Quick question: Just how good is Kentucky, anyway?The safe bet is very good. Very, very good. Like, national-title-contention good. And why not? John Calipari entered the 2016-17 season having wrangled together the nations No. 1 recruiting class, per ESPN RecruitingNation, in a year when No. 1 Harry Giles and No. 3 Jayson Tatum both chose to play at Duke.That was not easy to do, but done it was, and those dudes of the No. 1 class have hardly disappointed. Freshmen?DeAaron Fox, Malik Monk, Bam Adebayo?and Wenyen Gabriel are all on the floor more frequently than any Wildcats player except sophomore?Isaiah Briscoe. All but Gabriel -- who gets 20.4 minutes per game and is still the teams second-leading rebounder -- average double-figure points per game. Fox has been described (by his own coach, among others) as a left-handed?John Wall; Monk has more or less lived up to CoachCal.coms preseason appraisals; Adebayo has grabbed offensive rebounds, drawn fouls and dutifully protected the rim.The Wildcats enter the weekend ranked among the top 10 in offensive and defensive adjusted efficiency, per KenPom.com, something just two other teams can say. One of those teams is Kansas. The other is Kentuckys next opponent.And thats just a small portion of what makes No. 6 Kentucky vs. No. 7 North Carolina (5:45 p.m. ET, CBS) so fascinating. For months, this neutral-court matchup at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas -- not UCLAs cross-country visit, pfft -- was the one Wildcats fans had circled on their calendar (albeit in slightly less-bold ink than next weeks blood feud with Louisville). Now here we are, and those same fans are?wondering?-- unfairly --?whether Saturday is the moment Kentucky turns really good into a win over a really good team.Whats doubly exciting is that the Tar Heels are big, athletic and versatile, and they love to push the pace. Which is to say theyre coached by Roy Williams, and which, in a twist, matches up perfectly with this version of the Wildcats.Recent Kentucky teams, for all their success, have never willingly played at a Williams-level pace. Over seven seasons, Caliparis UK teams have averaged 67.1 (adjusted, per KenPom.com) possessions per game. This season, they average 75.9; their mean possession ends in 13.5 seconds, fourth-fastest in the country. Theyre flying with Fox-led fast breaks and rebound runouts and Briscoe open-court creativity. The results have been impressive -- even against UCLA, when UK scored 92 points in 83 possessions, only to find itself outdone by an even better, even faster offensive team.That is the question posed by Saturdays matchup in Las Vegas: Can Caliparis team, as athletic and talented and fast as it is, sustain this style? Are the Wildcats so good that it can work against a team such as UNC, which is designed from the ground up to do the exact same thing (and which is vastly more experienced than Kentucky)? Can the Wildcats do so while keeping the nations best offensive rebounding team off the boards? Are they good enough to do so? How good are they, anyway?Probably really good! But lets see how Saturday -- and, not for nothing, Wednesdays trip to the Yum! Center -- goes before we decide. Fair?Crossroads ClassicNo. 21 Notre Dame vs. No. 15 Purdue, Saturday, 2 p.m., ESPN2No. 18 Butler vs. No. 9 Indiana, Saturday, 5 p.m., BTNCollege basketballs recent vintage has yielded a bumper crop of nonconference events. Sometimes these events produce good basketball. Sometimes they have weird names. Sometimes they -- gasp -- even make money.Rarely, however, are these events so organically obvious that its a wonder they havent existed all along. The Crossroads Classic, which pairs Indianas four marquee college hoops programs, is the most notable exception.As easy as it is to overly romanticize the states love affair with basketball and to reduce a cultural touchstone to pat Jimmy Chitwood references, there are good reasons why you might. Frankly, there is no event in college basketball that manages to capture the culture of the state in which it is held quite like the Crossroads Classic. For one Saturday in December, fans of four different teams, from various corners of a basketball-obsessed geographic area, congregate in one arena -- in the same way they would for, say, the Indiana state high school basketball tournament, which fills the same number of seats in Bankers Life Fieldhouse every season as does the Crossroads Classic. Which is to say, all of them.Its an event so good that it feels as if its always been around. In fact, its only 6 years old. But however successful the idea of pairing Indiana, Butler, Notre Dame and Purdue in one doubleheader has been, its safe to say the basketball itself has probably never been better than it will be Saturday.All four teams are ranked in the top 25. Combined, they are 34-5 on the season. Indiana has toppled Kansas and North Carolina; Butler owns wins over Arizona and Cincinnati; Notre Dame and surprise star Bonzie Colson had Villanova on the ropes for 35 minutes last week; Purdue has the highest efficiency margin of all four.Indeed, no team has more on the line Saturday than the Boilermakers. A neutral-court matchup with Notre Dame -- or a neutral-court matchup at least until the Indiana fans show up -- is the first of Purdues remaining three nonconference games before Big Ten play and the only one with any redeeming résumé value. To date, Matt Painters team has looked generally excellent but failed to hold on against Villanova at home and lost a tight game to Louisville on the road. Analytically speaking, Purdue is obviously good. But above all else, the NCAA tournament selection committee cares about wins and losses, and this is the Boilermakers last chance to impress before conference play begins. (Oh, and by the way, Purdue has yet to win in the first five years of the Crossroads Classic. The Boilers would very much like for that to change.)Saturdays Indiana-focused basketball will be as good as it ever has been. Thats not really the point. In an era flush with nonconference doubleheaders, most of which contain almost zero thematic or cultural resonance, the on-court product at the Crossroads Classic could be garbage and still be pretty rad. Fortunately, the basketball will be good, too. Custom Fred Lynn Jersey . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No. Custom Angels T-shirts . But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach. http://www.customangelsjersey.com/ . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Cheap Custom Angels Jersey . "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. Custom Angels Jersey China . Newcastle dominated in the early stages but City weathered the storm and then raised its game in extra time. Negredo broke the deadlock from close range after a simple move in the 99th minute before Dzeko took the ball round goalkeeper Tim Krul to seal the victory in the 105th. NEW YORK -- Notre Dame had a good enough start that a tough second half didnt make a difference.Bonzie Colson had 22 points and 12 rebounds for his fifth career double-double and the Fighting Irish held off Colorado 89-83 on Monday night in the semifinals of the Legends Classic at Barclays Center.We got off to a great start, really flowing offensively, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. Second half Colorado really guarded us and we had to find different ways to play. We made free throws and it was kind of a grinding game. Im proud of how we held people but we have a lot of guys that have won big games and have big game pressure on them. I thought that experience helped us escape tonight.The Fighting Irish (4-0) will play Northwestern, which beat No. 22 Texas 77-58, for the title on Tuesday.The Buffaloes (3-1) trailed by 15 points at halftime and were able to get as close as four points twice in the final minute but Notre Dame went 14 for 14 from the free throw line over the final 1:33 to keep Colorado at bay in the first meeting between the schools.Matt Farrell had 20 points and V.J. Beacham and Steve Vasturia added 17 each for Notre Dame which went 27 for 29 from the free throw line. Colson, a 6-foot-5 junior, matched his career high with the 12 rebounds.I just wanted to stay composed and just stay focused, make sure I attacked the glass on both ends, Colson said. Coach emphasized before the game trying to get more rebounds and I think as a collective unit we did really well in that. Just stay composed and. we stayed in character.Xavier Johnson scored 23 points, Derrick White had 20 points and nine assists and George King added 17 points and 13 points for Colorado, which was able to rally in the second half by shooting 16 of 34 from the field (47.1 percent). The Buffaloes finished 18 of 19 from the free throw line.Theres a sense of urgency. We were down 15 points. The margin of error was very small, King said. So we had to pick it up defensively. That was our main focus going into the second half.Notre Dame came out firing and gave itself a comfortable 50-35 halftime lead.The Fighting Irish shot 54.5 percent (18 of 33) from the field, including making six of 12 3-point attempts in the first half. Colorado, meanwhile, struggled from the field in the first half shooting 37.1 percent (13 of 35) from the field and only 2 of 8 from 3-point range.I liked our guys fight to get back. You dig yourself a hole in the first half, against a good team its tough, Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. They made free throws down the stretch when theey had to.dddddddddddd I knew they were a good free throw shooting team. So its tough to come back on teams like that. We have to fight for 40 minutes, not for 20.Notre Dame couldnt keep up the shooting in the second half and the Buffaloes were able to make it close but the Fighting Irish sealed it at the free throw line.Weve been in those situations before. I never thought we were going to beat them by 20. Theyre too good a team, Brey said. Theyre an NCAA Tournament team and I think theyre going to be pretty darn good in the Pac 12. Youre not just going to put them away. I expected a run and Im glad that our guys were poised. We made some big free throws.BIG PICTURE:Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish will be looking for their first in-season tournament since winning the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in 2012. ... Former Notre Dame star Kelly Tripucka was honored during the game as a legend for the Fighting Irish. ... As of Nov. 18 Notre Dame was scheduled to face seven teams in the top 15 in the AP poll.Colorado: This was the Buffaloes first game away from home. ... Colorado was picked fifth in the Pac-12 preseason poll. ... The Buffaloes came in allowing 59.3 points per game.NICE PLACE:Notre Dame started its run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last season at Barclays Center. The Fighting Irish beat Michigan and Stephen F. Austin to advance to the regional. They will be back here in March for the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.I said the karma would still be here, Brey said. Were comfortable in this building. Id love to get one more tomorrow night and then to come back in March and try to get some. But theres no question, the familiarity and the memories. We were in the same locker room. Oh it was good stuff, all good stuff.BAD SHOTS:Its a lot easier to list the players who missed free throws rather than making them. Austin Torres missed the two free throws for Notre Dame and Johnson went 5 of 6 for the Buffaloes. Colson led all free throw shooters by going 9 for 9.ON THE MARK:Both teams almost hit their scoring average for the season. Notre Dame came in averaging 88 points per game and the Buffaloes were at 82. The defensive numbers took a hit, however. The Fighting Irish came in allowing 53.7 points and Colorado allowed 59.3.UP NEXT:Notre Dame: will play Northwestern in the championship game of the Legends Classic.Colorado: will play No. 22 Texas for third place in the Legends Classic. ' ' '