Unmatched 1-on-1 event predictions: Consultants make picks as stars sq. off

Unmatched’s second annual 1-on-1 event will proceed Friday with the single-elimination second spherical and quarterfinals. By the night time’s finish, the 16 remaining opponents will probably be whittled right down to 4. These nonetheless alive after Friday will probably be assured a share of the $300,000 prize pool, which features a $200,000 grand prize. Those that are knocked out will bow out empty-handed.

In contrast to final 12 months’s inaugural occasion, there weren’t many upsets within the first spherical on Wednesday. Seven of the highest eight seeds superior, together with all 4 No. 1 seeds: Kelsey Mitchell, Paige Bueckers, Allisha Grey and Breanna Stewart. The one top-eight seed who misplaced was Rhyne Howard, who was upset by Vinyl BC teammate Rae Burrell. 

As a reminder, the 1-on-1 event is single-elimination till the finals, which will probably be a best-of-three sequence. Video games by means of the semifinals are performed to 11 factors, by 2s and 3s, or 10 minutes, whichever comes first. Within the finals, the video games will probably be to eight factors, by 2s and 3s, or 10 minutes, whichever comes first. 

This is the best way to watch the remaining motion:

The place to look at Unmatched 1-on-1 event

Second spherical and quarterfinals

• Friday, Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m. ET — TNT / truTV / HBO Max

Semifinals and championship

• Saturday, Feb. 14, 6 p.m. ET — TNT / tru TV / HBO Max

Earlier than the video games resume, CBS Sports activities’ specialists Lindsay Gibbs and Jack Maloney stuffed out their brackets and predicted a champion. 

Unmatched 1-on-1 predictions

Lindsay Gibbs

Second spherical

Quarterfinals

• Kelsey Plum over Veronica Burton
• Paige Bueckers over Jackie Younger
• Allisha Grey over Sonia Citron
• Shakira Austin over Breanna Stewart

Semifinals

• Paige Bueckers over Veronica Burton
• Shakira Austin over Allisha Grey

Championship

• Paige Bueckers over Shakira Austin

Finally, I am closely basing my picks off of what we noticed within the first spherical and intestine intuition, which as Kelsey Plum and Breanna Stewart informed our Jack Maloney, is a key a part of 1-on-1!

Veronica Burton stole the present on Wednesday night time along with her 11-0 sweep of Courtney Williams, and I believe she is going to carry that type into the second spherical and quarterfinals, the place she’ll upset the Kelseys (Mitchell and Plum). However in the end, the versatile and hyper-competitive Paige Bueckers will take her down. In the meantime, I’ve a considerably stunning finalist from the underside half of the bracket: Shakira Austin.

Austin appeared nice in one of the crucial aggressive first-round matches, upsetting Dearica Hamby 12-10. The ahead is on a tear — in her final six Unmatched video games, she’s averaging 22.3 factors and 10.3 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per recreation, making her one of many hottest gamers within the league. She hasn’t made a 3-pointer but this season, however she is able to hitting them. And final 12 months we realized that bigs are exhausting to take down on this contest. I’ve Austin upsetting final 12 months’s finalist Aaliyah Edwards within the second spherical, league co-founder Stewart within the quarters and No. 1 seed Allisha Grey within the semis, earlier than in the end falling to Bueckers within the championship spherical.

After all, I’d not be shocked if each single one in every of these predictions is wrong! That’s the magic of Unmatched’s 1-on-1 event, there may be a lot expertise on the courtroom and all it takes is 30 seconds of scorching taking pictures for an upset to happen. 

Jack Maloney

Second spherical

• No. 5 Veronica Burton over No. 1 Kelsey Mitchell
• No. 2 Kelsey Plum over No. 7 Natisha Hiedeman
• No. 4 Arike Ogunbowale over No. 1 Paige Bueckers
• No. 2 Chelsea Grey over No. 3 Jackie Younger
• No. 1 Allisha Grey over No. 8 Saniya Rivers
• No. 7 Rae Burrell over No. 6 Sonia Citron
• No. 1 Breanna Stewart over No. 4 Aliyah Boston
• No. 2 Aaliyah Edwards over No. 6 Shakira Austin

Quarterfinals

• Veronica Burton over Kelsey Plum
• Arike Ogunbowale over Chelsea Grey
• Allisha Grey over Rae Burrell
• Breanna Stewart over Aaliyah Edwards

Semifinals

• Veronica Burton over Arike Ogunbowale
• Breanna Stewart over Allisha Grey

Finals

• Breanna Stewart over Veronica Burton

As we noticed within the opening spherical, when Burton shutout Courtney Williams with out even giving up possession, she was approach under-seeded. Her measurement and defensive potential is an actual downside in 1-on-1, and she or he’ll have the power benefit over Mitchell and both Plum or Hiedeman. 

Ogunbowale is likely one of the finest 1-on-1 gamers on this planet, and is coming off a last 4 look in final 12 months’s occasion. Whereas she will probably be at a measurement drawback in opposition to the opposite guards in her bracket, her expertise and offensive brilliance will probably be sufficient to upset Bueckers and get her again to the ultimate 4. 

Grey acquired a bye to the second spherical on account of withdrawals, so she has not competed but, and may have a difficult second-round matchup in opposition to defensive ace Rivers. Nevertheless, Grey has the clear offensive benefit there, and is healthier on each side of the ball than Citron and Burrell, who had been two of the few gamers to tug off first-round upsets. 

Stewart notably obtained shut out within the first spherical by Edwards final 12 months, and whereas she mentioned earlier this week that she solely has small targets, she clearly needs to redeem herself. She has a troublesome highway, however her versatility needs to be sufficient to get her by means of to the semis with a rematch victory over Edwards. 

Within the last 4, Ogunbowale will lastly meet her match in Burton, who has the defensive functionality to decelerate her offense, and the dimensions and physicality to bully her on the opposite facet of the ball. Stewart, in the meantime will proceed her redemptive run by overpowering Grey within the first ahead vs. guard showdown. 

Burton’s Cinderella run will finish within the finals, when Stewart will show an excessive amount of. As we noticed final 12 months, the forwards have a big benefit on this format, and Stewart will be a part of her co-founded Napheesa Collier as an Unmatched 1-on-1 champion.