4 players to watch in State Farm Champions Classic Tuesday night

The Champions Classic is filled with more stars than the sky above you. Here are four guys worthy of keeping both eyeballs on during Tuesday night’s spectacular showcase event.

College basketball started its season with a whimper, but with the Champions Classic being held on Tuesday evening, it is about to get loud up in this place.

The Kentucky Wildcats will face the Kansas Jayhawks and the Duke Blue Devils will meet the Michigan State Spartans. That’s one hell of a lineup, which includes all the polarizing head basketball coaches.

While Coach K, John Calipari, Bill Self and Tom Izzo will steal plenty of the headlines, we must not forget about the unpaid laborers who will dazzle us with the electric play on Tuesday night. Yeah. Yeah. Get all hot and bothered about Cal putting on a few extra pounds, but he isn’t the one who will be attempting to jump over other members of the human species.

Those feats of athleticism will be saved for the players. And, while there are far more than just four of them, we are going to take a gander at one player from each team who has a chance to make a major impact.

Duke – Trevon Duval

Much of the focus, rightfully so, will be on Grayson Allen and Marvin Bagley III on Tuesday. That’s fine. Both project to be hugely important factors as to how well the Blue Devils do this season. However, both of those guys might not exist in an as productive world if it isn’t for freshman Trevon Duval.

Duval, one of those fancy all-world high school prospects, came to the Duke program having every ability Coach K desperately needed. Seriously lacking a true playmaking point guard last season, Duke head to rely on Allen to play the position for large stretches. Allen was, objectively, not a great fit at the spot.

In fact, Allen’s efficiency was hurt due to the position switch and added responsibilities. Since being placed firmly off the ball this season? Well, so far, Allen is shooting an excellent 67 percent from beyond the arc. While he should get some credit himself, it certainly helps that Duval is doing all the creation for Duke, providing Allen ample opportunities to spot up for 3 as opposed to taking them off the dribble.

Don’t forget that Bagley, who has also been excellent through two cupcake games, is still a bit of a work in progress. For a big man who likes to play on the perimeter so much, the freshman could use some work with his handle. The good news for him is that Duval has regularly done a good job in finding him when he’s cut to the basket.

Basically, Duval, who is averaging 11.5 points and 10.0 assists per, is the oil in this fine Duke machine. He might not be the most impressive part, with Bagley playing the engine under the hood and Allen as the carburetor, but Duval is the oil that keeps all the parts moving fluidly.

If Duke wants to go to the Final Four this season, Duval will need to be a stud. So far, he’s been. Tuesday night against a good Spartans squad will be his toughest date to date.