College basketball season is officially underway once again, and right off the bat just a few days into the season, the defending champs, the Duke Blue Devils and the team always perceived to have the most talent in America, the Kentucky Wildcats will square off in Chicago in a clash of Top 5 teams.
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HOW THE KENTUCKY WILDCATS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Kentucky has never had a problem finding talent under John Calipari, though year in and year out, that talent seems to be unrecognized due to the fact that it talent which is just incredibly raw. This year, at least Calipari has a couple veterans to rely upon for big minutes.
Tyler Ulis is the unquestioned leader of this team, and he's going to have to be an effective point guard and play huge minutes to lead the Wildcats to victory.
We've got a real question about the offensive game inside for UK. Skal Labissiere is considered to be the next great defensive big man in Lexington, following the likes of Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns. However, as an offensive player, he's unpolished.
These Wildcats are going to have to win this game on the defensive end of the floor. It's really tough to slow down the Dookies, but Ulis has to be smart with the basketball and not try to get into too much of a race, knowing that Kentucky's best asset is going to be the three-point shot this year with he and frosh Jamal Murray lighting it up from range.
HOW THE DUKE BLUE DEVILS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Duke lost three first round picks to the NBA, and it just doesn't have a post-scorer either. It's a problem very similar to what Kentucky has, and it's going to force the Blue Devils to ugly some games up, something they aren't used to doing at this level.
The good news for the Blue Devils is that they can play this defensive-minded game with Matt Jones coming back as one of the best defenders in college basketball.
Brandon Ingram is one of the many talented newcomers who could be asked to play some center even though he projects more as a swing power forward with some outside range at the next level. He and Grayson Allen, the hero of last year's championship game against Wisconsin, will very likely end up doing a lot of dribble-driving and penetrating late in shot clocks as well.
It's a tough task to win one-on-one battles with the Wildcats going to the hoop, particularly with Labissiere manning the middle of the lane, but Duke is going to have to get a lot of baskets that way if it wants to cover this game.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
We're going to get a better idea of who these teams are on Friday and Saturday, as they're both playing against weak opponents on both days before getting ready for this duel in Chicago. That said, we've got a pretty good idea that this game is going to be played in the 60s at best, and maybe even in the 50s.
In the end, we think that Kentucky is just going to be able to do a little more defensively in this game than Duke will. We true Ullis in a guard game to make the right decisions with the ball offensively, and that should be enough to guide the Wildcats to an opening win to kick off the NCAAB 2015-16 season.
Kentucky 62, Duke 57
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