Today has been circled on a lot of people’s calendars, ESPN being one of them and for good reason. We’ll get to experience a Heavyweight doubleheader on Opening night. #1 Kansas vs #10 Michigan State, & #2 Kentucky vs #4 Duke. I’d like to focus on the Wildcats and Blue Devils, these two teams square off in Indianapolis and could meet again in Minneapolis this years host of the Final Four. I don’t think weve ever had a better opening night matchup since the one and done era started in College Hoops. Duke comes in the favorite to take the championship with UK following close behind. We can literally go down the lineup and its a great matchup at literally every position. At Point Guard we’ll see freshmen Tre Jones and Aston Hagens, we know Jones’ brother Tyus real well but we havent seen much of Tre this preseason due to injury. Hagens on the other hand hasn’t shown any weakness other than his outside shot and has amazing game as well as a 2 inch advantage on Jones. Duke has a steller Freshman at the 2 and Kentucky will rely on the sophomore Green to neutralize Barrett’s athleticism with experience. Both teams have Freshman at the small forward with no visible advantage. I believe P.J. Washington might be the only player in College Basketball able to matchup with Zion Williamson, not only in size but I think hes a bit more refined every where else, other than dunking of course. At Center we’ve got a reclassed Senior Reid Travis and junior Delaurier. This will be Delaurier’s first year starting in Durham and has been a solid bench player the last two years. Travis 19 and 8 at Stanford and is looking to boost his draft stock by playing around next years top lottery picks, tonight would be a great opportunity to show his abilities. I think tonight Kentucky is the better team with a better bench on a neutral site. Give the Duke Freshmen some time to develop chemistry and get use to College Hoops, tonight the Wildcats and the moment will be too much for the Blue Devils.
Free play of the day: UK -2
Twitter: @BobbyBetsATS
