Ryan Ruocco praised for WNBA Finals call

The sports calendar was crowded Thursday between two MLB playoff games, a NFL game, college football, and more. But Game 1 of the WNBA Finals between the Minnesota Lynx and the New York Liberty wound up with one of the most exciting finishes, and it drew a game-over call to match that. Here’s how Ryan Ruocco announced that on ESPN and ABC:

This was only part of Ruocco’s notable evening. He also had a remarkable call of Courtney Williams’ four-point play that gave the Lynx their first lead of the night inside the final seconds of regulation:

Ruocco’s announcing work on those calls and the game overall drew a lot of praise. Here’s some of that:

Ruocco has worked at ESPN since 2008 on a variety of properties, including NCAA women’s basketball, the WNBA, the NFL, and the NBA. He also works for YES, primarily calling Nets’ and Yankees’ games there. But his women’s basketball work in both college and the pros has drawn particular praise recently, including on multiple occasions at the NCAA women’s tournament this year.

Ruocco told AA’s Brandon Contes last May he didn’t initially anticipate sticking with the WNBA when he started calling those games in 2013, but is glad he did, saying “It did not take me long to appreciate how awesome the basketball is.” And his experience calling the league has been quite useful on many occasions, including with the great calls he produced here.

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