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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PREDICTIONS
WHY KANSAS WINS
Matchup favors Jayhawks, Wiggins and Ellis will take lead
This is the kind of game Bill Self has traditionally lost at Kansas.
Last year, there was the 67-64 loss to Michigan State. The year before Kansas lost 75-65 to Kentucky and 68-61 to Duke.
It's the team's second game. They're relying on a bunch of freshmen. They don't know the system. As Bill Self likes to say, they don't know how to guard yet. Oh, and did I mention the freshmen?
This is No. 5 Kansas and No. 4 Duke. This is Self vs. Krzyzewski. This is Andrew Wiggins vs. Jabari Parker. This is at the Madhouse on Madison, the building with a freaking Michael Jordan statue outside of it.
And this time it will be different for Kansas.
All eyes will gawk at Wiggins.
who will be facing his first notable opponent in his college career. He'll be fired up. This won't be like Fort Hays State. He'll run hard, he'll dunk and he'll dazzle against the Blue Devils.
All the while, Perry Ellis will be the rock. The steady hand of this young Jayhawk basketball team. Wiggins will have the highlight plays, but Ellis will control a Duke team that can't compete with the Jayhawks inside the paint. Ellis' physical play with an impressive finishing ability will be too much for the Blue Devils — and when the Jayhawks can score inside, they often win.
This matchup favors Kansas.
this matchup favors rebates.
Duke's Parker will face Wiggins in the game's most anticipated match-up. Parker is a fast, athletic player who has a post game as well. But he'll be guarded by Wiggins, a faster, more athletic player, who has shown remarkable defensive ability early in his Jayhawk career.
Then there's Rodney Hood, a 6-foot-8-inch, 215-pound bull for the Blue Devils. Hood is another athlete who can score inside and out, and will stretch the Jayhawks' defense. He'll face Ellis, a 6-foot-8-inch, 225-pound scorer with elite
touch around the basket and an impressive ability to run the floor
Those are Duke's two toughest players to defend, and Kansas has the perfect pair to slow them down.
the perfect pair to slow them down. Add in Naadir Tharpe, Wayne Selden and Tarik Black, and the Jayhawks are too talented to let this early season game slip away. The two things that could keep the Jayhawks from winning are carelessness with the ball and a lack of outside shooting. Both Tharpe and Frank Mason look strong at point guard in their small sample size, and the Jayhawks' sharp shooting bench combination of Andrew White III, Brannen Greene and Connor Frankamp should alleviate those outside shooting concerns. Surely one of the three will sink a couple.
Self giped about a lack of defensive energy with his team early Tuesday night against Fort Hays State. That won't be the case guarding players with "DUKE" on their jerseys.
Sure, Self has lost these games in his past at Kansas.
But he hasn't had a team with talent like this.
—Edited by Allison Kohn
WHY DUKE WINS
Devils' undeniable history will standout against Kansas
Duke is not always the nation's best team at the end of the season, but the Blue Devils have a knack for coming out ahead of the curve in November.
When No. 4 Duke and No. 5 Kansas finally square off Tuesday in the Champions Classic, the Jayhawks will have a daunting piece of history working against them. Since the 2000-01 season, the Blue Devils have amassed a 73-3 record in the month of November.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski doesn't take nonconference scheduling easily on his teams, either. In an undefeated month of November last season, Duke took down three teams ranked in the top five in the nation—Kentucky, Ohio State and eventual-national champion Louisville. The team's matchup with Kansas this season, albeit a great challenge, represents the common caliber of opponent that the Blue Devils have faced—and regularly beaten—earlier in the season.
Krzyzewski tailors his team's off-season regimen every year to fit its personnel, and this year is no exception. Unlike last year's Blue Devils, this year's team will look to push the ball in transition and defend with full-court pressure, utilizing its length and athleticism on the wings to its advantage.
Duke is rarely the most talented team in the nation heading into each season, but it is always the best prepared. Look for the Jayhawk wings to have trouble keeping up with the likes of Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood, both of whom can spread the floor and pose significant matchup problems.
Kansas will have an undeniable advantage inside heading into this contest. With Joel Embiid, Tarik Black and Perry Ellis manning the middle, Duke could struggle early in the contest to keep up with the Jayhawks on the block. But Hood and Parker have proven to be capable post defenders throughout preseason play, and sophomore Amile Jefferson and his 7-foot-2 inch wingspan could be the team's most important player this season.
Experience plays a role in these games, especially early in the season. Kansas could start three freshmen Tuesday night in Embiid, Andrew Wiggins and Wayne Selden, Jr. Additionally, Black will
be seeing some of his first action with his new team after transferring from Memphis to play out his eligibility. Kentucky's youth struggled with a more experienced Duke lineup last season, and I expect the jayhawks to do the same.
Even without the senior leadership of Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry, the Blue Devils had a number of their younger players play key roles on this team last season. Hood practiced with Duke for the entire season after transferring from Mississippi State, and was often the team's best player on the floor in full-court drills. Parker could struggle under the United Center's bright lights, but he will likely grow into the role of the team's focal point throughout the season with Woo taking the lead for now. Wiggins, however, will be expected to score early and often should Kansas hope to win this game.
If there's one thing you learn when you watch enough Duke basketball, you can't mess with history. The Blue Devils still have a lot of room to grow this season, but they will have what it takes to sneak by Kansas and put the first big victory on their NCAA tournament resume.
Edited by Madison Schultz
DR. KEVIN LENAHAN
OPTOMETRIST
the spectacle
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PRESENTS:
KANSAS VS DUKE WATCH PARTY
DRINK SPECIALS! BIG SCREEN! FREE! ALL AGES 6:30PM DOORS
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