A unique facet of the Unrivaled league is the 1 on 1 tournament that will be tipping off on Monday February 10, 2025 at 2 pm ET. The 1 on 1 tournament is split into four different pods A through D that contain 30 contestants from the competing teams in the league. All of these women will be competing for a prize pool of 350 thousand dollars. The winner of the entire tournament is awarded 350k, the runner up gets 50k, and the other semi-finalists receive 25k a piece. Another intriguing stipulation that is attached to the prize money is that the winner of the 1on 1 tournament also generates 10k to their teammates, so even though this is an individual competition a player’s teammates can reap the benefits. The fans also factored into the formatting of the tourney as they were given the power to vote on the seeding of the participating players in each pod.All of the fans that voted did an incredible job because each pod is riddled with depth and intrigue.
Pod B and Pod D are the two Pods that I see the winner coming out of. Pod B contains the leading scorer of Unrivaled, Napheesa Collier, and other elite bucket getters in Rhyne Howard, Tiffany Hayes, Jackie Young, and Rickea Jackson. Rhyne Howard and Tiffany Hayes are placed in the top 10 of scoring averages amongst the league, so Napheesa Collier will have her work cut out for her, but with the way she’s playing it’ll be hard for anyone to beat her 1v1. Pod D is no slouch either as it possesses Skylar Diggins-Smith, Dearica Hamby, Kayla McBride, Satou Sabally, and Arike Ogunbowale. Kayla McBride and Dearica Hamby are currently ranked numbers 2 and 3 in points per game behind Napheesa Collier. Both of these women have proven that they can get theirs and with their length they shouldn’t have a problem getting to their spots at an efficient rate. The dark horse of this Pod would be Arike Ogunbowale because she can’t be guarded 1v1 with how she can handle the rock and catch fire from 3 at any moment. She will also have the advantage of starting out the first round with a bye, which gives her more time to prepare for her opponent. Now that the bracket has officially been set in place, there’s a few opening round matchups that everyone should definitely devote their primary attention to. Dearica Hamby vs Skylar Diggins-Smith, Jackie Young vs Rickea Jackson, and Aaliyah Edwards vs Breanna Stewart are the three matchups that stand out. Hamby vs Diggins-Smith is extremely interesting because even though there is a size difference I could still see a scenario where Diggins-Smith pulls it out due to her unique talent and veteran experience, however with the way Hamby is playing she can go on a run and win the entire competition. Aaliyah Edwards and Breanna Stewart comes with its own storyline as they’re two former UCONN greats that are going to settle who the best UCONN big in the league is. I can’t wait for this tournament to get underway because it sets precedent for the entire basketball community. Basketball fans always talk about who they think about who would win in 1 on 1 scenarios and to settle that with the best players in the world for a prize is incredibly special.