Game: (687) Kansas Jayhawks @ (688) Duke Blue Devils
Time: Tues. 11/05 7:00 PM EST at Madison Square Garden
Spread: Kansas -2.5 (-110) ML: -145/+125 Total: 152 at 5Dimes
Tools: Public Consensus | View Matchups | Bet This Game
The 2019-20 NCAA Men’s College Basketball season has arrived and a big-time matchup is on tap with the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks meeting the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils in the State Farm Champions Classic. The fourth-ranked Blue Devils seek their first win over the Jayhawks since 2011 on Tuesday when they open the regular season in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden.
This year Kansas has a veteran roster and is deep at every position. They will be looking to perform much better this year. However, we have a lot of early-season questions about both of these teams. The Kansas program has been embroiled in a scandal most of the summer. At least Udoka Azubuike is back from injury and Silvio De Sousa is back from being ruled ineligible to play, but the Jayhawks still enter the season with a lot of unknowns, as is often the case with these elite programs.
KANSAS (2018-19: 26-10): Senior center Udoka Azubuike (13.4 points, 6.8 rebounds) was limited to nine games in 2018-19 due to a torn ligament in his right hand, but he was still voted as the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year by the league’s coaches. Devon Dotson (12.3 points) was also a preseason all-conference first-team selection after withdrawing his name from NBA Draft consideration this summer and is one of 20 candidates to be named to the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year watch list. The Jayhawks addressed their lackluster 3-point shooting by adding Iowa graduate transfer Isaiah Moss (35.8 percent beyond the arc last season) and landing former Michigan commit Jalen Wilson after Wolverines coach John Beilein left for the NBA this summer.
DUKE (2018-19: 32-6): Tre Jones (9.4 points, 5.3 assists) was the only one of the four five-star recruits from last season’s recruiting class to delay his NBA dream and is expected to be the only non-freshman starter on this year’s team. Vernon Carey Jr. was ranked as the sixth-best recruit in the nation and gives the Blue Devils an interior presence at 6-10 and 275 pounds that only Zion Williamson was typically able to provide a season ago. Sharpshooter Matthew Hurt was Duke’s other five-star in this year’s recruiting class after averaging 36.8 points, 12.4 rebounds, and five assists as a senior en route to being named Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball.
We will see if Carey Jr. can fill Zion’s role at Duke. They will also rely on Cassius Stanley, Michael Savarino, Matthew Hurt, and Wendell Moore Jr. from its freshmen class. Tre Jones will be the point guard and is a terrific high-pressure defender that could really perform this season. In this game, it will be up to the help defense for Duke to stay out of foul trouble with Azubuike doing his thing on the interior while the 3-ball will be the most important factor for Duke.