The Kentucky Wildcats are really good. No, actually, they’re more than good. They’re dominant, unbeatable, and you can even throw in every superlative you can think of to describe them and the description will probably stick. Entering the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, the Wildcats are on the precipice of becoming the first college team to go undefeated since the Indiana Hoosiers back in 1976, a telling reminder on just how dominant this team has been throughout the current season. Sports books have noticed, too, and when the odds for the tournament we’re released, the Wildcats opened at just above even odds to win the tournament.
Just above even odds, or to be more specific, 11/10. In other words, if you bet on a “Kentucky vs the Field” prop, you’re only getting slightly higher odds on that bet. Remember when Tiger Woods was on his absolute apex? Sportsbooks had to sweat those “Tiger vs the Field” props because they knew that Woods was dominating the sport back then. We’re at that territory now with Kentucky and the odds of them finishing off this remarkable run with a perfect season are, as the Hunger Games would say, “ever in their favor.”
By comparison, last year’s top overall seed, the Florida Gators, were 9/2 odds to win the tournament. Kentucky’s line is half of that. Half! So if you’re trying to make a bet on who wins the tourney, think long and hard on betting against the Wildcats.
But here’s the catch: as much as it appears that the Wildcats are locks to win the tournament, that doesn’t mean that we just pack our bags, give them the title, and just call it a day. That would be an insult to the sheer unpredictability of March Madness, where anything can really happen. One bad break here, one injury there, one shooting slump here, one foul trouble there, and the tournament is turned upside its head.