Favorites to Win Championship

[BGCATFAN2012]

Looks like UK is sitting around 13 at +3000.

UCONN+800
Duke+1000
KU+1000
Alabama +1200
HOUSTON +1600
UNC +1600
ZAGS +1800
BAYLOR + 2000
ARIZONA + 2500
Arkansas +2500
IOWA ST +2500
AUBURN +2500
KENTUCKY +3000
Creighton + 4000
Illinois + 4000
What's the teams infront of UK have that makes them better. We have depth and shooting. We lack chemistry and NCAA experience together which we haven't had thanks to Cal. Roster turnover in NCAA is off the charts and it seems UCONN and DUKE are the media favorites and whomever can gel and stay healthy can join them in the final four.
Kentucky has often won the title sooner rather than later when we hire a new coach and I like our chances against Oakland this year. Arkansas having better odds to win it also shows the Cal slurp fest we might have to listen to all season. I'm gonna go into this season thinking our kids and coaches are working thier asses off and we can worry bout March Madness on the other side of winter.

 

[bbncal02]

Looks like UK is sitting around 13 at +3000.

UCONN+800
Duke+1000
KU+1000
Alabama +1200
HOUSTON +1600
UNC +1600
ZAGS +1800
BAYLOR + 2000
ARIZONA + 2500
Arkansas +2500
IOWA ST +2500
AUBURN +2500
KENTUCKY +3000
Creighton + 4000
Illinois + 4000
What's the teams infront of UK have that makes them better. We have depth and shooting. We lack chemistry and NCAA experience together which we haven't had thanks to Cal. Roster turnover in NCAA is off the charts and it seems UCONN and DUKE are the media favorites and whomever can gel and stay healthy can join them in the final four.
Kentucky has often won the title sooner rather than later when we hire a new coach and I like our chances against Oakland this year. Arkansas having better odds to win it also shows the Cal slurp fest we might have to listen to all season. I'm gonna go into this season thinking our kids and coaches are working thier asses off and we can worry bout March Madness on the other side of winter.

What we lack is no one has seen this team play. Not even Pope.

We have a brand new coach, who like it or not, doesn't have a tourney win to his name.
A brand new system.
A brand new team.

We're starting from scratch.

We could be phenomenal! We could also suck. No one knows.
Pope not having a NCAAT win is going to knock us hard in the odds. Just the way it is.

It took Joe B. 6 years to win a title.
Took Pitino Seven years.
Took Rupp 2-3 to win the Helms (which we don't really count because we aren't dorky Cheathawks)
Took Cal 3 years.
Tubby is the only one to win one his first shot here.

It's gonna take Pope time. That's why we're +3000.
Now, we could shock the world and be great. We could also miss the tourney (unlikely). The truth is probably somewhere in between

 

[NociHTTP]

Who cares about favorites? Get out there, take care of business, and the odds mean NOTHING. For the program, anyway. Nothing against you, OP, I just think fans are making collegiate sports way too much about gambling.

 

[Zissou87]

Looks like UK is sitting around 13 at +3000.

UCONN+800
Duke+1000
KU+1000
Alabama +1200
HOUSTON +1600
UNC +1600
ZAGS +1800
BAYLOR + 2000
ARIZONA + 2500
Arkansas +2500
IOWA ST +2500
AUBURN +2500
KENTUCKY +3000
Creighton + 4000
Illinois + 4000
What's the teams infront of UK have that makes them better. We have depth and shooting. We lack chemistry and NCAA experience together which we haven't had thanks to Cal. Roster turnover in NCAA is off the charts and it seems UCONN and DUKE are the media favorites and whomever can gel and stay healthy can join them in the final four.
Kentucky has often won the title sooner rather than later when we hire a new coach and I like our chances against Oakland this year. Arkansas having better odds to win it also shows the Cal slurp fest we might have to listen to all season. I'm gonna go into this season thinking our kids and coaches are working thier asses off and we can worry bout March Madness on the other side of winter.

All of those teams in front of UK also have a coach that has had some form of postseason success.

 

[Fox2monk]

Looks like UK is sitting around 13 at +3000.

UCONN+800
Duke+1000
KU+1000
Alabama +1200
HOUSTON +1600
UNC +1600
ZAGS +1800
BAYLOR + 2000
ARIZONA + 2500
Arkansas +2500
IOWA ST +2500
AUBURN +2500
KENTUCKY +3000
Creighton + 4000
Illinois + 4000
What's the teams infront of UK have that makes them better. We have depth and shooting. We lack chemistry and NCAA experience together which we haven't had thanks to Cal. Roster turnover in NCAA is off the charts and it seems UCONN and DUKE are the media favorites and whomever can gel and stay healthy can join them in the final four.
Kentucky has often won the title sooner rather than later when we hire a new coach and I like our chances against Oakland this year. Arkansas having better odds to win it also shows the Cal slurp fest we might have to listen to all season. I'm gonna go into this season thinking our kids and coaches are working thier asses off and we can worry bout March Madness on the other side of winter.

Cal will always have teams that are an odds favorite and you can always count on them losing that bet every year now. He lost it after 2017 IMO. He tried to keep it in spurts like 2018,2020, 2022, and 2024 but each team Choked(or was hurt), or didn’t get a chance.

 

[cat tat2]

New coach with no tournament wins, new system and new team…. Yeah, it will be a great story!

 

[Louis_Skunt]

Cal will always have teams that are an odds favorite and you can always count on them losing that bet every year now. He lost it after 2017 IMO. He tried to keep it in spurts like 2018,2020, 2022, and 2024 but each team Choked(or was hurt), or didn’t get a chance.

2017 wasn't very long ago. And covid year he had a great team. Dont think he's completely done, he's highly motivated again....like he was when he was going head to head with Pitino. He's not as good as he was, but i bet he has another run or two in the tank with this new home and goal.

 

[Louis_Skunt]

What we lack is no one has seen this team play. Not even Pope.

We have a brand new coach, who like it or not, doesn't have a tourney win to his name.
A brand new system.
A brand new team.

We're starting from scratch.

We could be phenomenal! We could also suck. No one knows.
Pope not having a NCAAT win is going to knock us hard in the odds. Just the way it is.

It took Joe B. 6 years to win a title.
Took Pitino Seven years.
Took Rupp 2-3 to win the Helms (which we don't really count because we aren't dorky Cheathawks)
Took Cal 3 years.
Tubby is the only one to win one his first shot here.

It's gonna take Pope time. That's why we're +3000.
Now, we could shock the world and be great. We could also miss the tourney (unlikely). The truth is probably somewhere in between

Spot on. We have no idea what to expect. We might lose 15 games or 2. Nobody's put an entire team like this together in a month, with no stars, but all seniors that can shoot. Only guarantee we have is that Feb 1 Rupp will be historically loud.

 

[SemperFiCat]

I would damn near bet a year's salary that Kentucky gets closer to a title than Arkansas.

 

[BlueSince92]

Whatever my sense of our odds is, it definitely went up when UKAthletics put out the final official roster and I realized Amari Williams is more or less exactly the same size as Demarcus Cousins.