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It was presented as a battle of equals. Duke did not receive the memo.
Behind the amazing trio of freshmen comprised of RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson and Cam Reddish, the Blue Devils (No. 4) scored 59 points in the first half, 59 in the second and set themselves up for a scandalous victory from 118 to 84 over Kentucky, No. 2 second game of the Champions Classic on Tuesday night. Three reflections on Duke's revealing victory:
1. R.J. Barrett claims to be Duke's best player with electrifying debut
If you follow the following social media or the number of mentions by ESPN, Williamson is the highest member of Duke's historic first year class. But Barrett was the first rookie in the country, just ahead of two of his teammates, for a reason. At the opening night of the 2018-2019 season, he was the best player in a stacked match with future NBA talent. Kentucky just did not get an answer for Barrett, who scored 20 points in the first half before scoring 33 points a night. Barrett inspired James Harden's comparisons with his ability to get to the basket, shoot from outside and put his team-mates in transition. The fact that Barrett is left-handed facilitates this comparison, but it is also well deserved. Like the reigning NBA MVP, Barrett is incredibly capable of shifting gears, striding to reach the basket and ending up with contact once he's arrived there.
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Barrett had several sequences that drove the many scouts of the NBA present. Midway through the opening period, John Calipari chose to try a 2-3 zone with his team late on 29-11. Barrett calmly drilled one of the three trios from the top of the key, then crossed the area for a more accurate faceoff on the next possession. Later in the half, he reversed the order, scoring on a treadmill and digging three balls back to back.
2. Williamson and Reddish (and others) have been up to it, and anyone who follows Duke's program should be terrified.
I do not want to react too much to a game, I'm kidding, of course. That sounds like Duke's best team to date. Barrett, Williamson and Reddish could be the top three players in the country. And if this team stays healthy, it could be better than the 2014-2015 Kentucky that started 38-0. As I said, these are excessive reactions. It's a game and we do not know how much the underperformance of Kentucky contributed to the unbalanced score (more information about this soon). This team will not remain unbeaten; This year's CCA is much better than the SEC in which the Kentucky team played. Virginia, North Carolina and Syracuse are both likely to offer more defensive resistance than the Wildcats did on Tuesday night.
Although it was just a game, it's hard to imagine a more impressive and impressive team performance on the first day of the season. Williamson was all he was supposed to be, an unstoppable force in the basket that also deserves the credit of being extremely competent with basketball. He spent 28 points on the bulldozer and added 7 rebounds, including several because Williamson propelled his body 285 pounds to several feet in the air and corroded the ball forcefully. His first basket of the day was a three-pointer on which his left-handed shot seemed smooth. These are the only three Williamson's to have taken all night, while he quickly realized that he could get easier shots at the rim when he would like it. Williamson even released some of the mighty dunks for which he became famous in South Carolina as a sensation in high school.
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The fact that Reddish is the third option of this team is ridiculous. The slender and dynamic wing scored 22 points, scoring three goals out of three and offering excellent defense, including four interceptions. One of the most demoralizing games in the game came when Reddish stole a lazy inbounds pass and brought him home early in the second half. And it's not just these three. Jones played his role as a playmaker effectively, the second player, Jack White, led the team with 11 rebounds, and the big man, Marques Bolden, scored some of the easy looks he was hoping to get all at throughout the year. Alex O'Connell hit three times three of the same corner in the second half. Duke scored 100 points in seven and a half minutes. It was an absolutely amazing show.
3. Things will get easier for Kentucky, but the road ahead is long
Kentucky suffered the worst loss of the John Calipari era to open its 2018-19 campaign. Given how Duke played on Tuesday, it's hard to be too embarrassed by the result. Calipari still has a lot of work to do with his team after the Wildcats offered virtually no resistance from the final whistle. While Duke got an easy bucket after an easy bucket during the transition, Kentucky spent the vast majority of the night running on offense in the half-court without being too busy and not pulling enough. Reid Travis, who scored 22 points when he was barely involved in the offensive early, and Keldon Johnson, the freshman who scored 23 points. Kentucky fired 4-for-17 deep, flipped the ball over 15 times and just did not seem to belong to the same floor as Duke. Calipari has plenty of questions to answer, but these Wildcats have the talent to improve dramatically and to be at the heart of the events of March. For now, however, they can only congratulate themselves for taking their next match against a team that is not the giant Duke, it seems.
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