Champions Classic Preview

The Champion’s Classic is a yearly event held in the early stages of every NCAA basketball season. This year, the opening matchup will be between the No.9 Duke Blue Devils and the No. 18 Michigan State Spartans, while the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks will take on the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats.

Both Duke and Michigan State entered the season as top-five ranked teams in the AP poll but have since dropped in the rankings because of disappointing first-week losses. Duke will be looking to rebound after a loss to Arizona while Michigan State may feel a need to prove themselves after an opening night loss to No. 24 James Madison.

The Blue Devils play through their superstar sophomore Kyle Filipowski, who has led the team in points and rebounds in both games this season. For the Spartans, it will be the job of center Mady Sissoko to contain Filipowski. Filipowski has averaged 25 points on 57% from three in the two games this year. Filipowski is dangerous at all three levels and is one of the most dominant scorers in college basketball. The Blue Devils may falter however if the Spartans can find a way to quiet their offensive star, Filipowski.

Michigan State is a guard-heavy offense that relies on the scoring of A.J. Hoggard and Tyson Walker. But Hoggard has had a disastrous start to the season, shooting 4-18 across the first two games. The Spartans’ offense as a whole has shot 2-31 on three-pointers.

The Kansas Jayhawks will be taking on the Kentucky Wildcats in a battle between two blue bloods of college basketball. Kansas is off to an explosive start, as expected, as they went into the season as the consensus No.1 ranked team.

The addition of senior center Hunter Dickinson has lived up to expectations, Dickinson has started the season averaging 19.5 points and eight rebounds on 65% shooting. The Jayhawks lost some of their marquee players from 2023 to the NBA draft but were able to retain Kevin McCullar Jr. and K.J Adams Jr., two of their best players.

Kentucky has moved up one spot from the pre-season rankings, moving up to No.16 this week. The Wildcats are another guard-centric offense, and they feature a plethora of freshmen scorers.

The Jayhawks are one of the highest-scoring offenses in basketball, averaging 99 points per game and shooting a prolific 62% from the field. They’ll be tested however tonight by the Wildcats’ strong defense that ranks 16th in the nation in points allowed per game.

The Champions Classic provides an early-season look at how the best teams fare against top competition during a time in the schedule when they typically only see mid-major conference competition. The opener between Duke and Michigan State tips off at 7 p.m. followed by Kansas and Kentucky at 9:30 p.m.

Sketch Morton is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email Sam7539@psu.edu.