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Duke Basketball: Blue Devils, Wildcats ready for anticipated showdown

By Kevin Connelly

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 15: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils speaks at a press conference after defeating the Michigan State Spartans during the 2011 State Farm Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2011 in New York City. Krzysewski won his 903rd game and passed Bob Knight to become the all-time winningest coach in Men's Division 1 Basketball. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 15: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils speaks at a press conference after defeating the Michigan State Spartans during the 2011 State Farm Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2011 in New York City. Krzysewski won his 903rd game and passed Bob Knight to become the all-time winningest coach in Men's Division 1 Basketball. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) /
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The Duke Basketball season is finally upon us and they much anticipated season opener against the Kentucky Wildcats will get the season underway.

Duke.

Kentucky.

Champions Classic.

Is there anymore that needs to be said?

Well, it would only add to the drama that this is the first game of the regular season and while the hype would be heightened if this was the first week in April instead of November, there is still much to be excited about.

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At approximately 9:30 pm ET from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana two extremely young teams will be taking the court for the first time this season in Mike Krzyzewski led No. 4 Duke Blue Devils and the John Calipari led No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats.

Both Kentucky and Duke come into this game with very young rosters, but the Wildcats bring back three players from last years team along with bringing in Reid Travis, a graduate transfer from Stanford.

The Blue Devils enter the Champions Classic with the No. 1 Recruiting Class headlined by R.J. Barrett and Zion Williamson and Kentucky has the No. 2 Recruiting Class led by Keldon Johnson and E.J. Montgomery.

The Blue Devils also bring in freshman Cam Reddish, Tre Jones and Joey Baker while pairing them with captains Javin DeLaurier and Jack White and returning players like Marques Bolden and Alex O’Connell.

The Wildcats bring back Quade Green, Nick Richards, and P.J. Washington to pair with other freshman Ashton Hagans, Immanuel Quickly, and Tyler Herro.

The winner of this game doesn’t get a free ticket to Minneapolis in late March or an automatic No. 1 seed heading into the tournament, but a win would bring a great vote of confidence to a young team who is looking to find their identity early in the season.

Duke has had all of the cameras following them around this offseason and have they been total focused? Will the freshman live up to the hype?

Why we can’t put this all on a game in November 6, it is definitely a good early season test for the Blue Devils.

PREDICTION: Duke 85, Kentucky 79

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