Phil Jackson once said: “Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We.” The Zen Master obviously knows what he’s talking about as he had to find a way to balance talent and team en route to 11 NBA titles as a head coach. As a new college basketball season gets underway, fans will see which top teams are playing for the name on the front of their jersey versus the name on the back. While the regular season actually began on Friday, the college basketball tip-off marathon is currently taking place and will culminate tonight with 2 huge match-ups taking place in Chicago with major national title contenders all clashing on one night to bring college hoops back to the forefront. As an avid college hoops fan, this date has been circled on my calendar for months and I can’t wait to be at the United Center tonight. The State Farm Champions Classic has become the premier showcase for the top teams in college basketball and is essentially an early-season version of the Final Four. Tonight, the doubleheader features 4 of the top 5 teams in the country and several of the nation’s top recruits. While the outcome of these games will likely have little impact on rankings come March, this could also be a preview for what fans will see in April.

In the first game, #1 Kentucky takes on #2 Michigan State. From the roster to coaching style, two of the top programs in the country couldn’t be less alike. Tom Izzo’s Spartan squad is experienced and has veterans who returned to school to finish the job they left behind in Indianapolis last March. He tends to steer clear of recruiting guys who use college as a launching pad for the NBA after just 1 year, preferring to go for players who will buy in, stay, and keep building the program. On the flip side, Big Blue Nation and John Calipari have a group of super freshman (8 total and 6 who were 5-star recruits) as he continues to coach and recruit on the basis of having the one-and-done players. While the season is just getting started, tonight will give us early indications on if they will be able to bring their individual talents together and work as a cohesive group, or if they will fall short to a team with slightly less talent, but more experience playing as a unit. Coach Cal has already done some damage control for this game when he came out last week and said that this match-up is not fair to his young team (ironic coming from a guy who has gotten in trouble for cheating at the past 2 schools he coached at). I would argue that fans don’t think it’s fair to college basketball that he’s thriving on the one-and-done’s versus letting us watch them mature and develop before leaving for the pros. On the flip-side, Izzo has built a program, one in which he will look to extend his streak of every player who stayed 4 years plays in a Final Four.  As for tonight…Calipari has a marketing tool to get kids who just need a place to play for a year, and Izzo is relishing the opportunity for his team to play in such a big early season game and get valuable experience that will be vital as the season goes on.

Game 2 features #4 Duke and #5 Kansas. You have 2 elite and tradition-rich basketball programs, 2 well-respected coaches, and the top 2 freshman in the country taking the court in this match-up. Coach K and his Blue Devils landed prized #2 overall recruit Jabari Parker (who has been dubbed “the next LeBron” and chose Duke over MSU and will likely hear some boos from the Spartan faithful) who will return to his hometown for the game tonight and is possibly the best pure scorer in the country. Bill Self and the Jayhawks landed top recruit Andrew Wiggins, who is a great defender in addition to his ability to score, but have a young team going into this season that is searching for an identity. It will be the size of Kansas taking on the shooting and perimeter skill of Duke. The Jayhawks have yet to win a Champions Classic game (now in its 3^rd year) and haven’t beaten Duke in over a decade – they will need to win the battles inside while also handling the pressure of both the game and their opponent. When it comes to pride, Self has said that they need to win this game. The Blue Devils will look to attack the net and focus on ball movement to create scoring opportunities. There is a lot of talent on the floor in this game and he outcome will likely be determined by who steps up beyond the top recruits. Both coaches respect the program that the other has built and know that this game will be good for measuring where the team is currently at and will use it to build from moving forward as both try to reach their potential.

As the hoops marathon and these big games wrap up tonight, there is no doubt that college basketball is back! This is just the start of many early season tournaments and showcases before conference play begins late this year. Get ready for Digger, Bilas and Dickie V to break it all down for you along the road to the Final Four. As each team works towards their goals of making it to “the promised land,” fans will find out which are able to swallow their pride, put in the work, and surrender the ME for WE to become great and leave Dallas in April as National Champions!