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Thought you could contain Sabrina Ionescu’s sharpshooting to New York Liberty season? Not so fast, my friend.
Ionescu’s recent appearance on ESPN’s “College GameDay” was already historic, as the Liberty point guard became the first woman to appear in the celebrity guest picker’s chair on multiple occasions. But Ionescu set a sterling example for her successors on the beloved traveling college football pregame show in the process as well.
By correctly picking seven of the ten games offered to her, Ionescu owns the best win percentage among the six celebrities that have appeared on “GameDay” so far this season, per GameDayCole.com.
That list also includes fellow WNBA legend Candace Parker, Penn State football standout LaVar Arrington, Florida Panthers Stanley Cup champion Matthew Tkachuk, stand-up comic and podcaster Theo Von, and Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young. Up next in the chair is recording artist Jelly Roll, who will join Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban in Athens for No. 9 Georgia’s SEC clash with No. 5 Mississippi.
While Ionescu’s beloved Oregon Ducks dropped last weekend’s major attraction against Indiana (the reason why the traveling pregame show was stationed at her alma mater of Eugene), several of the other teams she chose came through for her.
Of note, Ionescu’s loyalty to fellow Pac-12 alums was well-rewarded, as she was the only one to foresee the University of Southern California’s upset win over then-No. 15 Michigan. Ionescu also sided with analyst and Heisman winner Howard in picking unranked Texas over No. 6 Oklahoma the Red River Shootout rivalry game in Dallas.
In contrast, similar loyalty bell Ionescu in her rare losses: another Pac-12 alum, No. 21 Arizona State, was crushed 42-10 by Utah in Salt Lake City while the point guard refused to pick top-ranked defending champion Ohio State against Illinois, blaming the Buckeyes’ one-sided victory over Oregon in last January’s Rose Bowl/College Football Playoff quarterfinal. OSU kept its repeat bid rolling with a 34-16 shellacking of the 17th-ranked Illini.
Nonetheless, Ionescu has a number to beat for the rest of the year, as she’s the first celebrity to correctly win seven since sports comedy troupe Dude Perfect did so last November in College for Texas’ game against Texas A&M. Combined with her 6-5 mark in her prior visit in 2022, Ionescu holds a 13-8 mark, 11th-best among celebrities who have appeared at least twice. Fellow New York sports champion and ex-New York Yankees champion Alex Rodriguez leads the way at 20-4.
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