It was Champions Classic Day, and for those of you who are not familiar with the event, let me fill you in. It is now in its 16th season and usually features Blue Blood programs: the Duke Blue Devils, Kentucky Wildcats, Michigan State Spartans, and the Kansas Jayhawks. The four teams alternate playing against each other.
This year, Duke and Michigan State opened the event, and Kansas and Kentucky played the nightcap. The neutral-site games give fans an early look at potential Final Four teams and tournament contenders. The games are early in the year, so it's hard to draw many concrete conclusions with such a small sample size, but for the sake of argument, here are three things we learned after the Champions Classic.
Jeremy Fears Jr. is the Best Player in the Country
Heading into the season, Fears Jr. was a player who was going to be a Wooden Award finalist, but other players could challenge for the award. After watching Fears Jr. carve up the Blue Devils with 18 points and 11 assists, it is clear he is on a different level.
Players have gotten double-doubles on Duke before, but very few players have ever blown by the Duke guards with ease to get to the rim for easy finishes. Fears is one of those players who doesn’t shoot well from deep, but is deadly inside the arc and so quick and an elite passer that he is impossible to guard.
Duke had no answers for Fears Jr., and when they finally closed off his lane, he'd kick out a pass to a wide-open shooter to knock down a three. Michigan State is very good, but Fears Jr. is a huge reason for that. It’s a long season, but with Fears Jr.'s ability to impact the game on both sides of the ball- his ability to hop in passing lanes and get steals, and then his elite passing ability and elite ability to get in the paint sets him apart from everyone else in college basketball.
Michigan State might be the best team in the country.
I know I just wrote that Illinois is one of the best teams of all time, but that was before I watched Michigan State tonight. The Spartans dominated Duke. Read it again: they dominated Duke, a team that rarely gets dominated, and were beaten in every facet of the game. Michigan State led from tip to finish, and it was the first time in 79 games that Duke didn't lead a game in the last minute of regulation.
The Spartans have everything teams need to win a National Championship. Michigan State has already been mentioned as having the best point guard in the country. Coach Tom Izzo has stacked the roster with shooters everywhere; the defense is elite, they block a ton of shots, and have excellent depth. There is a lot to like about Michigan State, but again, a lot can change. It is only the second week of the season, and the sample size is small, but I don’t see Michigan State losing much, especially if they get the kind of contributions they got from their entire roster tonight.
Numerous questions about Kentucky
I have always had questions about Mark Pope and his ability to get the most out of the Kentucky roster, and the Champions Classic matchup against Kansas did nothing but raise them. The Wildcats have a talented roster and should be finishing consistently near the top of the SEC, but that just isn’t happening.
Coach Pope has a very interesting roster, and it will be interesting to see how it comes together as the year goes on, but Zoom Diallo is the point guard along with Furman transfer Alex Wilkins. Neither of those players is a good three-point shooter, and both of them are guys who can score a ton of points, but do it by getting into the lane and, in the case of Diallo, taking mid-range jumpers.
Milan Momcilovic was the nation's best three-point shooter last season, shooting 49%. While he is getting opportunities and is the Wildcats' leading scorer, the offense isn’t running enough sets for the sharpshooter to get the ball when Kentucky needs it most. Momcilovic is too good a shooter to take only deep shots in a national spotlight game.
Michael Moreno is the big man who has shown a penchant for dominating a game, but he isn't always the guy for Kentucky. The Wildcats' hodgepodge of talent was exposed in the Champions Classic. Kentucky got blown out and looked like they had no answers for the upstart Jayhawks. Kentucky and head coach Pope can’t afford another letdown season.
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