Kentucky Wildcats tied for fourth-best odds to win 2019 NCAA Tournament

John Calipari and his Wildcats appeared to have been big winners at the NBA Draft deadline.

While the losses of Jarred Vanderbilt and Wenyen Gabriel sting, the return of PJ Washington and potential addition of Reid Travis would be massive for UK’s title hopes for next season.

Well, that’s assuming they get Travis, which may not necessarily be the lock it’s made out to be. The latest odds from Bovada to win it all next season have UK coming in a tie with Gonzaga for the fourth-best odds to win it all.

That seems fair right now, being that Duke (best odds) has a monster recruiting class coming in, while Kansas (second-best odds) also has a nice class coming in to blend in with a talented group of returnees and transfers becoming eligible next season.

However, the most interesting part of these odds is they have Villanova ahead of UK.

Of course, those Wildcats have won two of the last three national titles, so they’ve earned the right to get preseason hype.

But the truth is, their title-winning team is gone. They lost their top four players to the NBA in Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Omari Spellman and Donte DiVincenzo. They still have a talented roster, but it’s really hard to say it should have better title odds than UK right now, with or without Travis...unless he ends up at Villanova instead.

When Travis announced he would be a grad transfer, Villanova was mentioned as a potential contender for his services. If they were to add Travis, then giving them the third-best odds to win it all ahead of UK and behind Kansas and Duke feels right.

Bur if UK gets Travis, it’s really hard to see them not having at least the third-best odds to win it all, and they’d have a better case to be higher than Villanova would with Travis.

Just food for thought.

Here’s a look at the teams with the best odds to win it all next season:

• Duke Blue Devils – 11-2
• Kansas Jayhawks – 8/1
• Villanova Wildcats – 9/1
• Kentucky Wildcats 10/1
• Gonzaga Bulldogs – 10/1
• North Carolina Tar Heels – 12/1
• Virginia Cavaliers – 15/1
• Nevada Wolf Pack - 22-1
• Michigan Wolverines – 25/1
• Michigan State Spartans – 25/1
• Tennessee Volunteers - 28/1
• Auburn Tigers – 30/1
• Virginia Tech Hokies - 30/1
• Oregon Ducks – 33/1
• West Virginia Mountaineers – 35/1
• Indiana Hoosiers - 40/1
• UCLA Bruins – 40/1
• Florida Gators - 50/1
• Purdue Boilermakers- 50/1
• Syracuse Orange - 50/1
• Texas Tech Red Raiders - 50/1
• Wichita State Shockers - 50/1