Now that's how you start a season!
We had great college basketball last night including #2 Michigan State getting a win over #1 Kentucky. Following that game we lucked out with another showdown of two of the top prospects coming into this season with Andrew Wiggins and the #5 Kansas Jayhawks taking on Jabari Parker and the #4 Duke Blue Devils.
There was plenty of other games played yesterday, but these 2 games seemed to have all the excitement you could want for a season opening marathon and what better name than the Champions Classic.
In the first big game of the day you had #1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats and freshman Julius Randle taking on #2 ranked Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans started off early, scoring 10 points before the Wildcats could get any points on the board. You could see that experience played a role in this pivotal match-up with 4 of 5 starters for the Wildcats being freshman, while on the other side of the court the Spartans were returning six of their top seven scorers from last season's Final Four team. Freshman and potential #1 pick Julius Randle had a great game and almost single-handedly beat the Spartans on his own, scoring 23 of his 27 points in the second half. Randle also finished with 13 rebounds, 9-15 on free throws, as well as 8 TO's mostly caused by his attempt to get the win by himself. Michigan State standout senior Keith Appling played a huge role in securing the win for the Spartans, scoring 22 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. In the end the Spartans were able to hold onto the big win against the star-studded Kentucky Wildcats.
Final Score:
#2 Michigan State over #1 Kentucky 78-74
The second showdown we had was between #5 Kansas Jayhawks going up against the #4 Duke Blue Devils. In this match-up we had 2 freshman who are likely to go #1 and #2 in the draft next April, in Kansas' Andrew Wiggins and Duke's Jabari Parker. It was Parker's debut in front of his family and friends (Jabari Parker is a Chicago native and attended Simeon High School, the same school that NBA All Star Derrick Rose attended) and ended his night with 27 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, a block and an assist. Parker had a great all around game and I believe he will be moving up in front of his freshman counterpart in the draft board if he keeps playing like this. All those numbers are great but it was fellow freshman Andrew Wiggins who was able to get out with a win. Wiggins played a solid game and showed the nation why he is considered one of the best prospects out of college this year with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and one block. Wiggins also showed off his speed, with 8 transition points by himself (more than the entire Blue Devils team) and both him and fellow teammate Perry Ellis led the Jayhawks with 16 points each in the paint. As for High-Flying Dunks are concerned Wiggins may have had more because of fast breaks but I think Parker's one-handed alley-oop from Quinn Cook was the best of the season thus far.
Final Score:
#5 Kansas over #4 Duke 94-83
Out of all 3 of these freshmen if I had to place them in order of draft picks, this is how I would draft them after yesterdays games.
1. Jabari Parker - He showed me the most complete performance out of all 3 freshman and with Coach K being able to have a word in his ear I can only expect great things from there
2. Julius Randle - I had no idea that they would allow a MAN-CHILD to get in on College Hoops and if you watched that game yesterday you would know what I mean.
3. Andrew Wiggins - This is not a demotion in my eyes, he is fast, has the game, and is a fierce competitor that any GM in the NBA would contemplate "Tanking" over, its just that those other 2 guys did a hell of a job for their teams and Wiggins, in no fault to him, has a guy named Perry Ellis to handle some of the work load.
If you are like me and can't get enough of College Hoops then get excited because we are in for a great year of basketball that will probably have a majority of these teams battling it out in late March.
I hope you enjoyed and be sure to pass along to all of your other NCAA Fanatics!
Thank you for reading and be sure to check back often for more Sports News & Analysis. If you think I missed something or if I didn't talk enough about something, just leave a comment and let me know.
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