There are plenty of games that Kentucky has circled on their calendar, but there may not be a bigger circle than the one around Duke. There’s no time to prepare for the contest either; it’s the season’s third game. The game will be played at a neutral site in Atlanta, Georgia (State Farm Arena) on November 12 at 9 pm EST in the Champions Classic showcase. The big question is, after both teams have run through their exhibition games, does Kentucky look ready or poised to beat Duke?

Duke vs. Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)
Final Score: Duke 107-56

Kentucky vs. Kentucky Wesleyan
Final Score: Kentucky 123-52

Duke vs. Arizona State
Final Score: Duke 103-47

Kentucky vs. Minnesota State Mankato
Final Score: Kentucky 98-67

It’s hard to read too much into exhibition games because they are meant to be lopsided (most of the time) and to test things like team chemistry, lineups, rotations, situations, etc. Teams like Kansas that lose their exhibition game may raise the alarm, but they don’t have to worry until they see similar problems in the regular season.

However, both Kentucky and Duke took care of business in their exhibitions. Both teams took on a really weak first opponent and a harder second opponent. Duke whooping Arizona State is impressive. Bobby Hurley’s squad is the #71 team in the KenPom rankings. This means they aren’t expected to be good, but they are still a D-1 top 100 basketball program.

Duke and Kentucky are very different in the sense of who is featured and who are the program stars. It’s really a role reversal of sorts, with Duke featuring freshmen who project to be the stars and a lot of youth up and down the roster. Kentucky is the opposite. The freshman will log minutes, but it is a very experienced and veteran-heavy team.

In game one, Duke’s star was freshman Cooper Flagg, who scored 22 points, 6 assists, 2 rebounds, and 4 blocks. In game two, Kon Kneuppel, a different freshman, scored 19 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals.

For Kentucky, in game one, it was hard to pick who the MVP of the game was, and while he wasn’t the leading scorer (Jaxson Robinson was), it felt like it was Lamont Butler. In game two, a similar dilemma presented itself: a team that spread the scoring around with Jaxson Robinson as the star and leading scorer again. Robinson scored 19 in the first game and 24 in the second.

Here is where I am at so far. I don’t think it’s a matter of whether Kentucky can beat Duke. I think this team can do it, but I’m more concerned with whether they’re ready. The team chemistry for Kentucky is still developing, and you could see that at the start of the Minnesota State game. This only happens over game reps, and three games into the season may be fast.

It seems obvious that this team will be good, but I worry they may need to settle into the season like they had to in each game. If it hadn’t been for Oweh’s hot start, it could have been a really frustrating beginning in both exhibitions.

However, if they are going to beat Duke early in this season, it will be because of experience and depth. These are the two things that Kentucky has over Duke. The stars are veterans and know how to play college basketball at a high level. And not that Duke doesn’t have depth—they certainly do—but when you look at the box scores of the exhibitions, the spread for Kentucky is wild in comparison.

In game one, Duke had only three players reach double-digit scoring, and only one player had more than 5 assists. In a game that featured 107 points, this feels wild. On the other hand, Kentucky had EIGHT double-digit scorers in their first game, with two players eclipsing the 5-assist mark.

Game two for Duke was a bit better with their depth, as they had six players get double-digit points, but none had five assists or more. Kentucky featured four players with double-digit points and three players over five assists. Once again, though, I need to remind you it’s hard to get a lot of data from exhibitions that don’t open the whole playbook nor feature the lineups that will mostly be playing in games. Blowouts tend to bring in the whole bench, and it’s hard to read the stat sheets clearly.

We will know more after the first two games of the season for Kentucky and Duke. Kentucky starts with weaker opponents but stronger than their exhibitions in Wright State and Bucknell, while Duke starts with Maine and Army. The real test for both programs will be each other. That game will help determine the trajectory and growth of the season for both teams, no matter the outcome.