Shot chart from Kentucky basketball’s gritty Champions Classic win over sixth-ranked Duke Duke had Kentucky on the ropes. The Cats refused to break. ‘They just kept coming at us.’ Kentucky delivers with its defense in the final seconds. Cats upset No. 6 Duke in Atlanta.

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?