which made finding herself as a player very difficult.
“I think I was just in such a weird mental place my first few years that it was so hard to figure out what I was doing off the court,” Giannaros said. “I think I let that translate, even though I know what skills I can bring or what type of energy I can bring.”
Thankfully, Giannaros had leaders of her own she could turn to. She watched her older teammates during those years, especially former guard Sydney Johnson, and used what she learned to develop a play style and skillset that she felt comfortable with.
And as she did so, she finished painting a self-portrait that may as well be a photocopy.
“I know who I am now,” Giannaros said. “I know what I need to do to win. I know what I need to do to help contribute and bring other people along with me.”
Her growth as a basketball player reflects her newfound confidence. In her first few years with the Terriers, Giannaros served her team as a shooting specialist with a knack for getting open. But Johnson’s departure after the 2022-23 season left the Terriers with a dire need for a primary scorer.
Graves trusted Giannaros to fill that void. The then-junior showed genuine talent and skill as a shot creator, facilitator, and pick-and-roll playmaker. She averaged 14.2 points and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from behind the 3-point line. She blossomed into a star during her breakout season, which ended with a selection to the All-Patriot League first team.
Now, Giannaros sits atop her conference, earning a spot on this year’s Preseason All-Patriot League team. She’s learned a lot about herself as a player and a person as she’s achieved new heights, and she is always willing to help her younger teammates as they learn and grow, too.
“I like to call Alex our ‘everything person’ on and off the court,” sophomore guard Bella McLaughlin said. “If you need Alex, she’s there in an instant.”
Giannaros learns a lot from her teammates, too. She’s not naturally the type to spend a Friday night outside, often preferring to keep to herself and embrace her valuable alone time. But the many social butterflies that make up the Terriers’ incoming freshman class have encouraged her to spread her wings and step out of her comfort zone.
“They’re a very social group; love doing things together, and I love that about them,” Giannaros said. “I want to be able to match their energy for them and show them what BU is all about, what BU basketball is all about.”
They’ve learned quickly that BU basketball is all about winning, with a primary goal of securing the Patriot League championship. Giannaros and her fellow Terriers have been so close to victory for two straight years, but they fell short in the finals both times. They will soon embark on a new journey through the Patriot League, one Giannaros hopes will end with a trophy in her hands.
This year, Giannaros will lead that journey. And her teammates will rally behind her every step of the way. They can rely on her to steer them to victory, and they trust and love the player, leader and person that Giannaros both became and always was.
“Alex kind of just does it all,” McLaughlin said. “And everybody on the team really, really appreciates her for it, both basketball-wise and personal.”