Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - ANALYZING THE CHAMPIONS CLASSIC: Can Kansas Beat Duke without Peterson + Michigan State vs Kentucky

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Champions Classic faces a shakeup as Kansas’ Darryn Peterson likely sits, dimming hopes for a headline showdown with Duke’s Cameron Boozer. Hosts Isaac Shade, Derek Johnson, Lance Dawe, Matt Sheehan, and J.J. Jackson convene for a dynamic roundtable, unpacking injury storylines, rivalry stats, and which blue blood is poised for an early-season statement at Madison Square Garden.The panel debates how Kentucky adapts without Jaland Lowe and how Michigan State handles their shooting slump, as well as key matchups to watch—like Boozer’s impact, Kansas’ depth, and Kentucky’s battle on the glass. Rapid-fire trivia, bold game predictions, and memorable Champions Classic moments keep the energy high. Can Mark Pope's Wildcats withstand Tom Izzo and Michigan State’s physicality? Will Duke’s length be too much for a shorthanded Kansas to fuel Jon Scheyer over Bill Self? Don’t miss this spirited breakdown of college basketball’s premier November showcase.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The likelihood of no Darren Peterson tonight for Kansas puts a bit of a damper on the champions classic, but it's going to be electric. You are locked on college basketball. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey there, happy Tuesday, what's up? Welcome into the Locked on college basketball podcast, the only daily national college basketball. Hoop Show out there. I'm your host, Isaac Shade. You're joining me at the place to get your college basketball content every single day. It's all part of the locked on podcast network. Now, by the way,

the number one sports podcast network in the entire galaxy, the entire Milky Way, we're here for it. Thanks for making us your first listen or watch of the day. Special shout out to all the everydayers who are here with us and all the members of the Locktown College basketball discord community as well. This episode is brought to you by Fandul right now. new customers can bet just $5, and if that bet wins, you're going to get $300 in bonus bets to use all across the app, download it and get started today. Oh, baby, we are in for a treat today, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have a Champions Classic Roundtable joined by the hosts of all four participant schools.

And I've even got them divided up on screen on YouTube if you're watching by breakdown of game. So up in the top left corner on YouTube is Mr. Lance Dodd, the great host of Locked on Kentucky beneath him. Only on the show, not necessarily in the game this evening. I'm making no statements there. Mr. Matt

She and the great host of Locked on Michigan State go Sparty. Up in the top right corner, Derek Johnson from Locked on Jayhawks and down in the bottom right, Mr. JJ Jackson from Locked on BD, Locked on Blue Devils. Everybody's rocking their sponsored hats because we are

dudes. Here's where we're headed today. We're going to start with some big picture conversations about this event, the history. I didn't tell these guys, but I got a trivia question for them. And then we're going to go game by game in segments two and three. We're just going to take them in chronological order. So we're going to start with the Michigan State Kentucky game and then we'll wrap it all up with, I almost said Kentucky again, with Kansas and Duke on the back end. Fellas, great to have you all. We got to start with Derek Johnson. Because the big speculation, while I know we've got some injury stuff with Jalen Lowe and Kentucky, everybody wants to see a guy that's going to be a top three pick in the draft,

Darren Peterson. But Derek Johnson, if we're to believe Bill Self, which you don't typically lie, it sounds like we're not going to see Darren Peterson. My question to you, what is the percent chance that we're going to get a Peterson boozer matchup tonight? It's not high in my opinion, five percent, which is unfortunate, right? I mean, there were certainly some dampening comments. from Bill Self after the Princeton game. It just feels like the more this has become a thing, like it just feels like it's getting worse and worse and worse. And I just, I don't know,

they just posted some like social media clips, did KU over the last like 24 hours of like the team, you know, getting on the plane and those sort of fun things. No pictures, no videos of Darren Peterson among all the things that they posted. Now, the 5% that I have out there, is there any chance this is just some, some hilarious ploy to,

make Duke not prepare for Darren Peterson. That's right. I guarantee you, John Shire is not going to get fooled by any bit of that, right? J.J. Whatever's going to happen. Yeah, he's going to be, I mean, I'm right there with Derek, though. My favorite thing to do is to airplane monitor, like, who's getting on the flights, who are they spotlighting as these college players are heading and traveling to the game.

So, you know, I want all the shoot-around content going in the game day that we can have here for this one. And so, yeah, but it would be an absolute bummer if we don't get Darren Peterson and Cameron Boozer going head to head. Absolutely. And Derek, just to make sure everyone knows, there had been the cramping stuff earlier, but this specifically is a hammy. Is that correct?

Yeah. So they're actually saying now that the cramping was related to the hammy. And then it kind of flared up in the Carolina game. Obviously, it didn't impact, you know, that game was out of reach at that point anyway. And this is kind of something where they're viewing it is, you know, they want the long term. And Darren Peterson actually has like a YouTube page. and he releases just an episode the other day. And he said, everybody's kind of reading into this probably too much.

But he's like, our goal's still there. We still want to win a conference championship and a national championship. And now everybody's taking that as, oh, he's not going to come back to a conference play, which that might be a little bit extreme. But it certainly feels like there's a lot of tinfoil hats going around right now with the magnitude of, you know, Darren Peterson being hurt. All right. So tonight, the 15th edition of this event, I can't believe it's been a decade and a half.

It's going to be an MSG the fifth time. It's been in the most greatest arena in the entire world. Number 17, Michigan State, number 12, Kentucky, 6.30 Eastern to tip it off. Kentucky favorite as we record this on Monday evening by five and a half. Then the night cap number five, Duke, number 24, Kansas, nine Eastern. That'll be Duke favored. It started the first I saw with seven and a half. As we record, it's currently 10 and a half at Fandul.

You guys, I mentioned it. I got a trivia question. for you we're talking records in this event which of your quartet of schools do you think has the best record i don't want you all to answer at once i want you all to think of your answer and then we're going to go around and get everybody's answer who has the best record they've all played all 14 years in it lance da i want to start with you who has the best record in your guess so just to be clear it's not total number of wins it's just best record overall yes okay well i'm pretty sure Kentucky's won at 10 times.

Is that, I might be wrong on that. I'm not going to tell you the answer yet because everybody's going to guess. You know, this might be arrogant to say out of the gate. I'll just say Kentucky. I'll just say the cats, even though I don't feel great about it. Okay, I love it. Sheehan, let's go to you. Who do you think is the most wins?

That guy right there, the other strapping gentleman in the white hat right now, JJ's Duke, Blue Devils. Is my guess, I say that with about 65% confidence. Okay, JJ. I love it. J.J., what do you think? Isaac like Lance I am all for arrogance and I do think that it's the team out of Durham I would guess Duke to answer this one all right and DJ what about you what's your answer I don't know that this is a good guess with picking Kansas because the first few years they were in it they lost a lot like they lost to the Anthony Davis Kentucky team and stuff but actually lately they've been really good like they beat Duke and Madison Square Garden in 2016 lost to Duke though in 2020 they beat Michigan State the last couple of I'll do it I'll do can't Kansas. One of you is correct. And his name is Derek Johnson, the Kansas Jayhawks,

nine and five in this event. Well done. Yeah. I think the majority of was lost the first couple of years, right? Yes, exactly. And I'm not going to tell you guys the rest yet because we're going to go to the other bookend, which of these four teams, you already can cancel one of them out? Which of these four teams has the fewest wins in this event? Let's go in reverse order this time. Derek, you're up first. I mean, I feel like, I've seen Michigan State win so many of these upset games. Like I saw Denzel Valentine rip my heart out against Kansas in, what, 2015 and they're upstakes.

I almost feel like that has to be the pick, though. But I, is it, there's no way it's Kentucky, right? Is it Kentucky? I'm not going to tell you to tell everybody's going to go with Wildcats. I'm going to go surprise pick, Wildcats. Okay, lock it in. Kentucky, JJ. I just, I know it's not Duke.

And that's what matters here to me. I will, like when you're running away from the bear, you don't have to be. the fastest, you just can't be last. I'm going to go back to my fellow white hat gentleman and the Michigan State Spartans. All right. So JJ's logging Sparty. Matt, what do you think?

I hear silly me. I thought that hopping on a college basketball show, I'd be able to actually like smile and have a good time. Chop it up. We've left football in the rearview mirror. Let's talk round ball, baby. It's going to be good. But I think the answer is unfortunately Michigan State. I'm almost positive on it, actually.

All right, Lance, what about you? Yeah, I was about it. The more I think about Kentucky, no, they don't have double-digit wins in this. There's no way they've gone 10-4. I didn't realize it was just 14 match-ups. It's either Kentucky or Sparty. I'm going to say Sparty, but I don't think it's like a wide margin. Actually, the more I think about it, because Kentucky, like, prior to last year's win over Duke, I believe those, you know, this champion's classic. They had won since, like, 2019, right?

I'm trying to think. Yeah, so it's either Kentucky or Sparty, I'll say Sparty. It is Sparty. Michigan State has won five of their 14 matchups, five or nine. Kentucky next worst at six and eight. Duke, yeah, tested eight and six and then Kansas nine and five. Good job, fellas. That's fun.

Thanks for indulging me. I love a good trivia moment. So you guys. Same. That was fun. I had a great time. Okay. I want a round table this question for you.

And I want everyone's answer on it. You don't have to get long-winded, but like for each of your teams, You've each played one high major, all of them except Duke has played a ranked opponent. But let's be honest, Duke played Texas, who's very close to that cusp. So I want to know from each of you, what are you expecting to learn about your team tonight, win, lose, whatever it is. What do you hope to take away from this experience? Lance, let's go to you and we're just going to go counterclockwise, so she and you're up next.

I'll go with two things here real quick. First and foremost, how Kentucky handles physicality? That was the big question last year as to whether or not they could handle. the brutality of the SEC slate, and turns out defensively, they really struggled against some of the more physical teams in the league. And so far, it looks like the defense is much to improve, but this Michigan State team and Matt could probably talk a little bit about this more at length, but this is a very physical, really strong, tall, Sparty team that I think will give Kentucky some problems

absolutely. So can you be more physical? And then also just what does the show look like without Jalen Lowe against a quality opponent. It's going to be the first time we've seen that this season. Obviously, the game against Purdue didn't count in the exhibition. We're going to get to see some actual data that for Mark Pope to collect, as he likes to say. How will Aberdeen, Jasper, the collection of guards, Kentucky has? How will they handle this party team? That is the other question I have. I'm looking to learn both those things. All right. Matt Sheehan, what about you? J.J. You're on deck. DJ. You're in the

We need clarity on life after Jace Richardson. And that was the freshman phenom that really came Milan very strong at the end of last season. That was our guy. Hey, late in the game, we need a bucket. Start the Jace. He's going to be our three level score. He's going to do all things. He's going to make three point shots. And Michigan State off to a fine start this season. Three and O, they're rebounding

really well. Their defense. Just like you said, Lance, it's very physical. We assist the ball. We're so good at sharing here in East Lansing. But my God, us five collectively can shoot the three point ball better than Michigan State can this year so far. Like, it's not ideal.

We need a three-point shooter ever since Jace has left. And also, hey, that was a really fun win that you had against Arkansas. Your last field of the game came with six minutes and five seconds left. You can't just be praying for the bell every single night. I know it sounds cliche. It sounds lazy, but like you need to establish a who's going to get you that bucket guy late in the game. And not to say, I want to see a close game here. I would love to see Michigan State win by 50 every game.

But like this would be a really good opportunity to get some answers. here and what has been a house of horrors for Michigan State. I hate, hate, hate Madison Square Garden. I have no good memories of watching my team play here. So life after chase. I've been scared of it ever since Godzilla laid all those eggs in it in the, in that one with the Jimmy Page. I'll do it too.

Yeah. So there's that. JJ, what are you going to learn about the Blue Devils tonight? Well, I mean, Madison Square Garden is also known as Cameron North. So I'm hoping that we learn really nice things about this Duke basketball team. last season's team that goes 35 and 4 goes all the way to the final four guys only played in one possession games when they ended up losing every game outside of that with Cooper Flagg and the entire starting five being drafted Duke was winning decidedly I am so curious this year's version of the Blue Devils how do they handle these late game situations these close games that play out it was last year's champions classic matchup with Kentucky where we saw Cooper Flagg miss some shots down the stretch. And so, yeah, those big games, those big moments,

how does this version of John Shire and Duke handle those tight games? I love it. Derek, what about for you? I just want to know about this supporting cast. That is the one kind of, I don't know, optimistic view. If you don't have Darren Peterson, is the idea that we don't really know how good this supporting cast is. And so in a certain sense, there's a little less pressure on you to actually win the game without Peterson.

That doesn't mean, you know, you still don't. want to but there's a world where if duke wins this game by five points or six points or four whatever it's a one possession game it's close to the end and you don't have peterson that kansas fans can actually walk away from this being like i actually was kind of impressed with the other guys and once they get peterson back maybe we got something here man can be very interesting to see all right it's time to get ready for these games we're going to start with the first game of the night we got Sparty. We got Big Blue Nation. How's it going to play out? We're going to talk with Lance and Matt about that, but Derek and JJ aren't going anywhere. They're going to help me rile these

guys up and see if we can get them arguing back and forth. Oh, coming up in just a second. Right after I'll tell you about Fandle, you guys, the NBA is back and there's no better place to get in on the action than Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game, or maybe you want to ride the hot hand, Fandul has live bets on everything. from who's going to score next to who's going to make that fourth quarter comeback, which is part of every NBA basketball game, if we're being honest. Plus, you can even combine all those live bets into a same game parley for a shot at an even bigger payout.

All of this keeps every game exciting because you got something extra riding on the game and you want to see it come to fruition. We said it earlier, but Kentucky right now, favored by five and a half over Michigan State, Duke by 10 and a half over Kansas as the Darren Peterson speculation, continues to rise. Right now, Fanduel is giving new customers just like you, $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head on over to Fanduil.com to sign up and play your game only with Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Thanks so much for making Locked on College basketball, your first listen of the day,

along with Locked on Kentucky, Locked on Spartans, Locked on Blue Devils, Locked on Jayhawks, all these great shows. Make sure to go check them out in advance of tonight. night's gaming throughout the season. And oh, by the way, thank you also for making locked on the number one sports podcast network. There is. All right. We said it earlier. Michigan State, Kentucky, tipping things off tonight, 630 Eastern. Kentucky right now favored by five and a half. I want to ask these guys biggest storyline to watch for as far as they're concerned. Let's start with Matt, because we started with Lance on the, on the earlier segment. She and for you and Sparty, what specifically do you think is the biggest thing that we need to pay attention to?

in this game. Yeah, I hate to keep hammering this home, but okay, so something that's been a negative for Michigan State has been the shooting, like I just said. They're shooting at 21% so far. And that's also matched with the 67% free throw shooting. And I wouldn't keep talking about it over and over again if our head coach wasn't doing the same exact thing. I mean, it has been just horrible shakes. After the San Jose State game, which they won was no problem. He said, we're getting in the gym at 7.30 in the morning. He harkened back to a story for former Spartan Bryn Forbes. He shot so many free throws out of practice, they had to bandage his fingertips because he was getting blisters. And Tom is, it was not smiling. He was not doing a bit when he was saying

that story. Like, he genuinely wants to see that with his team. So I don't know how many bandages are going to be left on the floor massive square garden, but these boys better come ready to shoot some free throws. And don't threaten me with a good time. Also make a three point shot, but on a positive rebounding. I mean, that's been the calling card last year. It's a calling card against Arkansas. It's going to have to be the calling card again. So those are the two storylines for Spartyland over here. I love that. Lance, what about the other side of it for you? You obviously mentioned Jalen Lowe earlier.

Still no Jaden Quaintens amongst whatever you're going to say. I'd love to hear your thought about how Kentucky is going to finish defensive possessions by keeping Sparty off the offensive glass. Yeah, again, I do think, like you mentioned, the biggest storyline here is whether or not Kentucky can play consistently on offense without their true offensive engine. Best ball handler on the floor might not be the best shooter, but definitely the guy that kind of runs everything in Jalen Lowe. Avernine has played well whenever he's been asked to step up.

He did so at Florida last year. And just about every single time they asked him to perform whenever he had to start, whenever he had to come off the bench, whenever Clayton or Martin were injured or not being consistent, he was the guy that kind of stepped up. Can he do it again after playing really well at Louisville? I'm not quite sure. Again, really physical Sparty team that I think is going to bog Kentucky down on offense.

It's just the question of whether or not you can maintain some of that flow, some of that consistency without your one. one true lead guard and also like you mentioned, trying to, you know, hold Michigan State here on the glass, trying to protect the rim. Kentucky last year was one of the worst defenses in the country in when it came to two point field goal percentage right now sitting at number 24 in the nation, less than 42%. They're also top 10 on offensive rebound percentage on defense. So definitely improved in those two areas. And I think again, I should say that is kind of probably where this game is going to be won and lost, whether or not Michigan State can impose their will or

if Kentucky really has improved in those two metrics enough to make this a difficult game for Tom Izzo and the Spartans. I also will note Matt mentioned this about how they're just kind of doing the same thing over and over and over. It was the first thing I put in my notes whenever I'm going to do my preview episode of this game. It's the fact that this feels this Michigan State team has a very throwback feel to it just with the way that they played that Arkansas matchup. You're getting to the rim. The spacing's a little wonky. The sets are incredible because Zizzo's been really good at that for quite some time, but you can't hit threes. And you also give up maybe some stuff in transition.

I will say, actually, the most interesting stat that I've found about Michigan State is the fact that they play with a pretty slow pace. It's like bottom third in the country, according to Kim Palm. But they also right now, if I'm not mistaken, are tied 38th in the country with a team like Alabama in fast break points per game. They're averaging almost 20 a night. So I do find this party team really interesting. we are a fascinating bunch i mean because you know i just had this conversation with john neighbors of locked on razorbacks he said it doesn't seem like you guys are a built for a comeback team

it's like yeah like on paper of course now we can't shoot threes but i mean no like transition the defense the rebounding oddly enough it's a an orthodox way but we still do get it done against all odds here so it is straight tom isobal from like the early 2000s blood on the court teeth everywhere so it's uh it's a good little blast of the past year we've been enjoying. I want to ask you both fellas. We'll start with Matt again. Tell me who you think, two things here. The most important player for your team, specifically for this game, not necessarily season long, the most important player for Michigan State against Kentucky and vice versa. And fill in the blank, Michigan State wins if. And Lance for you, Kentucky wins if. She and you go first. I've changed my mind on the most important player like 27 times in the last four hours. I'm going to net out on Jackson Kohler here. One of the best, if not the best rebounder in the Big Ten last year, if you just want to go off percentages. I mean, this guy was dynamite on the glass

against San Jose State, which yes, I understand there might be a little bit of a talent gap between San Jose State and Kentucky, but still, he almost grabbed as many rebounds as the entire San Jose State team last week. And this is what you're also going to need from him. Stretch the floor a little bit. He's kind of this three-point threat showed a little bit last year. Kind of a tough-ish start to the season in that regard, but he's got to finish better at the rim than he has been so far this year. But also, if you can stretch this out to 15, or dare I say even beyond the arc? Oh, God, like, don't threat me with a good time.

And Michigan State wins this game. Yeah, if they rebound. I mean, that was the name of the game was Arkansas. I see a lot of similarities with how these rosters are built between Kentucky and Arkansas as far as the length goes. So it was physically imposing Michigan State. they were able to generate so many offensive boards that that was the reason they got to that win so that's what i'm going with here isa it's wild to think that arkansas kentucky are somehow built the same i don't that's weird i think it's the only way that they even share

similarity i think that has to be it's just there has there's nothing else there lance dog most important player for the wildcats in this game specifically and kentucky wins if yeah i i actually have been pretty dead set on on the player that i we need to perform really well in this game, and that's Otega Oway, off to what I think is a pitiful start to the season, coughed up the ball five times against Louisville, a couple of times in some really crucial spots. Oway, with his physicality, with his slashing, with his ability to finish at the rim, he's got to be able to go in there and say, okay, Sparty, you're really good at all these really tough guy things, throwback type ball. Well, we're going to try and inflict that a little bit

with what was our best player from a season ago. He's got to be able to step it up and play with a little bit of an edge like he did a year ago. I'm not too big. into reading into Bonnie language and how that maybe could affect a game while it's happening. Whatever's going on with Otega, though, I think it is interesting to monitor. He just doesn't seem like he's all that energetic compared to last season. So he's got to be there mentally. He's got to be there physically. And he's got to be able to go out there and get some clutch buckets for this squad.

And I'll say Kentucky wins the game. If I really like the take on rebounding, I'll say something different just for the sake of it. I think Kentucky's got to take care of the basketball and try and inflicts some turnovers on Sparty as well. Michigan State, bottom third in the country and turnover rate so far. You got to see that Arkansas game. Get your hand in there on some drives. You could swat some balls away, get out in transition, leads to easy buckets.

Also, I think that Kentucky really bad job of taking care of the ball against Louisville. That might have been what lost in the game, basically, against the Cardinals. If you can take care of the ball yourself and maybe get some points back on the other end, at maybe where you find yourself separating, the cat separating themselves and what I think is going to be really close game. All right, going to be a fun one to start tonight. Let's get predictions from everybody here. J.J. Jackson, let's start with you, my friend. This game is Kentucky by five and a half.

Yeah, I'm going to go with the opposite direction. And I'm favoring a Sparty party in Madison Square Garden. I just think, yeah, I think the injuries that we've talked about from Jalen Lowe and Jaden Quaitence on the Kentucky side of things. And I was just convinced. I thought Sheehan did a remarkable job, pretending the case. I was kind of on the fence here. but yeah, I'm going to lean at Michigan State. The fact that the numbers haven't been in their favor all time in the Champions

Classic, this could be the year that starts to turn around for Michigan State. I like this JJ guy. Wow, I like the great to meet you. That like closing arguments and you and Derek are the jury. We're doing that in the next segment when we flip this way to go. Derek Johnson, what about you? See, now I don't feel great about this. I'm taking Michigan State as well.

This is not good actually. Hold on. Part of it is from a betting perspective. So you can get Michigan. Michigan State on Fanduel at over two to one odds. I just think the value is there. Like if you're giving me even odds, sure, maybe I'm taking Kentucky,

but given the two to one aspect with the Kentucky injuries, I go back to that Mark Pope press conference he just had where he just seemed like he was lost in what to do as this early part of the season. You're facing a team now who wants to come in and smack you in the mouth. So I'm going to actually take the Spartans upset as well. Okay. And straight up, you're saying not just against the spread, Derek?

Straight out. I will go ahead. since y'all have both said it i was on bet m gm send it in earlier on monday and i went sparty straight up just like you guys did this is this is crazy now it's getting it's getting too real this is bonkers and here's the other problem fellas big blue nation's about to come for our heads and it's going to be bad matt she and what say you on this prediction like it was like jj it's fun when like one guy does it but like okay well if i'm about to be the fourth person because Lockdown Spartans listeners know this.

I don't do this all the time with Michigan State games. Like, no one in Spartyland picks against the Spartans more than I do. Oh, my God. I think this will be like a drag him out to the swamp. And let's see that who's going to come out in this grimy, sludgy game here. I think it's going to be Michigan. Gainesville? Did you just say this game?

Oh, man, from one great football town to another. He stands in the Gainesville. I think it's going to be a grimy game. I think Michigan State it's going to be like a race to 70 points sort of game. I think it's going to be Spartan, 72, Kentucky, 68, and I get unlocked on Spartans talking crazy on Tuesday night, talking Final Fours, National Championship. I will be delirious because I need a reason to be lately, guys.

All right, Lance, we are clearly all wacky and crazy. Please help us straight. Yeah, this is bad. Thank you. Yeah, I think my listeners would probably try and find where I'm at and kill me if I pick against Kentucky. So I'm going to pick Kentucky. I mean, I would have picked them regardless.

But look, if Kentucky fails to scores to Ebony in this game, I'm not going to do it, but somebody's probably going to burn Rupp down because this is a team that has without multiple starters, even in the back half of SEC play against some really good defenses, found a way to drop 80 without really thinking about it. And I think that's mostly to do with what Mark Pope is doing X's and O's wise. I think Derek made a good point.

I think it's something that you have to think about where is this team mentally, especially after their head coach is coming out in public, after 46 point wins and saying, yeah, I just, we just kind of suck at various things, man, like our guys that I wanted to be good, they're just not that good. So there needs to be some sort of response here. I can completely understand taking the, taking Michigan State here and saying, well, mentally they're not there physically. We question some of the things that they're doing without especially Jaden Quaintance in

this equation. So I think that Kentucky, though, is just simply too good across the board on offense. And something that we may be forgetting here is that, while Michigan State is really, really good at the rim, Kentucky calmly shooting just 66.2% from inside the yard through three games, and that was including some really good stuff against Louisville. And I think, again, if Kentucky's going to do this, they're going to have to beat Michigan State a little bit at their own game. I think they still have the personnel to do that without low in JQ. In fact, I would almost argue that Aberdeen is a better defensive ad here

against somebody like Fears or some of those big Michigan State wings. So I think that the personnel's there, the XS and O's are there. This is a really, really good Michigan State team that will make this ugly, but Kentucky gets over 75 here. I would be shocked if they didn't. And does Michigan State get past that as well? I think we're probably sitting somewhere around there, some like a 78, 74 type game. It's going to be close, but I do like where Kentucky's that person wise against this team. And here's something Lance was maybe a little bit too humble to say. That 66.2% from two is number one in the entirety of the nation. Has to be. Oh, it's 64 teams with the worst two point percentage because Kentucky is leading the charge. Now, we

talked about it earlier we don't expect to see daren peterson tonight that's going to be a big bummer how can as derrick johnson asked earlier can the rest of this cast step up to the challenge against duke can florrie bedunga be a dude or is patrick gangba derrick brown are they going to have their way against and we'll find all that out and more tonight coming up in just a second after getting the cfp reveal we just got to get football in the middle of basketball we'll finally move to the nightcap the number five duke blue devils i think i called it k's crew earlier today even though he's not the leader anymore you better believe crew starts with a k in that sense i think he's still behind the behind the shadows we don't know that we don't know that yeah playing number 24 kansas

rock chalk nine p m eastern unless the cfp revealed decides they want to talk forever duke as we said started as a seven a half point favorite that's now as we record at 10 and a half boys and that's going to be crazy we've moved on youtube j j j jackson and derrick Johnson up to the top row as they battle it out. The juries down below us, Lance Don, Matt Sheehan, they want to be convinced of why they should pick your team. We need the closing argument. Right now, I don't want to pick either of them.

I mean, can I just abstain? Can I do that? I like that, actually. Yeah, I'll do the same. Actually, I'll leave the show right now. I will just write you from this show, boys, and you will never be invited back. That's what will happen to you. You will be cast into the pits of despair.

Okay. So we're talking Duke. we're talking Kansas. JJ, I want to start with you. Biggest storyline to watch for from the Duke standpoint in this game. I mean, it's an easy answer so far this season, but I think you got to go in the Cameron Boozer direction, just some of the numbers that he's been putting up through four games so far are truly insane. And yes, this is after Cooper Flagg played for Duke for a season and went on to become the number one overall pick. Cooper Flagg last season led Duke

in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. And so far through four James. Cameron Boozer is doing the exact same thing. And it's really not even close. It's really not even close with what he's been able to do so far the season for Duke. So I'm curious to see if that level of dominance continues. This is a guy who in an exhibition against a ranked team in Tennessee. Yes, Isaac, I know Duke hasn't played the ranked team yet, but they did get an official win on the road. And he went off for 24 points and 23 rebounds. Right. So this guy is a walking highlight real. He dominates the game. And it's so fun to watch.

So I think that's the number one storyline that everyone will want to see with this Duke team. Oh, yeah, JJ, you're spot on. What I said was just a technicality. That win at Tennessee, I know it's an exhibition. That was stinking impressive. By the way, guys, here's another trivia for you. JJ mentioned last year, Cooper Flag, led Duke in all five of those categories. One other player in the nation in Division I did that.

Who was it? He's still in college, but at a different school. Oh, Lindenburg? Yaxel Lendibor. That was a better thing. Jackal. Well done. Now he's playing for Michigan.

Matt Sheehan's arch rival. Great stuff, Derek Johnson. Screw that guy. That's right. That's right. Yeah. I hope that's the only thing. Derek Johnson gets right.

You know, whatever, whatever said here about the game. Hang on. But I have a sneaking suspicion. He's going to pick Duke to win this game. I was going to say. You just changed yourself, Jay. I wanted to, you know, make it things interesting. That's what I was going for here.

The jury is intrigued. The jury is intrigued. Oh, man, it's been spicy. Derek, by virtue of getting the trivia question, right, you now get to answer the question. What in your mind, if there's, you know, we've talked to Aaron Peterson. Is there something else outside of that that to you is going to be the biggest storyline for the guys who are playing in this game? Yeah, it does sting. I mean, Peterson is still the one.

And it sinks because we don't get that Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, right? instead we kind of get I brought up the 2016 game in New York if you remember it was actually Duke it was the other side Jason Tatum did not go in that game for doing so it feels like a reverse but if you remember from that game Duke nearly won the game it took a Frank Mason game winning shout at the end to win by two and I almost think like again you don't want to ever go into a game especially when it's a couple of blue bloods and be like oh if we lose that's fine there's no moral victories for Kansas or Duke there's just not but there is a certain level of I think Kansas fans would be able to respect like if they had a two point loss to Duke. I think they would actually feel pretty good about where the team is at. And I think one of the big ways that would have to happen, it's the storyline for me of two big basketball for Kansas. This is a team that really only has three big men. They've got another wing who can play the four. They've got a couple of guys who can play there. But Bryson Tiller started for the first time against Princeton. And I would imagine that was kind of in lead up for this game to try to match Duke's size a little bit more. And I want

to see what Bryce and Tiller can do against Camboozer. That's obviously an advantage for Duke, but just how big of an advantage? How much can he close the gap for Kansas in this one? And then can both Tiller and Flory Budunga avoid foul trouble? Because if they get in foul trouble, I mean, you're on Paul Mbia, who is like a seven foot nine wingspan behind him, but he's a very raw player. And then outside of that, you don't have another big man on the roster. So I think that's going to be interesting to me. We saw Kansas struggle with North Carolina size. How improved is that about whatever two weeks later, a week and a half later, versus is that something that now that Tiller's starting to get in the swing of things a little more, Florey had his best game against

Princeton? Can the front line of Kansas kind of hold up? Because if you don't have Darren Peterson and your front line doesn't hold up too, that's a bad combo. And Derek, to your great point, North Carolina, sixth in the nation in terms of average height, Duke won better at fifth. So that that problem rears its ugly head again tonight for the Jayhawks. JJ, let's swing back to you. The player most important for Duke in this game is whom and the Blue Devils win if fill in the blank. I'm excited. I mean, there are so many different directions I can go here in terms of players that I'm excited to watch in this matchup for Duke with all of them playing under the lights for the first time this season in a big scenario like this. Isaiah Evans, Showtime Flam has the makings of a big game player.

It's been really fun to watch him go off and do those sort of things. Dame Saar and Nick Kamenya, I'm excited for the college basketball world to. get to know them a little bit more. And Caleb Foster certainly has had an up and down career so far he's been playing much better as of late for Duke. But I'm going to go with Cam's twin brother. I'm going to go with Cated Boozer. I like it. I mean, I love watching this dude play basketball. And it's almost unfair that his twin is Cam Boozer because he's overshadowed quite literally in size by his twin and camp. The ability for him to just push tempo and how quickly this guy, this guy, gets up the floor. It's one of the reasons

why Duke has scored so many points early in the season and he's getting after on the defensive end at 6, 4, 6.5. But Caden Boozer is the real deal and I think he's going to be incredibly important to what Duke wants to do throughout the course of the season. And then in terms of Duke winning this

game, I hate to put it so simply, but I think on the defensive end, if Duke continues to play with the effort and intensity that they've already displayed the season, Isaac you just mentioned, And last year, Duke was the tallest team in America. Shame on the Blue Devils for saying farewell to seven foot two. Come on, Mala Watch, to not be number one anymore and just fall down a couple of spots there in the top five.

Their length makes it so difficult for opposing teams to go up and score against them. And I think if they continue to do that, once again, they'll be fine in the game like this. JJ, when you said, I hate to put it simply, I really hoped you were going to say the way they win this game is if they score more points than Kansas. I was really hoping that's where you would go. We hear the lockdown podcast network give you the hardest-hitting analysis. That's right. Hashtag analysis. I'm here for it. Derek Johnson, same for you, my man. Most important Jayhawk tonight and Kansas wins if. Yeah. So, I mean, I brought up Tiller, but I think it's his running mate in the front court, too,

Flory Badunga. I mean, we might even see two big basketball where Florees at the four and Mbia is at the five. And Kansas isn't the tallest team. I mean, Florey's like 6 foot 8, Tiller is like 6 foot 9, 6 foot 10, but they have the wingspan. Tiller's got like a 7-2 wingspan, Florey's like a 7-2 wingspan, and B.S 7 foot 9. And so can that help you a little bit against Duke's overwhelming size? But when you look at Floree coming off a 25 and 10 game against Princeton, we saw a little bit of everything. We saw some of the offense.

We saw him moving off the dribble. We saw him attacking the basket from the three point line off the dribble. There was just a lot more to his game, but he's been really inconsistent this year. He struggled against North Carolina. He struggled in their exhibition game against a D2 school, but he was good in some of the other matchups. So it's been very up and down for kind of a young, raw player. There's no way Kansas can win this game without Flory going off.

And without Peterson, they don't have a lot of other logical scoring options on this team. It was kind of built to be a bunch of role players around Peterson, who the identity needs to be on the defense event. I do think the lower scoring this is, the better that is for Kansas. But I think Flore is going to have to score 20 or more points. So he's going to have to stay at a foul trial. well, that's going to be easier said than done. And he's going to have to have a big time game kind of all the way around.

I think there's no way Kansas can win this one because he's going to be somebody they're going to throw the ball to in the half court without Peterson a lot. And he's going to take a lot of shot of attempts. And I think beyond that for KU, beyond trying to find something there, I think the seniors need to, I don't know, outplay the freshmen, so to speak. Like you look at Melvin Council at the point card spot, who's a good defender, and he's fast himself against Kaden Bozer. You look at Trey White potentially on Domey Sarr with all the drama

there of the former potentially, you know, behind closed doors, Kansas commit, then going to Duke, like they need to win their matchups as the experienced players. And then I look at the defensive side of the ball. So far this season, Duke is shooting 76 and a half percent at the rim. They are also shooting 50 percent. They're 17 of 34 on corner threes. However, they are just two of nine in the mid range. They're just five of 25 in the floater range. They're 32 percent above the break from three. So if you take away, if you can at least limit, I know it's easier said than done, just from a standpoint of like all their size, but if you can take away the corner threes and at the rim

to a little bit less than they're used to, they're only shooting 29% in those other zones combined. If you can find a way to do that, if you can find a way to wall off those zones, maybe you can make it kind of a slug fest, maybe you can make it a defensive game, an ugly game, and pray that Duke doesn't go off from three,

and you can find your way to an upset or at least cover the spread. All right, we will look at that in just a second. No one is going to know the answer to this trivia, question, but does anyone know who has replaced Duke as the number one tallest team in the nation, according to Ken Palm? It's not a high major team, so you probably don't know it. I know the answer to this question already, because I've looked at it earlier, but I'll let everybody else take a shot at it. It's random. I have no idea. I'm very intrigued, but no idea. Okay, this, I don't know if this is helpful or not. The guy that was their coach last year left

is now at VCU, and they just played NC State very tough on Monday night. Great game there. Does that help anybody get it? No, my guess was St. Mary's, I was going to go with. They just got more international guys that are now eight feet tall instead of seven feet tall. So that's incorrect. Lance Dye, hit us with the answer. I believe it's Bryant.

It is the Bryant Bulldogs. Well done, sir. Very good. We played them last year. What the heck? Oh, my God. Oh, man, I feel like a fool now. Oh, so, Ryan.

I'm sad. God, very random. U.S. is number two, I think. Matt Sheehan does hate you. I'm sorry. You're going to have to call him and take that up. Which one do I hate?

Hold on. I'm losing track now. This is so much going on. Matt Sheean, I need your prediction for this game. You is the jury. You and Lance, were you convinced more by JJ or Derek? It's the worst answer to give because, yeah, I'm going to go with Duke winning the game. But I'm also going to give some love to Kansas because I do think it will be closer than this 10-point spread.

Give me the devils a smooth 80. and then Kansas 75 here. That's what I'm going to go with. I love it. Lance Daugh. Yeah, I don't want to answer this question. You want to just go ahead and talk about the North Carolina Kentucky game later on in December.

Isaac, you want to just go ahead and transition to that? No, I don't. I need to know who's going to win this one. Okay, fine. Well, I think this game without Peterson, I think it probably could get ugly. I really do like what Kansas has on defense just in terms of numbers-wise what they've been doing so far this season.

I think that's probably what keeps this game close. I will say that Duke ends up winning this game 82 75 somewhere around there i'll say close to where where matt is probably a five six seven gosh uh oh you're you're part of the youth wow i you thank you for representing uh k u commit taylin kinney thank you for yeah yeah of course yeah oh yeah he initiated that right yeah him and yeah uh yeah okay so both members of the jury are duke straight up but kansas to cover the spread. J.J. Jackson, where are you at? Definitely in the same boat as those guys. I like my guys. I like Duke to win this basketball game. I do think there have been

some offensive struggles, as Derek mentioned, a little bit ago with Duke so far. Some of the shooting hasn't been the best above the break, as he was pointing out, that sort of thing. I don't know that gets that high scoring. Just I'm given a lot of respect to the way John Shire's been coaching defense over the last couple of years. I can see more of a low scoring game for both of these teams, but Duke ultimately able to make more plays down the stretch. Derek Johnson, take us home. Yeah, yeah, I think that Texas game is just kind of a similar score that I'm looking at. It was what, 75, 60 there? I could see this being, you know, 74 to 62. I can see Kansas keeping it close to like the under 12 under 8 and then I could see Duke maybe

hitting a couple threes and Kansas doesn't have the firepower right now to kind of match that. So I think I actually would be taking Duke to cover in this one and to win the game. But I think the good news, and Lance will appreciate this. Somebody told me that the Tyrant Stokes was going to pick the school that lost by the most points in the Champions Classic. Well, can I change my pick now?

That's well played, Derek Johnson. I appreciate you. Hey, one last word. We've been going for a while. Big thanks to everyone who's with us, but it's a round table. We're having a blast. I ask these guys to think of like,

just a big moment that sticks in your mind from the first 14 years of this event. I've got one. I'll start just to give these guys a sense. second. Actually, I shouldn't start in case I'm going to steal somebody else's. I'd hate to do that. I came up with a couple just in case. J.J. Jackson, I know you're champing at the bit to get this going. And yes, it is champing for all you chompers out there. That's the correct phrase. J.J. Jackson, give me a memory. Well, I just, I want the world to remember that even a global

pandemic couldn't stop this event from taking place, that this event did play out in 2020. Duke hosted Michigan State, Michigan State came into Cameron Indoor and was able to knock off Duke in the Champions class. Kentucky and Kansas that year decided we don't want to play on someone's campus, we'll just meet halfway and they'll play in Indianapolis. But the fact that a pandemic couldn't even stop this, but in terms of a favorite memory that I've got in this one, Isaac, the very first game of the season, 2018, 2019, Duke versus Kentucky,

the very first game of Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett's career for Duke. Duke scored 118 points to open up the year. Wow, that was an all-star game that we watched play out that night. And I have very, very fond memories of that one. See, this is why I didn't go first, because that was mine. Literally, how about this, guys, in the 14-year history of this event, that is the only time a team has hit triple digits in the event. Crazy, crazy stuff. That was Zion's coming out party. As everyone, or maybe not everyone remembers, both RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish were ranked ahead of Zion Williamson in the recruiting rankings. And that was the coming help party where it was like, oh, there's your national player of the year.

And we all knew it that night and nothing ever fell off. Derek Johnson, what you got, my man? Yeah, I mean, certainly I know which one would not be the answer. It was the time against Duke where KU had like 30 turnovers and lost. And then ended up actually being like the best team in the country. But no, I think it is the 2016 edition against Duke. You get a back and fourth game. You get Frank Mason, who ends up winning national player of the year.

That kickstarted his national player of the year when he hits the game winner at the end on kind of the mid-range shot. That was certainly my favorite, but there's certainly been a lot of fun ones, to say the least. I think of DeWan Harris just kind of randomly going off in recent Grady Dick having a big game against Duke recently. But yeah, the 2016 one is certainly special. Sheehan, what about you, brother? Rolling back the clock, 2013, Kentucky, Michigan State, one, verse two. Michigan State pulled it out in the very end. And look, it was Gary Harris.

It was Keith Appling, Adrian Payne doing it for Michigan State. But I had to just go back to look at the box score just to remember who was really on that Kentucky team. And my God, what a squad for the cats. Julius Randall, Willie Colley, Stein, the Harrison Twins, James Yon lit it up in that game. Poitris, he was doing work off the bench. That was an electric game to be at. So, yes, I have biased. It was my senior year back in my hey day of school, went down with the is.

zone we were hanging on to the banners basically that's how high up they had us sitting at the united center but oh my goodness gracious that'll be a night to uh somehow against all odds with the amount of beer i drank that night a night i will never forget uh i remember it's very fondly still i love it lance lance lance what about you brother i would say i'll i'll give you a a memory from a from a game against all three of these opponents here for kentucky i'll say the year after that that she hans talking about we beat kansas i believe it was by 32 just an absolute beat down. That squad went 38.

That was the Billself Vodka game. He set the water and goes, I wish this was vodka. I think in 2019, when Maxie went off for 26 against Michigan State, hit that big three late. That's been circulating around Twitter as of late. And then honestly, my favorite memory, because it kind of coincided with me doing this show and having a heart attack nearly after the game on my live stream,

I would say that win against that talent of Duke squad last year where Cooper flag turns it over at the end. Kentucky finds away in the second half after being down so much. That was probably my favorite memory is that insane comeback. But yeah, a lot of good memories against these squads, unfortunately still losing record in this class. The other one that I wanted to say in addition to that Zion one was the one year that we got the teams ranked number one, two, three, and four in the nation. number four and the teams that were lower ranked beat the teams that were hiring number four Duke beat Kansas 68 66 number two Kentucky beat Michigan State as Lance just mentioned 69 to 62 this was in MSG and none of the four schools hit 70 points man I love it just great

great kind of old school basketball tough man just really really good stuff I love this event I'm so excited for it in Madison Square Garden the world's most famous arena I want to thank all four of you for joining us. I want to thank all of you fans out there of all, like college basketball and of these four schools. If you don't already, go check out Mr. J.J. Jackson on Locked on Blue Devils, Derek Johnson, unlocked on Jayhawks, Matt Sheehan unlocked on Spartans, and of course, Lance Daw on Locked on Kentucky. I don't know why Arizona got locked on Wildcats. I feel like that probably should have been Kentucky, but whatever. We'll talk about that another day. For all of you guys, I'm Isaac Shade.

Subscribe to the shows. Join the locked on college basketball discord. Thanks to all the everydayers who are here with us. As we always say on our show, apologies to the lawyer family. Cheers to the wild popes, shouts to the McBruins, and until tomorrow when Andy Patton is going to break these games down. Peace.