Michigan State’s Miles Bridges leaves game with sprained ankle
Michigan State sophomore Miles Bridges, the Big Ten
Michigan State sophomore Miles Bridges, the Big Ten
Approximately 75 NBA personnel are expected on Tuesday for the Champions Classic at Chicago’s United Center, a source close to the event told ZAGSBLOG.
Duke, No. 1 in the AP Preseason Poll, faces No. 2 Michigan State at 7 p.m. ET, followed by No. 4 Kansas vs. No. 5 Kentucky.
The event features five of the Top 11 projected picks on the 2018 ESPN Mock Draft — No. 3 Marvin Bagley III (Duke), No. 6 Miles Bridges (Michigan) State), No. 9 Jaren Jackson (Michigan State), No. 10 Wendell Carter Jr. (Duke) and No. 11 Trevon Duval (Duke).
Other projected first-round picks in the event include No. 17 Hamidou Diallo (Kentucky), No. 22 Nick Richards (Kentucky) and No. 24 Grayson Allen (Duke).
Projected second-rounders include No. 33 Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (Kansas) and No. 36 Devonte’ Graham (Kansas).
Because he hasn’t played in a national all-star game like the McDonald’s All-American Game or the Nike Hoop Summit, and because he hasn’t played for any USA Basketball national teams, Bagley III remains a relative unknown to a many NBA GMs and scouts.
Bagley is coming off a summer in which he averaged 25.8 points, a league-high 14.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game for the Nike Phamily in the EYBL, but no NBA scouts were able to watch him at last summers Peach Jam, where he was named to the All-Peach Jam First Team.
“He hasn’t played at anything an NBA scout has ever been at,” one NBA scout told ZAGSBLOG. “There’s just AAU and Drew League film floating around so I think everyone is waiting to see how real the hype is.”
By JACOB POLACHECK
For the second consecutive year, the Duke Blue Devils will open the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the AP Preseason Top-25 poll, with Michigan State, Arizona, Kansas, and Kentucky rounding out the rest of the top-five. Duke had 33 of 65 first-place votes.
“It is an honor to be picked No. 1 in your sport,” Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski told the Associated Press Wednesday. “At this time of the year, it truly is a prediction, so you haven’t earned No. 1 yet. More than likely, past teams that have played at Duke have put this team in a position where people might say, ‘How is that team going to do?’ or ‘They have a lot of talent’ and all of the sudden, you’re No. 1. Certainly, it’s an honor and we’ll look forward to trying to achieve and earn that ranking at some time during the season, hopefully at the end.”
Michigan State sophomore Miles Bridges, the Big Ten
Arizona and Michigan State rank 1-2 and
