College Basketball 2019 Title Odds: Kentucky Leaps to 3rd After Tennessee Upset

Don't sleep on the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Kentucky men's basketball team now has the third-best odds to win the national championship this season, continuing its rise up the list of favorites:

Duke (+170, bet $100 to win $170) remains firmly at the top, according to Bovada, followed by the team Kentucky beat over the weekend, Tennessee (+750). After that comes Kentucky (+800), Virginia (+800), Gonzaga (+850) and Michigan (+850).

The Wildcats have won 11 of their last 12 games, including a victory over the formally top-ranked Volunteers on Saturday. The only loss in that streak was highly controversial, with Kentucky fans arguing that Kavell Bigby-Williams' buzzer-beating tip-in was in fact basket interference.

Basket interference isn't reviewable, however, and the bucket stood. 

Rather than sulk over Tuesday's loss, however, Kentucky responded with a convincing 86-69 win over Tennessee, led by PJ Washington's 23 points. 

"It shows everybody that we can still play with great teams in this league and also in the country," Washington said after the victory, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com).

"I hit them right after the game with LSU and said, 'Hey, that was a tough loss,'" Kentucky coach John Calipari added. "But you know, we needed it. We need to go back to what we were, and sometimes you've got to get knocked in the head to know that. So the loss to LSU probably helped us win this game."

Nonetheless, it still feels like teams around college basketball are playing for the privilege to lose against Duke in the national championship game. The Blue Devils are ranked No. 1 again this week, are 23-2 on the season and feature a star-studded roster highlighted by Zion Williamson (one of the most exciting college basketball players in years) and two potential top-five picks in this year's NBA draft (RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish).

Duke is fallible. They've lost to Gonzaga and Syracuse this season, and part of college basketball's allure is its unpredictability. But Duke is undeniably the most talented team in the nation, and if they play up to that potential, nobody will beat them.

Not even the red-hot Wildcats.