No. 4 Duke set to tipoff season against No. 3 Kansas in Champions Classic

The Duke Basketball team is set to tipoff its season against the Kansas Jayhawks in the State Farm Champions Classic on Tuesday evening.

College Basketball is back and the season will tipoff at the Mecca under the brightest lights as the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils face the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks in the State Farm Champions Classic.

Duke will have a lot of new faces on the floor as the Blue Devils move out of the Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish era and move into the Vernon Carey Jr., Matthew Hurt, Wendell Moore, and Cassius Stanley era.

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While the freshmen will get all the attention at Duke, it’s the returning players that will be the major key this season and try and bring a sixth National Championship back to Durham.

The most significant move of the offseason was when point guard Tre Jones announced that he would return to Duke for his sophomore season and the Apple Valley, Minnesota native may have to take on more of a scoring role this season.

Jones was named a captain for the first time along with seniors Jack White and Javin DeLaurier, who will be entering their second seasons as captains.

Mike Krzyzewski will also be looking for something out of Alex O’Connell, Jordan Goldwire, and Joey Baker this season as all three players were able to contribute something positive in Duke’s second exhibition game over Fort Wayne.

The Kansas Jayhawks will also rely on its veterans not just on Tuesday night against Duke, but for the entire season, specifically Devon Dotson and Udoka Azubuike who will run Bill Self‘s offense on the outside and in the paint, respectively.

Duke and Kansas last met in the 2017-18 NCAA Tournament when the Jayhawks were able to defeat the Blue Devils in overtime, 85-81. Javin DeLaurier and Alex O’Connell are the only Blue Devils on the roster that saw action in that game, with DeLaurier playing 13 minutes and O’Connell getting just two.

As for Kansas, Udoka Azubuike, Marcus Garrett, and Silvio De Sousa all saw action in that game with Azubuike starting, but only playing 19 minutes due to foul trouble, Garrett coming off the bench to play eight minutes, but De Sousa loomed large with his 26 minutes logging four points and ten rebounds.

It’s always difficult to predict the first game of the season between two top-five teams, because no one knows what to expect.

Both teams dominated lesser competition in exhibition games, but what does that prove? Not much.

Last season Duke beat Kentucky by 32 points in the Champions Classic and both teams ended its seasons in the Elite Eight, so while this game will get a lot of hype, it means very little in the long run of the season.

With that being said, Duke will find a way to flip the script from the last time these teams met in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden and find a way to win a close game behind point guard Tre Jones.

PREDICTION: Duke 75, Kansas 69