Duke Basketball kicks off their 2019-20 season in the Champions Classic against the third-ranked ranked Kansas Jayhawks, but how can they beat them?
Duke Basketball and Kansas faced off in one of the best games in recent memory during the 2018 Elite Eight, a game Kansas went onto win in overtime. Now, for the first time since that matchup that sent the Jayhawks to the Final Four, Duke will get their chance at revenge in the annual Champions Classic.
In the two years since that game a lot has happened, Zion Williamson happened, Devon Dotson happened and Kansas also faced some violations. Since it has been two years since that matchup, both Kansas and Duke are completely different teams.
Duke players that got minutes against Kansas in the Elite Eight:
- Trevon Duval
- Grayson Allen
- Gary Trent jr.
- Marvin Bagley III
- Wendell Carter jr.
- Javin DeLaurier
- Marques Bolden
- Alex O’Connell
Not one of the five starters from that game is in Durham anymore and only DeLaurier and O’Connell are on Duke’s roster headed into this season. On the Kansas side of things, it’s a bit different.
Kansas players that got minutes against Duke in the Elite Eight:
- Udoka Azubuike
- Devonte Graham
- Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk
- Malik Newman
- Lagerald Vick
- Silvio De Sousa
- Marcus Garrett
Of those five starters from that game, only Udoka Azubuike is still on the team headed into the new season, but in addition to Azubuike, both De Sousa and Garrett are on the team as well.
That being said, Coach K and some of the current Duke players know a bit about how this Kansas team plays, but Kansas knows next to nothing about this Duke team seeing the Blue Devils put a new five on the court every season.
So with all that being said, what are the three keys to Duke beating Kansas and opening up their season with a win against a top-three team?