The first marquee matchup of the college basketball season is set to take place in the Champions Classic as Kentucky and Duke are set to go head-to-head in a game that features some of the best talent in the league. Both Duke and Kentucky enter this game at 2-0. They failed to play each other last season when Wisconsin eliminated the Wildcats in the Final Four before eventually falling to the Blue Devils who hoisted the trophy at the end of the year. After losing a significant amount of talent, both teams are re-tooled with young talent and ready to go.
Kentucky has yet another freshman leading the charge this year. Standing at 6-foot-11, Skal Labissiere is coming off a game where he put up 26 points against NJIT thinks to dunks and floaters over the opposing defense. This is exactly what head coach John Calipari wants from the top freshman recruit as Kentucky expects to be back in the discussion for the championship this season. The young talent is already gaining comparisons to Anthony Davis and Karl Anthony-Towns who are both having a great deal of success in the NBA. With the Wildcats being guard-heavy this year, having the defensive presence that Labissiere has will be critical this year.
The Blue Devils are also coming in with fresh talent after losing a number of players to the NBA Draft following their championship season. With Jhalil Okafor and Justise Winslow out of the picture on defense, the Blue Devils will feature Marshall Plumlee of the brother legacy who comes in at 7-feet tall along with Antonio Vrankovic who was a top recruit. Having to contain Labissiere will be their main task in this matchup.
Duke lacks experience along with Kentucky, but so far they are not showing it. The team has been offensive heavy, coming off a 113-75 win while the team went 13 of 26 from the 3-point line shooting 53.4 percent overall. Grayson Allen led the way against Bryant with 28 points while Brandon Ingram went 7-of-11 for 21 points. That was a big improvement for him as he looks to get acquainted quickly with the college game.
The last time Kentucky and Duke matched up it was 2012 with the Blue Devils having won the last three games. Both teams are hopeful this is a March Madness matchup and it easily could be if they can meet expectations placed on them in the preseason.
