Still, the Wildcats are a short-betting favorite at DraftKings Kentucky to win the national championship. Still, they face stiff competition from the likes of Purdue, Houston, Arizona, UConn, and others who could improve enough to win a natty.
Please join me as I take a closer look at the DraftKings College Basketball National Championship leaderboard.
DraftKings 2023-2024 Regular Season Coach of the Year Odds
|
University |
Conference |
DraftKings NCAA Odds |
|---|---|---|
|
Purdue |
West Lafayette, Indiana |
+850 |
|
Houston |
Houston, Texas |
+1000 |
|
Arizona |
Tuscon, Arizona |
+1100 |
|
UConn |
Hartford, Connecticut |
+1200 |
|
Kentucky |
Lexington, Kentucky |
+1600 |
DraftKings College Basketball National Championship Odds
Here are some things to remember about betting on college basketball futures.
Always be sure and line shop for the best number available. We’re using DraftKings for the sake of this post, but there are several online sportsbooks in Kentucky, and not all have the same price. That’s why looking for the best price possible before making a wager behooves you.
Things change rapidly in college basketball. One injury can crush a program’s hopes, and the numbers on the college basketball futures change quickly. That means if you don’t like a number today, chances are you can get better odds somewhere down the road.
Kentucky Wildcats Holding Steady
The Kentucky Wildcats are off to a 2-1 start in SEC play and are the fifth favorite at DraftKings to win the university’s ninth national championship in Men’s basketball.
Head coach John Calipari’s charges had a six-game winning streak halted with an overtime away loss at Texas A&M. It was their first loss in the SEC. Still, Kentucky has a nice, two-game homestand with winnable games beginning Wednesday with Mississippi State and Saturday against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Frosh Reed Sheppard is the highest-ranked offensive player in the conference, and this group boasts a solid offense, but the defense still faces challenges. Kentucky is still learning to play together, is 4-2 against the KenPom top 100, and is currently projected to be a No. 3 seed by several bracket experts.
The Rest of the DraftKings Top 5
Purdue (+850) might be the betting favorite, but they are second in the Big Ten behind Wisconsin. They still project out as a No. 1 seed on virtually every NCAA bracket-based website in the world, but they have shown signs they might not be as unstoppable as some would think.
The Boilermakers are 6-2 against Quad 1 competition and undefeated over the Quad 2, 3, and 4 games. They are also 10-2 against the KenPom top 100, but four of their next six matchups are road games against top 100 KenPom competition, and we’ll learn much about Purdue over the next two weeks.
Houston has dropped two consecutive away games and is finding out Big 12 Conference teams don’t lay down for the Cougars like some other unnamed conferences. Iowa State and TCU are no slouches, but this amounts more to growing pains playing in a new conference than anything else.
The entire bracket universe projects Houston to land a No. 1 seed at the Big Dance. The Cougars have the best defense nationally, according to KenPom, but Kelvin Sampson’s charges will need to improve their shooting from nearly everywhere to win the natty.
UConn is another team projected by most experts to land a No. 1 seed at the tourney. They are tied with Seton Hall at the top of the Big East table, but their much-heralded defense took a significant hit with center Donovan Klingan out until the end of January.
Still, they are 4-2 against Quad 1 teams, and one of those losses was at Seton Hall. They’ve reeled off five straight since, are shooting the daylights out of the ball from downtown, and are looking good to win the Big East and beyond.
Finally, we have the Arizona Wildcats. They are two games behind Pac-12 leader Oregon on the conference table, but most pundits predict them to land either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed. They’ve had lazy away losses to Stanford and Washington State and boast a Quad 1 record of 5-3.
The Wildcats are one of the top defensive teams in the country, and guard Caleb Love has been electric for Arizona. They shoot fast in the clock, and the only thing keeping the Wildcats from winning would be their impatience on the offensive end of the floor.
