The Duke Blue Devils will be part of one of the biggest events on the 2025-26 women’s basketball calendar, according to a Monday release.
Duke will join the defending national champion South Carolina Gamecocks, UCLA Bruins, and Texas Longhorns in the Players Era Women’s Championship, a tournament set for next November in Las Vegas.
While the first Players Era men’s tournament took place this season, with the Oregon Ducks defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the title game, 2025 will mark the first women’s edition of the event. Each of the four programs will play the other three in a round-robin format.
“This is the premier regular season tournament in women’s college basketball,” head coach Kara Lawson said in a release about the tournament. “The brands and the talent combined create an elite showcase of our sport. I have a lot of respect for these programs and their willingness to challenge each other.”
The Blue Devils have won nine of their first 11 games in 2024-25, but the other three programs involved all currently sit above Duke in the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll. The four schools in the Players Era field have a combined record of 39-4 so far this season.