Sabrina Ionescu: the snarling genius ripping up basketball's record books

Sabrina Ionescu is college basketball’s equivalent of Russell Westbrook: a snarling menace who plays with a combination of grace and volatility. She is a supreme athlete and a basketball genius. And she’s also, it has to be said, a stat padder.

Ionescu garnered added attention on Sunday after she clinched her 18^th career triple-double as the Ducks blew out Indiana 91-68 in the NCAA tournament, the culmination of the college basketball season. With the clock winding down, Ionescu was a single rebound short of reaching double-digit points, assists and rebounds. So, she missed a shot on purpose and claimed the rebound for herself.

Asked whether she intentionally hit the backboard so that she could recover the ball, Ionescu said, “A little bit. I knew exactly where it was gonna go so I was like ‘let me just kinda add a little bit more rotation on this shot so I can get it back.” Meanwhile, she reserved this for ESPN: “[I] probably still won’t get recognized because ESPN never recognizes women’s sports who are getting triple-doubles.”

Ionescu is right to be angry. She holds the NCAA record for triple-doubles, male or female. BYU’s Kyle Collinsworth holds the record for men with 12. For those keeping score at home, that’s six fewer than Ionescu, who still has the rest of this year’s tournament and a final year of eligibility remaining if she wishes to extend her lead. If Ionescu sticks around, she’s going to push the NCAA’s triple-double record to a preposterous level. She will be the Wilt Chamberlain of college basketball: the records are so gaudy they look like misprints. She has already notched eight triple-doubles this season. If she carries that over into her senior year, she will have a more than double-digit lead over second place. Let’s take a step back to understand exactly how bananas that is.

Ionescu is a true phenom. She is projected to be the first overall pick in the WNBA draft, should she opt to leave Oregon following this year’s tournament and forego her final year of eligibility. There’s not much left for her to prove. Ionescu finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists on Sunday. She’s shooting [cleans fake glasses] 44% from three-point range this year. She averages 20 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds while shooting 87% from the free-throw line. She has been the driving force behind a 33-win season and counting. She may walk away with a national title: a significant achievement given that Oregon have never made it past the Elite 8.

If they do, it will be down to their star. Everything the Ducks do flows through their 5ft 11in point guard. Watching her run the show is a joy:

Skip to the 24-second mark of that video. Defenders are closing in from three directions. She doesn’t flinch. Ionescu drives hard. She needs only the teensiest crease. She glides through a sea of bodies and feathers a pass to her teammate, dropping the ball with the deftness of a father trying to teach his son tennis. For good ball handlers – even great ones – it is a hard pass. Ionescu makes it look easy. Making those reads in real time is basketball’s highest art. It requires a second-by-second mapping of nine other humans in motion – and the brainpower to think one step ahead of them.

Ionescu is at her best leading out on a fast break. When she snares a rebound and begins Oregon’s assault up the floor, she bounces with the impatience of a savant who sees an opportunity invisible even to her smartest teammates. The ball hits them in the hand, with a wide-open look, before they even realize any offense has been initiated. Defenders have no idea what to do. Only the very best of conductors inspire that kind of terror.

There’s a giddiness to her play, and a ferocity. Ionescu plays with a self-assuredness reserved for the very best. She doesn’t just want you to know that she’s better than you, she revels in rubbing it in. “Get the fuck off me,” she growled at an Indiana defender, after finishing a tough and-one through traffic. She punctuated it with a vicious high-five.

Greatness can transcend sports. I care nothing for gymnastics, but I’ll tune in to watch Simone Biles jump and twirl and dazzle and win. She is at the top of her game; her sport becomes art. Even someone who has never seen a soccer game could appreciate that Lionel Messi is on another level from his opponents. Ionescu is painting, too. Though rather than endear with a smile, she brings a snarl, the kind that leads her to bark at teammates, fans and coaches. It’s must-see TV.