Champions Classic: Duke vs. Kentucky preview – 3 things fans need to know
The fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils and their star-studded freshman class clash with the No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats in the Champions Classic from Indianapolis.
The formula for the Kentucky Wildcats under the watch of John Calipari has been simple over the years: Recruit the best players in the country, send them into the NBA Draft, lather, rinse, repeat. However, the 2018-19 college basketball season will be a diversion from that plight as it pertains to the Wildcats. And, interestingly enough, that will instead be the formula for the Duke Blue Devils, who face Kentucky on opening night in the Champions Classic.
Where Calipari has often boasted the best recruiting classes in the country, that’s not the case heading into this season. Instead, his star addition is graduate transfer Reid Travis. Meanwhile, the Wildcats also have, gasp, sophomores on their roster as well that will make a big impact on their chances in the 2018-19 season.
On the contrary, Duke boasts arguably the best recruiting class in college basketball history this season, landing the top-three players in the country in R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish and Zion Williamson. After sending the likes of Marvin Bagley, Grayson Allen and others to the NBA Draft from last year’s team, this young trio will lead the way for the Blue Devils in a new campaign.
As the fates have put these two teams up against on the opening night of the regular season in the Champions Classic, we’ll be treated to a top-five showdown with the Wildcats ranked second and the Blue Devils not far behind at No. 4. With all this in mind, here’s what fans need to know about these two teams and the matchup on hand in Indianapolis on Tuesday night.
How will the Duke freshman trio gel out of the gate?
While the vaunted trio of Barrett, Reddish and Williamson have been able to get practice and exhibition work in together coming into the regular season, these are still three young players that have yet to play meaningful game action together. There’s no questioning their talent, but that alone doesn’t win college basketball games, especially against top-level competition.
Subsequently, one of the biggest things to watch on Tuesday night will be how these three work together when on the floor. There are no doubt going to be some highlights, if for no other reason than Zion Williamson has a vendetta against rims and backboards. However, with such a lauded freshman class, the expectations are that this team should be in the National Championship conversation.
Tuesday night will surely give us an early look as to if Duke is close to achieving that goal and coalescing properly, or if there is still a great deal of work to be done before they’re a finished product capable of contending.
Will newfound experience of Kentucky pay early dividends?
In relation to the first question being asked about Duke, it’s normally something that’s being said of the Wildcats at the start of a season. What’s more, we’ve seen Calipari’s group struggle in that regard early in the season as they try to figure out which uber-talented mouths to feed, who the alpha-dog is and so on. Those questions, for once, are less present with Kentucky to start the 2018-19 season, however.
While the additions of Reid Travis and freshman such as Tyler Herro and Immanuel Quickley in the lineup could make for some early growing pains as he gets acclimated with new teammates, guys like PJ Washington and Quade Green that figure to play big roles for the Wildcats this season know Cal’s system and have a rapport playing with one another as well.
That can’t be underestimated for a college basketball team. Experience is paramount at this stage, even with the publicity that the star freshman get on a national scale. Subsequently, it’ll be fascinating to see if Kentucky, traditionally somewhat of a slow-starting team, can shed that label (at least for one year) and come out of the gate looking more polished and ready-made to compete than previous iterations of this program.
Kentucky’s depth dwarfs Duke’s
As immensely talented as the Duke Blue Devils are at the top with the freshman that they’ve brought in, this might be the shallowest roster that Mike Krzyrzewski has fielded in recent memory. Players such as Jack White and Alex O’Connell (to name a couple) are going to play meaningful minutes for this team this season, which is a scary proposition for any team with the aspirations of Coach K’s group.
While Kentucky won’t win any awards for having the deepest roster in college basketball — at least in terms of proven talent — their newfound mix of experience and freshman certainly gives them more seemingly capable bodies to run out in a rotation than what Duke can offer.
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In truth, this might be a bigger storyline if these two teams were meeting later in the season when the grind of the campaign has worn the teams and players down a bit. Even still, we could see shades of it on Tuesday night in terms of Kentucky looking to play at a faster pace to try and wear down the Blue Devils and force them to dig into their bench. It’s a weakness of Duke that can be exploited, and we may see Calipari try and do just that.