Champions Classic Takes Over Tuesday With Blue Blood Showdowns

It was expected to be a light Monday of college hoops, but there were a lot of mid-majors that put a scare into their power five opponents.  Those are the kind of things that make this sport the best.  There is nothing guaranteed, and you will have to go and beat everyone you play—no nights off in college basketball.  

NC State entered its game against VCU ranked in the top 25, and with one of the better rosters in the ACC, many think they can be a big-time factor in the ACC. The Wolf Pack got everything they wanted from VCU and more.  It isn’t surprising, given how good the Rams program has been over the years.  There will be growing pains for NC State, but its talent will ultimately prevail on most nights. 

Kansas State had the best three-point shooting in the country and was putting up a ton of points.  The Wildcats appeared to be one of those teams that would shoot far beyond all their preseason projections.  Now that that is out of the way, the Wildcats, like every other team that can shoot, had a terrible night from beyond the arc against Tulsa and had to come back from a deficit late to win the game.  Kansas State has to play a bit of defense this year, or they will not achieve their lofty goals.

The game of the night was between Oregon and Oregon State in Eugene.  The Ducks finally looked right for points in the game.  They got something from others not named Shelstad or Bittle.  The production of the others for the Ducks will be crucial to their success this year.  Oregon State will likely still win 20 games, but they are the fifth or sixth-best team in the WCC and will likely not make the postseason.

Happy Champions Classic day!  One of the best days of the non-conference because we are guaranteed to have 4 Blue Bloods playing each other.  Those are the best games of the day, along with the predicted winners of those games, and the predicted winners of the rest of the games, below.

No. 17 Michigan State Spartans vs No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats- Champions Classic game one!

This one is going to be a lot of fun because of the contrasting styles of the two teams.  Michigan State will play fast and loves to get out in transition, but will also get to the rim for highlight-reel dunks, because they are not a good shooting team.  That was being nice. The Spartans may be a terrible shooting team this year, and that is a weakness, but head coach Tom Izzo is an excellent coach at getting teams to play to their strengths.  

Michigan State is an elite rebounding team that utilizes rebounds to initiate transition opportunities, where they distribute the ball to their athletes to drive downhill and secure easy baskets at the rim.  Coen Carr is one of the more athletic players you will ever see, and has one of the highest vertical leaps ever.  Then you have the style of Kentucky, which is a run-and-gun style.  Kentucky is going to exploit Michigan State's weakness and turn it into its strength. The Wildcats can shoot and shoot it well.  If they are hitting shots, especially their threes in transition, this one could get ugly quickly because the Spartans won’t shoot the ball nearly well enough to keep pace. Jaland Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen lead one of the most talented backcourts in the country.

No. 24 Kansas Jayhawks vs No. 5 Duke Blue Devils - Champions Classic game two!

Kansas remains ranked, even after the AP voters watched them play North Carolina.  The Jayhawks don’t have much depth and often look lost when star Darryn Peterson is off the floor.  The good news is that Peterson is the best player on the floor most nights he plays.  The terrible news for Kansas is that Peterson will be out for a while due to an injury.  It might get ugly unless the Jayhawks have improved significantly in a week.

Duke will have the best player on the floor in this game, who will be playing.  Cameron Boozer is one of the best freshmen in the country and has the potential to be one of the best rebounders and scorers in the country in his freshman season.  The Blue Devils have more depth, more talent, and a lot more offensive firepower than Kansas.  This one might get ugly.

The winners of the rest of the games are below: