Doris Burke began broadcasting in 1990 and joined ESPN in 1991, covering men's and women's college basketball, radio, sideline reporting, and later serving as a game analyst. She worked the 2024 Finals with Mike Breen and JJ Redick, and the 2025 Finals with Breen and Richard Jefferson. The Breen-Redick-Burke trio was serviceable but muted; the Breen-Jefferson-Burke trio suffered from role confusion, frequent talking over one another, and long stretches where Burke had no contributions. ESPN's postseason coverage in 2025 drew criticism for poor chemistry and uneven analysis. ESPN opted to prioritize a recent ex-player over Burke, demoting her from the top trio.
Burke has been working in broadcasting since 1990, and has been at ESPN since 1991, working men's and women's college basketball, doing radio broadcasts, doing sideline reporting, and eventually making her way into the booth as a game analyst. She worked the Finals in 2024, in a trio with Mike Breen and JJ Redick, and she worked the 2025 Finals with Breen and Richard Jefferson. The trio with Redick was fine, if generally bland and joyless; the trio with Jefferson was a mess.
Very often the two would talk over one another. Other times, they would both go silent, as if each was waiting for the other to make a point. Poor Mike Breen, who has a great voice and the boundless enthusiasm of a Labrador retriever, wound up doing way too much talking. The chemistry sucked. By the end of the Finals, long and important stretches of action would go by without Burke making any contributions whatsoever.
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