Blue Devils
The College basketball season is underway and tomorrow night we get to see what some of the higher-ranked teams have in store for this year when the Champions Classic is played. This year it features #1 Kansas, #9 Duke, #17 Kentucky, and #18 Michigan State.
The luster is off of these games just a touch as both Duke and Michigan State are coming off losses, granted Duke lost to a very good Arizona team, while Michigan State lost to James Madison at home.
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Starting off the night we get Tom Izzo and Michigan State taking on the Blue Devils of Duke. Duke is coming off a Friday night loss to Arizona at home, and they don’t have a lot of time to get things right before they take on another very talented bunch.
Champions Classic
- Date: Tuesday Nov 14th, 2023
- 7 p.m. ET – Duke vs. Michigan State
- 9:30 p.m. ET – Kentucky vs. Kansas
- Watch: ESPN
Duke has won 5 of its last 6 Champions Classic games. The issues for Duke were mostly on the defensive end. They are not a very big team, and a big and experienced Arizona team dominated them on the glass. That is the one thing that every Tom Izzo team does well. They rebound the ball at will. Duke struggled offensively at times as well as they settled for way too many quick jumpers and didn’t work the ball around.
For Michigan State, they shot the ball horrifically in their two games so far. They are 2 for 31 beyond the arc this year. YIKES. They will need to get back to shooting the ball at a competent level to win this game. Either way, it will be close.
Champions Classic all-time record
| Team | vs. Kansas | vs. Duke | vs. Kentucky | vs. Michigan State | All-time record |
| Kansas | — | 3-1 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 7-5 |
| Duke | 1-3 | — | 3-1 | 3-1 | 7-5 |
| Kentucky | 2-2 | 1-3 | — | 2-2 | 5-7 |
| Michigan State | 2-2 | 1-3 | 2-2 | — | 5-7 |
The better of the two games is going to be #1 Kansas and #17 Kentucky. I believe that the Wildcats of Kentucky are going to be one of the better Coach Cal teams in the past ten years. They combine a lot of freshman talent at the guard slots, but they lack a bit of size.
That is going to be a very big issue against Kansas and Hunter Dickinson. Kentucky has a freshman center who hasn’t played yet due to injury and they will need him to help slow down Kansas. The Jayhawks don’t have their usual dominant lead guard this year, so this game is a clash of styles.
Four of the nation’s top teams meet again 🍿
The Champions Classic goes down TONIGHT in Chicago 🔥 pic.twitter.com/P76JOYvf1b
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 14, 2023
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| Title: Champions Classic Basketball College
| Author: Matt Cattonh
| Date: Nov 14th, 2023