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CHICAGO, IL— The annual Champions Classic is always a surefire sign that the college hoops season is officially underway. With four historic programs, a few hall of fame-caliber coaches, and some great basketball, the Champions Classic always delivers a real celebratory sentiment to the college basketball season.

Coming into this season, there was a celebratory sentiment revolving around Duke. As always, Duke was a preseason favorite. There was talk of this being Jon Scheyer’s most talented roster since he took over the program, and many looked at the Blue Devils’ schedule wondering where more than one or two losses may pop up. 

Michigan State found the loss. The Spartans took down Duke 79-73 in Chicago, led by perennial All-American Jeremy Fears Jr. Fears (18 pts, 11 ast, 7 reb) sits at just about six feet tall, and his low center of gravity mixed with great pace led him to outrun the Duke defense on numerous occasions.

Michigan State got off to an 11-2 run, and it felt like they could not miss from three early on. Sparty’s defense was sensational, led by Jordan Scott, who played 31 minutes and blocked six (!) shots. The State bench went deep as well, with Jesse McCulloch (7 pts, 3 rebs) and Cam Ward (14 pts, 6 rebs) helping the cause outside the starting five. 

Duke essentially had nowhere to turn. John Blackwell, an SM Sports Preseason First Team All-American, scored 17 points on 6-16 shooting. Freshman phenom Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje scored 5 points and played 21 minutes, hitting just two shots. Duke’s bench was one of the most productive components of the night, with Drew Scharnowski (8 pts, 15 min) and Caleb Foster (9 pts, 24 min) doing all they can to provide a spark. 

The message was clear about Michigan State: defensively tough, first to the ball, and first to the finish line. Duke was second best all night, trailing for all 40 minutes of the game. It will take time for this Duke team to gel, but the seasoned Michigan State squad ensured it would not come to fruition last night. 

The second game of the night was somewhat of a dud, as Kansas thrashed Kentucky, 89-69. Kansas looked every bit the part of a national contender, a proverbial spit in the face of the 19th placed ranking in the SM 25 Hard (we’ll take our lumps). The starting five for Kansas was led by returner Tre White, who dropped 30 points on 11-16 shooting and four three pointers. White was joined by fellow veteran Trey Kaufman-Renn, who scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds in his big game Kansas debut. Freshman Tyran Stokes (23 pts, 8-19 FG, 4-8 3PT) looked every bit the part of a future #1 overall pick. 

What was Kentucky able to muster? Nine total bench points, four total three pointers, 16 total turnovers, and a disappointing big game performance. Milan Momcilovic was held to just 5 points and three triples taken, with Kansas’ game plan clearly designed to limit the production of America’s most efficient three point shooter. Zoom Diallo (24 pts, 10-15 FG) and Malachi Moreno (19 pts, 8-11 FG) were the lone bright spots for Kentucky, scoring 43 of the teams 69 points between the two of them. 

To add insult to injury, Mark Pope did not make any of Kentucky’s players available for postgame comments to the media. Time and time again, the term “hot seat season” has lightly been thrown around for Mark Pope this year. Whether you believe him to be in true danger or not, this game and its accompanying postgame were not a good omen. 

The two winners of the night, Michigan State and Kansas, had plenty of firepower and energy. Duke didn’t look unplayable, but they may need time to form their young core into the national powerhouse we all expect. Kentucky could not keep it close with the Jayhawks, and in a season where immense pressure lies on Mark Pope’s shoulders, this almost felt like a game they had to have. 

Until next year, at college basketball’s unofficial season kickoff. 

Sean Murawski is a writer for his own personal sports website, smsports.net. He publishes weekly columns and rankings on men’s college basketball, as well as coverage columns for the MLB.