CHICAGO – The Champions Classic at the United Center kicks off with No. 1 Duke facing No. 2 Michigan State, followed by No. 4 Kansas vs. No. 7 Kentucky.
The Blue Devils were the preseason No. 1 for the second straight season and ninth time overall, matching rival North Carolina for most all-time, and held that spot in the first regular-season poll.
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Duke is loaded, led by senior guard Grayson Allen and one of the nation’s best freshmen, Marvin Bagley III. The Blue Devils opened the season with a 97-88 victory over Elon and beat Utah Valley 99-69 to give coach Mike Krzyzewski his 1,000th victory with the program.
Bagley was superb in the two games, scoring 49 combined points with 20 rebounds.
It figures to get a whole lot tougher in the Windy City, where they’ll face what could be coach Tom Izzo’s most talented team.
Preseason All-American Miles Bridges is considered one of the front-runners to be national player of the year after deciding to return to Lansing and Izzo added a stellar recruiting class, led by 6-foot-11 forward Jaren Jackson. Michigan State opened the season with a 98-66 win over North Florida behind Bridges’ 20 points and 10 rebounds.
But Izzo’s teams have struggled against Coach K and the Blue Devils; Duke leads the series 10-1 since 1998.
“We’re going to try to keep playing them,” Izzo said. “We’re going to try to keep knocking on the door and sooner or later that door’s got to open.”
Here's what you need to know for Duke vs. MSU:
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
TV schedule: ESPN
Streaming: ESPN3, ESPN GO
Rankings: Duke is No. 1, MSU is No. 2
Follow live score updates below:
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Duke is No. 1 in 1st regular-season AP Top 25, MSU is No. 2
Duke is No. 1 in The Associated Press’ first regular-season poll of 2017-18.
The Blue Devils were No. 1 in the preseason poll and received 34 of 65 first-place votes from a national media panel in the AP Top 25 released Monday after winning their first two games.
No. 2 Michigan State received 13 first-place votes, No. 3 Arizona got 16 and No. 4 Kansas had 2. Duke had 33 first-place votes in the preseason poll.
Villanova moved up one spot to No. 5, with Wichita State, Kentucky, Florida, North Carolina and Southern California rounding out the top 10.
Duke was the preseason No. 1 for the second straight season and ninth time overall, matching North Carolina for the most of all time. The Blue Devils opened the season with convincing wins over Elon and Utah Valley, giving coach Mike Krzyzewski 1,000 victories with the program . He became the first Division I coach to reach 1,000 wins overall in 2015.
“It’s pretty awesome to be a part of two pretty historic moments for Coach,” said senior Grayson Allen, a freshman on that Duke team three years ago. “This one being in Cameron, felt a lot more love for Coach and I think this one was the coolest just because of the fan support and being at home.”
Arizona (2-0) lost two first-place votes despite opening its season with convincing wins over Northern Arizona and Maryland-Baltimore County.
Kansas (2-0) picked up a first-place vote after routing Tennessee State 92-56.
Kentucky (2-0) dropped out of the top 5 after trailing Utah Valley by 12 in a season-opening win and holding off Vermont 73-69 in a pair of home games.
“You cannot play Popcorn State and learn anything,” Wildcats coach John Calipari said. “You’ve got to play good teams. I didn’t realize how good (Vermont) was until I watched the tape. Then I was like: ‘Who scheduled this game? This is ridiculous.’ They just do an unbelievable job.”
Blue-blood doubleheader highlights Top 25 games this week
While there are no other games between ranked teams, a few Top 25 teams could have tough games against unranked teams.
On Wednesday, No. 20 Northwestern faces Creighton and senior guard Marcus Foster. The Wildcats, ranked in the AP preseason for the first time, will need to find a way to contain Foster, who was leading the nation in assists when he suffered a season-ending knee injury last January.
The same day, No. 22 Seton Hall should get a good test from Indiana and new coach Archie Miller.
The toughest game against an unranked opponent is Thursday, when No. 15 Xavier faces Wisconsin.
The Musketeers have one of the nation’s best guards in Trevon Bluiett, who scored 25 points in their season-opening rout of Morehead State. The Badgers are young, but are talented and opened the season with a pair of lopsided victories.