Isaiah Brown of Queens, N.Y., John Jordan of Houston, Glen Rice Jr. of Marietta, Ga. and Mario Smith of Kalamazoo, Mich. have earned the top four seeds as the Ones Basketball League (OBL) revealed the brackets for the 22-player, winner-take-all, $250,000 OBL Finals, set for Friday, July 15 (3 p.m. PT) and Saturday, July 16 (8 p.m. PT) at The Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada. The OBL is the first-ever elite competition that celebrates one-on-one players; the league was created by Basketball Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady.
Fans can watch the OBL Finals action live on a variety of social media channels, with coverage beginning at 5:30 p.m. PT on Friday and 7:45 p.m. PT on Saturday:
- OBL: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter
- Tracy McGrady: Facebook, Twitter
- Slam: YouTube
- Playmaker: Facebook, Twitter
- Basketball Above All: Facebook
The top three players from each of six OBL Regional Championships held in Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, the DMV, and Los Angeles, plus four Commissioner’s Choice “wild cards” were invited to compete in the OBL Finals. The single-elimination format will feature two wild card matchups, four first round games and eight second-round contests on Friday, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and OBL Championship match on Saturday.
The seeds and matchups are as follows:
Friday
Game 1 – (WC) Ridge Shipley, Carrolton, Texas vs (WC) Geno Lawrence, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Game 2 – (WC) Terry Hosley, Baltimore vs (WC) Chris Staples, Saginaw, Mich.
Game 3 –(18) Myron Taylor, Killeen, Texas vs (15) Dont’e Karon Wright, Jackson, S.C.
Game 4 – (17) Randy Gill (Los Angeles) vs. (16) Grant Anderson, Chicago
Game 5 – Game 1 winner vs. (13) Tiras Wade, Tampa
Game 6 – Game 2 winner vs. (14) Darien Davis, Coram, N.Y.
Game 7 – (9) Andrew Washington (Washington, D.C.) vs (8) Yoshi Craig, Chicago
Game 8 – (10) Zach Radz, Troy, N.Y. vs (7) Antonio Hester, Miami
Game 9 – (12) Matt Kiatipis, Newmarket, Ontario vs (5) George Beamon, Roslyn, N.Y.
Game 10 – (11) Marcus Hall, Houston vs (6) Kevin Kuteyi, Lanham, Md.
Game 11 – Game 5 winner vs (4) Mario Smith, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Game 12 – Game 6 winner vs (3) Glen Rice Jr., Marietta, Ga.
Game 13 – Game 3 winner vs (2) John Jordan, Houston
Game 14 – Game 4 winner vs (1) Isaiah Brown, Queens, N.Y.
Saturday
Quarterfinals, Semifinals and OBL Championship
A limited number of tickets are available to the public for the event here.. Friday’s event will start at 3 p.m. PT, with the Championship Finals starting on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Winners of each of the six OBL Regional Championships won a $10,000 first prize. In addition to the $250,000 OBL Finals Championship prize, this weekend’s champion will claim the title of 2022 OBL “Ruler of the Court.” Athletes aged 18 and up who are currently not under an NBA contract and have not been on an active NBA roster for more than 164 games (equivalent to two NBA regular seasons) were eligible to compete. The aim is to welcome both best-in-class talent and players who may still be under the radar of most basketball fans.
OBL media partners include SHOWTIME Sports, SLAM Media, Playmaker, and Heart and Hustle Productions.
Follow Ones Basketball League at https://www.oblhoops.com/.
