For as long as I can remember, basketball fans have been begging for a 1-on-1 tournament featuring the best players in the world. It has been floated for years as the way to make NBA All-Star actually competitive and entertaining, but for a variety of reasons, players have not wanted to get out there on that island.
In its inaugural season, Unrivaled has managed to get 30 of the top women’s players in the world signed up for their 1-on-1 tournament that will take place next week — the first round starts Feb. 10 and the semifinals and finals are on Feb. 14. Players will play make-it-take-it games to 11 (or for 10 minutes of a running clock) by twos and threes with a 7-second shot clock to keep things moving quickly. The tournament, which landed Sprite as its presenting sponsor, will put up a $350,000 prize pool for players, with $200,000 going to the winner, $50,000 to the runner-up, and $25,000 to the other two semifinalists — with the teammates of the winner also receiving $10,000 each.
Fans were able to vote on player seeds, and on Wednesday the league unveiled the full bracket for the inaugural tournament. Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd, and Arike Ogunbowale earned the 1-seeds — with Loyd and Ogunbowale getting first round byes — with Chelsea Gray, Rhyne Howard, Kayla McBride, and Kahleah Copper getting in on the 2-seed line. The full bracket can be found below and features some very fun first round matchups, with the potential for some tantalizing showdowns later in the tournament as well.
Stewart draws Aaliyah Edwards as her first round matchup, while Collier will face Katie Lou Samuelson. There are some fascinating guard-big showdowns, with Copper going up against Aliyah Boston and Skylar Diggins-Smith facing Dearica Hamby. Other intriguing matchups from the first round include Tiffany Hayes-Courtney Williams, Jackie Young-Rickea Jackson, and Marina Mabrey-Kate Martin.
The tournament will begin on Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET, with TV details still TBD as to whether it will be on TNT or truTV.