The Wildcats were averaging 101.5 points a game going into the Champions Classic. With 53 assists on 77 made field goals in wins over Wright State and Bucknell, Kentucky entered Duke game with more dimes than any team in men’s NCAA college hoops.

Kentucky women's basketball topped in-state rival Louisville on Saturday. But the win did far more than just snap a seven-game skid to the Cardinals.

The Champions Classic is often a good early-season indicator of which of the four college basketball blue bloods in attendance have a chance to be elite. The games can reset narratives — remember Zion Williamson’s explosion onto the scene in 2018 or Kentucky making Bill Self wish he could turn water to vodka in 2014?