The Players Era Championship carries March Madness flair into a week that is absent a stunning centerpiece, but is overstuffed with college basketball. The first iteration of its women’s tournament is the Final Four in November. Swap the season-ending win-or-go-home stakes for a guaranteed $1 million in name, image and likeness opportunities to each team in contention.
As Feast Week continues, three of the top four teams in the Associated Press Top 25 poll will head to Las Vegas to compete in a four-team tournament bracket that could largely repeat itself come the spring. It’s already a near carbon copy of the 2025 Final Four in Tampa.
No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Texas, neither of which reached the NCAA title game, will play the first semifinal on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET. No. 2 South Carolina, the 2025 NCAA runner-up, will face Duke at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Final Four team missing is champion Connecticut, the squad that maintained its No. 1 ranking this week after a close bout of chaos by No. 6 Michigan. The Huskies are off until Sunday when they begin Big East play at Xavier.
In previous seasons, these teams would have dispersed elsewhere to spend their holiday week at a less concentrated multi-team event (MTE) that pads wins, not a resume. Last year, South Carolina played in the Fort Myers Tipoff, where it faced one AP-ranked opponent. Duke competed in the Bal Dawgs Classic in Henderson, Nevada, with wins over the No. 8 and 9 ranked teams. UCLA crushed inferior competition at the Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Hawaii, and Texas did the same at the Gulf Coast Showcase.
Money makes moves, forcing good holiday television as well as impacting paths to a true Final Four. These matchups will weigh heavily when the NCAA tournament selection committee sits down to build the bracket. Given the talent level, it could be the deciding factor in the No. 1 overall seed line. South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley made it clear last year that she manufactures her schedule so that “if done right, it should produce the overall No. 1 seed.”
For South Carolina, UCLA and Texas, that’s what’s at stake this week at Michelob Ultra Arena, home of the three-time WNBA champion Aces. It’s one of the final elite competitions for South Carolina, which still faces No. 23 Louisville next month and will have a plethora of opportunities — and potential pitfalls — in the SEC schedule. Texas, a top SEC contender, has No. 12 North Carolina, No. 15 Baylor and South Dakota State on its non-con. UCLA already has two wins over AP-ranked teams in hand, and will still go up against No. 14 Tennessee (Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1) before Big Ten play begins.
Duke, teetering dangerously close to early-season irrelevance, has the most at stake. The Blue Devils aren’t playing nearly to the level of the schedule head coach Kara Lawson designed. Lawson said at the ACC Tipoff in October that they “want to be exposed.” The bear is winning, and it’s not a close fight. The season-opening loss to Baylor was tight, but an eight-point loss to West Virginia’s “Greenbrier Five” was an embarrassing nightmare, and a 13-point drop to South Florida over the weekend dug the hole deeper. At least one win in the championship will boost their case to host the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament if they can find any bit of offense, remain defensive-minded and compete in the ACC.
The championship game, while stacked in talent no matter the competitors, faces a viewership challenge. The expanded 18-team men’s Players Era Festival will air nine games, tipping off from 1 p.m. ET to midnight (TNT and truTV) on Monday and Tuesday. They are already slow days, with people call out of meetings and work altogether. The women’s side will play as the afternoon lead-in on Wednesday to the men’s championship and third-place games in primetime that night.
It also pits them in direct competition with the NFL Thanksgiving football goliath. As the tournament continues, moving the centerpiece into a true spotlight would be wise.
Player of the Week: Syla Swords, Michigan
Michigan (4-1) sent its statement last week in a 72-69 loss to No. 1 UConn (5-0) in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Friday. If not for one defensive miscue that left Sarah Strong wide open under the basket for a five-point lead with 26 seconds left, the Wolverines could have pulled it off.
They nearly still did, largely on the back of Syla Swords. The sophomore guard hit three 3-pointers within 36 seconds — including one from Caitlin Clark range — to pull Michigan within one with 13 seconds to go. She finished with 29 points and a career-best eight 3-pointers against the reigning champs, with nine rebounds and three assists.
Games to watch: Wednesday’s schedule
We have a full breakdown of this week’s best games here at Yahoo Sports. The most jam-packed elite action is on Wednesday with the Players Era Championship semifinals, followed by action in the Puerto Rico Shootout.
Texas (5-0) vs. UCLA (6-0), 2 p.m. ET, truTV: The Longhorns are averaging a second-best 102.8 points per game and a No. 1 overall effective field goal percentage (62), but have yet to face a significant test. Texas forward Kyla Oldacre will be an X-factor on UCLA’s Lauren Betts, a lottery pick contender in the WNBA Draft.
Duke (3-3) vs. South Carolina (6-0), 4:30 p.m. ET, truTV: This was a low-scoring affair in the NCAA regional final. South Carolina’s offense (94.8 points per game) is more potent with guard Ta’Niya Latson, and it could become ugly quickly if the Blue Devils defense doesn’t show up.
Maryland (7-0) vs. Kentucky (7-0), 5:30 p.m. ET: Maryland has yet to be tested, while Kentucky is coming off a 72-62 win over ranked Louisville on the road. The Wildcats’ Clara Strack is averaging 16.9 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.1 blocks and 1.6 steals over seven games.
Stat to watch: LSU’s century mark streak
LSU set the SEC record for most consecutive 100-point games with its sixth in as many contests to start the season. It broke its own record of five set in the 2022-23 championship season. They’re averaging a Division I-best 115.2 points per game and an average margin of victory of 60.2, mostly against teams in the bottom third of NET ranking.
The record is six, set by none other than the 1982 Louisiana Tech team led by point guard Kim Mulkey. LSU plays Marist on Friday in the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
Yahoo Sports’ AP Top 25 ballot
1. UConn
2. South Carolina
3. Texas
4. UCLA
5. LSU
6. Michigan
7. Maryland
8. TCU
9. Oklahoma
10. Tennessee
11. Iowa
12. Baylor
13. Iowa State
14. North Carolina
15. NC State
16. Notre Dame
17. USC
18. Kentucky
19. Ole Miss
20. Vanderbilt
21. Louisville
22. West Virginia
23. Michigan State
24. South Dakota State
25. Richmond
Official AP Top 25
1. UConn
2. South Carolina
3. UCLA
4. Texas
5. LSU
6. Michigan
7. Maryland
8. TCU
9. Oklahoma
10. Iowa State
11. Iowa
12. North Carolina
13. Ole Miss
14. Tennessee
15. Baylor
16. Kentucky
17. Vanderbilt
18. USC
19. Notre Dame
20. Michigan State
21. West Virginia
22. Washington
23. Louisville
24. Oklahoma State
25. North Carolina State
