Dick Weiss on College Basketball
INDIANAPOLIS—For Kentucky’s Big Blue nation, it must seem like ground hog day whenever the subject of Duke comes up.
It’s hard to believe it has been 26 years since Christian Laettner broke their hearts with that last second jumper at the buzzer that gave the Blue Devils a double overtime victory over the Wildcats in the NCAA East Region at Philadelphia.
Now, the Cats’ passionate fans, who filled most of sold out Bankers Life Field House last night for a Champions Classic matchup against Kentucky, will have another indignity to live with—a 34-point defeat that was the most lopsided defeat for a John Calipari-coached team.
Mike Krzyzewski’s gifted young team—which started four precocious freshmen, three of whom are potential lottery picks– overpowered a talented pre-season second-ranked Kentucky team, 118-85, with a brilliant performance. “I’m really proud of my guys,’’ he said. “You start four freshmen, no matter how talented they are, you never know what they’re going to do in this environment against an outstanding team and great programs. And they responded. They were magnificent.’’
The fourth-ranked Devils made a bold statement with their power and athleticism, outscoring the Cats, 60-38, in the paint and beating Calipari, who built his teams into perennial national contenders with a one and done philosophy, at his own game.
Both Duke and Kentucky recruited forwards RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson and versatile 6-8 Cam Reddish—the top three prospects in the class of 2018. The Blue Devils signed all three players, who should all be the top three picks in the NBA draft.
“They were just better than us,’’ Calipari said. “I told my team, ‘I got out coached, you guys got outplayed. We’ll watch the tape and move on.’’
It’s only November, but the young Blue Devils, who had the best recruiting class in the country, looked like the No. 1 team in the country. They have a higher ceiling than the Duke title teams in 2010 and 2015 The Devils have everything necessary to make a run at another national championship—a horde of athletes, scorers, defenders and rebounders. Krzyzewski has built a team set to excel in an era of small ball. Villanova won two of the last three titles using a lineup that featured ball handlers and five shooters. Duke just spread the floor and let his talent dominate.
No one knew how the Duke fantastic freshmen would react in their first trip to center stage against a premier opponent in this highly anticipated match up. But Kentucky found out quickly.
“My nerves were pretty calm,’’ Williamson said.
Barrett, the 6-7 Canadian prodigy who scored 38 points when his country defeated the U.S. on the way to a gold medal in the 2017 U19 World championships in Cairo, shot 13 for 26, scored 33 points and had six assists and played like the No. 1 pick in the draft. He was unstoppable, constantly forcing Calipari to switch lineups. “It’s difficult because he’s a physical player and he puts it up in the ref’s hands a lot of times, as far as the way he’s attacking you and he makes it difficult to guard without fouling and he puts a lot of pressure on the rim,’’ Kentucky center Reid Travis said. “
Williamson, the 6-8, 280-pound man child with Charles Barkley freight train skills, looked like a human highlight film against Kentucky’s big bodies with thunderous dunks and 28 points on 11 for 13 shooting and seven rebounds. The versatile 6-8 Reddish, who played for Calipari on the US U19 team in 2017, added 22 points, 3 steals and 3 assists. In addition, point guard Tre Jones, whose older brother started on Duke’s 2015 national championship team, contributed six points and seven assists, with no turnovers, running the offense flawlessly.
That’s 89 points.
If that wasn’t enough, 6-8 junior center Marques Bolden finally became the player Duke fans have been waiting for, contributing seven points and 4 rebounds and giving the Devils a true low post center.
Duke won every facet of the game, beating Kentucky for the eighth time in 10 meetings. They led 59-42 at half, then poured it on.
Freshman forward Keldon Johnson led Kentucky with 23 points while 6-9 fifth-year senior Reid, a transfer from Stanford, had 22 points and nine rebounds.
But overall, this was an embarrassing performance for the Cats, who looked like they had a huge upside this summer during their exhibition tour of the Bahamas. Most Kentucky fans didn’t stay around for the bitter end, making the painful drive back to the Blue Grass long before the final buzzer.
Duke was all smiles as the Devils left the floor. “It was great,’’ Williamson said. “I love playing basketball, playing with my brothers, playing for Coach K.’’
