Marvin Bagley’s first appearance in the national spotlight lasted all of 10 minutes. The top-ranked recruit in the country, who had reclassified three months earlier and then enrolled at Duke, was poked in the eye midway through the first half against No. 2 Michigan State in the Champions Classic at the United Center. Luckily for him the eye injury wasn’t serious. And lucky for college basketball fans, Bagley’s next opportunity to play in front of a national audience came less than two weeks later at the PK80 Phil Knight Classic in Portland, Ore.
And it was there that Bagley became a one-man wrecking crew over a four-day period and showed the country – and countless NBA executives watching on TV and in-person – why he’s perhaps the most intriguing player in the 2018 class.