Rhyne Howard leads Vinyl to playoffs in inaugural season of Unrivaled basketball league

by:Phoenix Stevens•about 11 hours•

PStevensKSR

rhyne-howard-leads-vinyl-playoffs-inaugural-season-unrivaled-league — Jan 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Rhyne Howard (10) of the Vinyl looks to pass as Angel Reese (5) of the Rose and teammate Brittney Sykes, left, close in during the second half of the Unrivaled women’s professional 3v3 basketball league at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

At Kentucky, Rhyne Howard led Kentucky to the 2022 SEC Tournament Championship and three NCAA Tournament appearances, including two wins in the big dance. Now, as a star on the professional ranks, she continues to lead her team to the postseason.

The WNBA season doesn’t begin until May 16th, but during the offseason, the Unrivaled basketball league was created. The league features six clubs: the Laces, the Lunar Owls, the Mist, the Phantom, the Rose and the Vinyl, the team Howard plays for. There are a plethora of WNBA stars participating in the new startup league including Angel Reese, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.

In the six-club league, four teams made the playoffs — one of which were Howard’s Vinyl.

The former two-time SEC Player of the Year averaged 20.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game in the 13-game regular season for the Vinyl. Howard was just one of four players in the league to averaged north of 20 points per game. She was named Second Team All-Unrivaled on Thursday.

Congratulations to the Second Team All-Unrivaled 👑 pic.twitter.com/icQbA9FuWo
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) March 13, 2025

The 4-seed Vinyl will take on the 1-seed Lunar Owls on March 16th at 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT/TruTV. If they’re able to pull off the win, they’ll advance to the championship game the following day at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT/TruTV, where they’d play the winner of the 2-seed Rose vs. the 3-seed Laces.

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It is March after all, so maybe Howard can lead yet another team to an improbable championship run. Go Vinyl.

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