Duke vs. Kentucky: A Pivotal Clash of Basketball Titans

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00:00Now let's get on to the marquee matchup in the night cap in the A. It's Duke and Kentucky.

00:09A first time to really introduce himself to the nation as the Cats head coach.

00:14That is Mark Pope.

00:15And of course for John Shire and the Blue Devils, it is the full debut of this incredibly

00:21talented young freshman class.

00:24John, let's start with Duke.

00:26What do you think the Blue Devils will show tonight in Atlanta booked as a six and a half

00:29point favorite against the Wildcats?

00:32Positional size and the ability obviously to take away maybe some of that free-flowing

00:37offense that Mark Pope said he's going to unveil this season.

00:40Look, you know, I spent some time in the triangle during the preseason and the biggest thing

00:46that really had John Shire excited about this Duke team in addition to his talented freshman

00:51class was the positional size that Duke had.

00:55Duke has everybody on its roster been standing six foot four or taller.

00:59This has a chance unequivocally to be the best defensive team that John Shire has had

01:05in three years at Duke and that's better than the team two years ago that had Derek Lively

01:09in the pivot.

01:10I think another thing you need to look at too is Duke went out and added experience

01:15in the transfer portal with obviously Sion James, Malik Brown, and also Mason Gillis

01:23who had a big role in that Purdue team last year that went to the national championship

01:26game.

01:27Those three players will be paramount tonight in defending a Kentucky team again, that is

01:31really shooting the ball at a high level through two games against opponents though were played

01:36in by games.

01:37Yeah, Duke has looked the part they've been booked as at least a 30 point favorite in

01:42their first two games against Maine and Army easily covering the numbers quickly on the

01:46cats John you mentioned the offense for Mark Pope Kentucky has scored at least a hundred

01:52in its first two games of the year.

01:54What will the nation know about Big Blue Nation following tonight's game in Atlanta?

01:59It's going to be a completely different style of basketball for people that follow Kentucky

02:04versus what we saw under John Calipari and even prior to that Mark Pope is an innovative

02:09offensive coach who doesn't want the ball to stick.

02:11He wants the ball to move.

02:13He wants obviously things to be free flowing offensively.

02:16It's going to be fascinating to see and just how unselfish Kentucky can be and how players

02:22who were recruited out of the transfer portal who played at a lower level now step up away

02:27class Lamont Butler was a terrific player at San Diego State.

02:31He is now going from the Mountain West to the Champions Classic Kobe Brea was arguably

02:37the best shooter in college basketball last year at Dayton a hundred made threes forty

02:42nine point eight percent from three-point range.

02:44He is going from the Atlantic 10 to the Champions Classic Amari Williams at from Drexel was

02:51going from the CAA to the champions and Champions Classic then I quote Tim Robbins in the Shawshank

02:56Redemption get busy living or get busy dying Andy Dufresne.

03:02Don't tell no lies as you'll see John as you look at the national championship odds Duke

03:06remains the favorite at a short price at plus 950 but plenty of the teams tonight in Atlanta

03:12will be on display quickly John 30 seconds left the other games on this Tuesday, which

03:17one catches your eye Villanova St. Joe is five o'clock Eastern a standalone game on

03:22a Tuesday afternoon.

03:24This was circled when the schedule came out because it was a big five rivalry game.

03:29It is now in bold print because these two bitter rivals will try and avoid a second

03:34loss in the first nine days of the season Ben.

03:37I've said it before I'll say it again.

03:40This is only November.

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