Ad Disclosure
Friedlander: Why the ACC needs Duke to win its blue-blood battle against Kentucky
Published:
College basketball teams are playing games. But as everybody knows, the season doesn’t really start until after the Super Bowl.
Or at least until the first Duke-North Carolina game on Feb. 1.
So in the great scheme of things, Tuesday’s blue-blood battle between Duke and Kentucky at the Champions Classic in Atlanta is little more than an entertaining postscript to ESPN’s reveal of the second College Football Playoff rankings.
This isn’t the time to start worrying about tournament resumes, seeding implications or any other such nonsense.
There will be plenty of time for that later on.
And yet, simmering just below the surface are a number of subplots that make this an incredibly important game for both still-developing teams.
And at least one of their conferences.
For the 19th-ranked Wildcats, it’s an opportunity to show the nation what the post-Cal era might look like against a top-tier opponent.
Not only do they have a new coach, with 1996 national champion Mark Pope returning to his alma mater to clean up the mess left by John Calipari after his departure for Arkansas, but the roster has undergone an almost complete turnover with 10 new players.
So far, they’ve made a positive first impression in lopsided wins against Wright State and Bucknell, averaging 102 points and a nation’s-best 26.5 assists per game.
Jon Scheyer’s No. 6 Blue Devils are also off to a strong start.
They shellacked Arizona State by 56 points in an exhibition performance so impressive that had former Duke star and current Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley practically raising another banner to the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke followed with routine regular-season wins against overmatched Maine and Army. But like Kentucky, Tuesday’s game represents the first real test and a chance for its star-studded rookie class – top-ranked prospect Cooper Flagg in particular – to introduce themselves to the rest of the college basketball world.
It was in this event in 2018 that Zion Williams, RJ Barrett and another group of fantastic freshmen announced their presence with authority in a 118-84 blowout of the Wildcats. Whether Flagg or classmates Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach make the same kind of splash is inconsequential.
Zion Williamson did not disappoint in his Duke debut: 28 PTS (11-13 FG) & 7 REB in a 34 PT win over Kentucky!
(VIA @ESPN)
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) November 7, 2018
It’s the result that matters.
Not as much for the Blue Devils as the ACC.
As mentioned, games like this and upcoming tests against Arizona, Kansas and Auburn are little more than the first steps on a journey leading to March for teams like Duke. They are, however, vitally important for a conference fighting a perception problem that has led to fewer NCAA Tournament bids than any other power conference over the past few seasons.
While it’s true that championships are decided and legacies cemented in March, narratives become set early. And rarely do they change as the season goes on. No matter what happens on the court.
The ACC can’t afford for its teams to wait until the end to deliver, as they did in advancing 4 teams to the Sweet 16 and 3 to the Elite Eight a year ago. It needs them to stop throwing red meat to its army of haters by stumbling out of the gate in November and December.
And it desperately needs its brand-name programs to lead the way.
NC State going on a miracle Final Four run that evoked memories of Jimmy V and his Cardiac Pack was a nice, warm-and-fuzzy story. But fair or not, that did little or nothing to change the way the ACC is judged.
For the conference to be looked upon as more than just a nostalgic “30 For 30 episode,” it’s going to take Duke and North Carolina winning their high-profile early-season nonconference matchups and fellow blue-bloods Syracuse and Louisville returning to national prominence.
The Tar Heels gave it a good go at Kansas by rallying from a 20-point deficit to go ahead in the final few minutes. But there are no moral victories when you’re UNC. As encouraging as the comeback was, Friday’s 92-89 loss was nothing more than a missed opportunity.
Same with Louisville’s loss to Tennessee, which showed that while the Cardinals are clearly on their way back from the depths of the Kenny Payne debacle, they’re only in the first stages of their recovery.
Now it’s Duke’s turn.
While beating Kentucky would represent a positive first step on a young team’s journey toward March, the stakes are significantly higher for the ACC.
Tuesday’s result won’t necessarily be a referendum on the conference. But it will go a long way toward either changing or confirming a narrative that will follow it for the remainder of the season.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
