Unrivaled Reveals 1v1 Tournament Participants and Rules
The Unrivaled Basketball League has taken the women's hoops world by storm after its first week of play. Now the league officially revealed the details for its 1-on-1 tournament, which includes 30 of its rostered players.
It begins as a single elimination 1-on-1 tournament that's set to start on Feb. 10. However, five current Unrivaled players aren't listed: Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu, Angel Reese, Stefanie Dolson, and Courtney Vandersloot. Natisha Hiedeman and NaLyssa Smith, who both signed relief contracts to support injuries, are also not playing in the tournament.
Still, the roster of participants is stacked with some of the WNBA's best players.
Players have been divided into four pods, with fan votes helping to determine seeding. The tournament will start as single elimination and continue that way through the semi-finals. The finals will be a best-of-three series.
Games are to be played to 11 points or 10 minutes, depending on which occurs first. The games follow traditional scoring rules (with two-point shots worth two points and three-point shots worth three). There will be a 7-second shot clock and the contests will be make-it, take-it. Which means the scoring player will retain possession.
The league will award the winner a $200,000 prize and an additional $10,000 to the winner's 3v3 teammates. The runner-up will receive $50,000 while the semi-finalists get $25,000 apiece.
“There’s still a team camaraderie perspective — where you may be eliminated, but your teammate keeps advancing,” Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell said, per a January 17 article from SB Nation's Noa Dalzell. “Inevitably you want to root them on — not just for personal reasons, but also there’s an incentive for you if your teammate wins the ultimate cash prize.”
Despite some of the sport's biggest superstars not competing, this Unrivaled tournament is sure to be extremely enticing.