Thursday Headlines: Betting Favorites for Next Season Edition

Early odds have the Cats as one of the favorites to cut down the nets in April 2024

By Zac Oakes@ZacOakes Apr 6, 2023, 6:40am EDT

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament First Round-Providence vs Kentucky

It’s never too early to look ahead to next season with the 2022-23 college basketball season is in the books, and if you’re looking ahead to see who is favored to cut down the nets in 12 months, the Kentucky Wildcats are among the top choices.

Draftkings Sportsbook released its opening odds for next year’s NCAA Tournament champion and Kentucky has the second-best odds at +1300, only behind the Duke Blue Devils at +1100.

UCONN (+1400), Marquette (+1600), and Kansas (+1600) round out the top five.

Obviously it is hard to project right now which team will cut down the nets next April because, in the era of NIL and the transfer portal, rosters change rapidly in the offseason.

Kentucky is among the favorites because of the highly-ranked recruiting class coming in, but Kentucky’s offseason will be defined by “stay-or-go” decisions and the coaching staff’s work in the transfer portal.

Duke gets an early boost because of the announced returns of Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell, along with a talented incoming freshman class.

These odds will certainly shift quite a bit as teams construct their rosters this offseason.