Kentucky Wildcats Still Heavy March Madness Betting Odds Favorites

A close win Tuesday did not hurt the odds of the heavily favored Kentucky Wildcats to win the 2015 NCAA tournament. The Wildcats trailed the Georgia Bulldogs 56-47 with less than 10 minutes left before using a late 14-0 run to pull out a 72-64 road victory, falling just short of covering the spread as 9.5-point chalk. Kentucky remains the 1-1 favorite on the odds to win the NCAA tournament after improving to 30-0 overall and 17-0 in SEC play.

The Wildcats had covered each of their previous five games, winning by an average margin of 24 points. However, Kentucky looked vulnerable at times against the Bulldogs (19-10, 10-7 SEC) and could be beaten by any number of other top contenders for the college basketball crown with a similar performance during March Madness.

The Virginia Cavaliers (28-1, 16-1 ACC) are the nation’s second-ranked team and have already clinched their second consecutive regular-season conference championship after topping the Syracuse Orange 59-47 as 5.5-point road favorites Monday. The Cavaliers covered the spread for only the second time in eight games, and they are 12-1 on the latest March Madness odds.

The Duke Blue Devils (26-3, 13-3) are the lone team to defeat Virginia this season and have won nine in a row since suffering their last loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (24-5, 12-4) back on January 28. Duke is the 17-2 second choice to win the title, while Notre Dame is 33-1 to cut down the nets.

The Wisconsin Badgers (26-3, 14-2 Big Ten) and Arizona Wildcats (26-3, 14-2 Pac-12) are two more power conference contenders bettors should consider as serious March Madness challengers for Kentucky, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs could also earn a top seed in the tournament out of the West Coast Conference.

Wisconsin nearly knocked off Kentucky in last year’s Final Four but lost 74-73, and the Badgers are 9-1 to win the 2015 NCAA tournament. Kentucky went on to lose to the Connecticut Huskies 60-54 in the national title game last year.

Arizona is 12-1 to win the Big Dance and fell to No. 2 seed Wisconsin 64-63 as the No. 1 seed in last year’s West Regional final. Gonzaga (29-2, 17-1 WCC) is 14-1 to win the national championship and disappointed as a top seed two years ago, getting upset by Wichita State 76-70 in the round of 32. The Bulldogs lost to Arizona 84-61 in last year’s round of 32 after beating the Oklahoma State Cowboys 85-77 in their first game.