NCAA Basketball: Biggest takeaways from 2019 2K Empire Classic

The Duke Blue Devils were the winner of the 2K Empire Classic this season. What are some overall takeaways from the NCAA Basketball teams involved?

The first tournament-style event of the 2019-20 NCAA Basketball came via the 2K Empire Classic, hosted by the prestigious Madison Square Garden in New York City. It featured one of the most prestigious programs in the entire sport, the No. 1 ranked Duke Blue Devils. Also participating were the Georgetown Hoyas, Texas Longhorns and the California Bears.

There weren’t too many surprises expected from this field, based on the talent level involved, at least in the Duke-Cal matchup. The Blue Devils rolled by 35 points without too much fight. The other semifinal matchup was more evenly matched between Georgetown and Texas and it looked that way through most of their battle until the Hoyas made a late run to gain the decisive edge to advance to the finals.

The Longhorns at least got a consolation win by beating Cal, 62-45 in the third-place game. And during a good part of the first half of the finals, it looked like Duke was going to end up on the losing end, with Georgetown controlling the game early on. But an early second-half run gave the Blue Devils the lead and the Hoyas were never able to catch up. Duke captured the title, 81-73.

Even if the final scorers weren’t too surprising within the games played in the Empire Classic, some interesting takeaways occurred on the court. Here’s a look at what I saw from the NCAA Basketball teams who played in the event.