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UK beat the national title favorites, again; updated look at title odds

Louisville is actually still the favorite to win it all.

By Jason Marcum
Hagans Drew Brown - Sea of Blue

It’s rare for any college team to say they beat the favorites for an NCAA National Championship.

Somehow, Kentucky has done it twice this season before the calendar even turns to 2020.

On opening night, the top-ranked Michigan State Spartans were the championship favorites to win it all this season. But Tyrese Maxey and the Wildcats had other plans, as the freshman dropped 26 to lead the Wildcats past the Spartans for a 69-62 win in the Champions Classic.

Unfortunately, Kentucky went on to have some major struggles over the next month, including losses to unranked Utah and Evansville teams. The Spartans also had their struggles with two more losses and entered the weekend tied for the fifth-best odds to win it all.

Meanwhile, Louisville was playing like a legitimate title contender thanks to an 11-1 start with the only blemish being a neutral court loss to a top-25 Texas Tech team. That was enough to make them the national championship favorites going into Saturday’s clash with the Wildcats.

And once again, Kentucky took down the championship favorites, beating the Cardinals 78-70 in overtime thanks to another career day from Maxey, who scored 27 with his father in attendance.

Even with that loss for the Cardinals, they’re still the favorites at Bovada, where they have +900 odds to win it all, just ahead of Duke, Gonzaga and Ohio State (who just lost to West Virginia).

Kentucky is now up to +1600 odds, which was tied for the ninth-best odds.

Here is a look at the latest odds to win it all via Bovada:

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