Kentucky still the favorite to win it all?

By Matt Tait     Feb 1, 2017

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Kansas guard Josh Jackson (11) swoops under Kentucky forward Edrice Adebayo (3) for a bucket during the first half, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

Any time two of the Top 5 teams in college basketball get together in February or later, you start to hear people talk about potential national championship runs and how either or both teams could be Final Four contenders.

That certainly holds true for tonight’s 2 vs. 3 clash between Baylor and Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, where sole-possession of first place in the Big 12 Conference at the midway point of the Big 12 schedule will be on the line.

Kansas comes into the game at 19-2 overall and 7-1 in Big 12 play and on the heels of arguably the best win by any team in college basketball this season. KU went down to Kentucky last weekend and knocked off the fourth-ranked Wildcats in their gym in one of the most hyped games of the season.

Baylor, meanwhile, sits at 20-1 overall and 7-1 in Big 12 play, with its only loss of the season coming in blowout fashion at West Virginia, the same place Kansas suffered its lone Big 12 setback thus far.

Both teams have parts that make it easy to envision a run to a Final Four and beyond, but, according to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, neither team, despite its lofty ranking, is the current favorite to win the 2017 national title.

That distinction belongs, believe it or not, to the very Kentucky team that the Jayhawks just beat.

KU’s odds of winning it all have improved since the last time Bovada sent out the updated odds on Jan. 6, as the Jayhawks are now 8-1 favorites as opposed to the 11-1 shot they had back in early January.

None of it means much, of course, with half a conference season to play and March Madness still ahead. But it is at least interesting to take a look at how things stand heading into February, and, perhaps more importantly, heading into tonight’s Big 12 showdown at Allen Fieldhouse.

Below is a list of the 15 teams that currently have better than 50-1 odds of winning it all, along with a look at the four other Big 12 teams that join Kansas, West Virginia and Baylor on the list.

Texas, Texas Tech and TCU were all left off Bovada’s latest update.

| Team | | Odds as of Jan. 6 | | Odds as of Feb. 1 |
Kentucky 6-1 11-2
Gonzaga 20-1 15-2
KANSAS 11-1 8-1
North Carolina 11-1 9-1
UCLA 5-1 9-1
Arizona 50-1 10-1
Duke 5-1 10-1
Villanova 11-1 10-1
West Virginia 33-1 14-1
Baylor 22-1 20-1
Florida State 33-1 20-1
Louisville 25-1 20-1
Virginia 28-1 25-1
Oregon 22-1 28-1
Wisconsin 22-1 28-1
Oklahoma State 150-1 150-1
Iowa State 200-1 300-1
Kansas State 300-1 Off the board
Oklahoma 300-1 Off the board
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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.