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Bracketology 2023: 5 key games that could impact No. 1 seeds

By Jason Burgess

Apr 4, 2022; New Orleans, LA, USA; The Kansas Jayhawks place their name as national champions on the bracket after their win against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament Final Four championship game at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2022; New Orleans, LA, USA; The Kansas Jayhawks place their name as national champions on the bracket after their win against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament Final Four championship game at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bracketology Kansas Jayhawks Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
Bracketology Kansas Jayhawks Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 7 Duke vs. No. 5 Kansas, Nov. 15, 9:30 pm ET, ESPN

The second game of the champions classic has defending champ Kansas taking on the team with the most talked about the first-year coach in the country. Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils. These are two teams that could absolutely see their names on the no. 1 seed line when the bracket is announced, and winning this game in mid-November would be a huge notch in the belt for whoever comes out on top.

Neither team was tested in their two games leading up to this one. Duke won their two games by an average of 36.5 points and Kansas dispatched Omaha and North Dakota State by a total margin of 48 points. The freshmen class has really shined for the Blue Devils, Mark Mitchell, Kyle Filipowski, and Dereck Lively have complemented Jeremy Roach seamlessly, and Scheyer has been without arguably his best freshman, Dariq Whitehead who continues to recover from offseason surgery.
The Jayhawks have a little more experience on their roster with juniors Jalen Wilson and Dajuan Harris, Jr. leading the way with big-time newcomers Kevin McCullar, Jr. and Gradey Dick, with Wilson and Dick leading them in scoring at 20 and 17.5 per game respectively through two games. Wilson has been dominant early on putting up a slash line of 45.5%/100%/46.2% and averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists in the admittedly small sample size.

This could be the marquee game of the week and should have a Final Four feel in Indianapolis and even though both teams will have extremely strong resumes, the winner of this one has a small upper hand on the seed list come bracket time.

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