{"id":28031,"date":"2015-03-26T13:19:25","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T20:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=28031"},"modified":"2023-01-12T11:40:19","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T17:40:19","slug":"kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Wildcats Still Big Favorite Heading Into Sweet Sixteen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kentucky
Kentucky is still an even-money favorite to win the NCAA Tournament. (Image: Andy Lyons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March Madness started with some major upsets and a few exciting buzzer beaters, but most of the favorites are still in the field heading into the second weekend of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.<\/p>\n

That means that heading into the Sweet Sixteen, it\u2019s still the Kentucky Wildcats that are the odds-on favorite to walk away with a national title and an undefeated season when the tournament wraps up next weekend in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

True, the Wildcats didn\u2019t look their best in their second-round 64-51 victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats, a game that saw Cincinnati hold a lead for the first 17 minutes before Kentucky began to take control.<\/p>\n

But a single reasonably close game against a decent team isn\u2019t going to move the needle much for bookmakers, and Kentucky is still considered an even money (give or take a bit either way) favorite to take down the title.<\/p>\n

West Virginia Confident Heading Into Kentucky Clash<\/b><\/h2>\n

Of course, there are plenty of teams out there that think they can give Kentucky a game. The Wildcats\u2019 first test will come Thursday night, when they take on the West Virginia Mountaineers, the 5th<\/sup> seed in the Midwest region. And while Kentucky enters the game as a 13.5 point favorite, West Virginia certainly isn\u2019t counting themselves out yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give them their props,\u201d said West Virginia freshman Daxter Miles Jr. on Wednesday. \u201cSalute them to getting to 36-0. But tomorrow they\u2019re gonna be 36-1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arizona, Duke, Gonzaga, and Wisconsin Among Remaining Contenders<\/b><\/h2>\n

At this stage of the tournament, nobody will get an opponent they can simply walk over, and the other favorites in the tournament will also face tests in the rounds to come. Arizona, a 13\/2 second choice to win the championship with many bookmakers, takes on Xavier Thursday night. Should they win, they would then have to take on the winner of Wisconsin vs. North Carolina; Wisconsin is the top seed in the West Region, and an 8\/1 pick to win the tournament.<\/p>\n

Two other contenders are still alive in the South Region, where the next games will be played on Friday evening. Top seed Duke will take on Utah, while second-seeded Gonzaga will have to contend with traditional powerhouse UCLA. Duke is essentially a joint second-choice to win the tournament along with Arizona at about 13\/2 odds, while Gonzaga can be backed at about 11\/1.<\/p>\n

Wichita State Could Get Rematch with Kentucky<\/b><\/h2>\n

Of course, March Madness is all about the surprising Cinderella stories, and there are still a couple of smaller schools with hopes of playing spoiler in the tournament. Perhaps the most compelling of these teams is Wichita State<\/a>, which taxes on Notre Dame Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

The Shockers are a two-point favorite heading into that matchup, and are considered a 25-1 underdog to win a national championship. Should Wichita State win, they\u2019d get Kentucky in the quarterfinals: a rematch of a 78-76 win by Kentucky in the Round of 32 last year, in which Kentucky ended Wichita State\u2019s dream of an undefeated season.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those looking for even more March Madness, the Women\u2019s National Championship is also heading into its Sweet Sixteen this weekend, though it had an even more dominant favorite than the Kentucky men. The Connecticut women\u2019s team is the overwhelming choice to win a national title this year: they\u2019ll enter their next game against Texas as a 28.5-point favorite, and FiveThirtyEight.com estimates that UConn has a 77 percent chance to win the entire tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March Madness started with some major upsets and a few exciting buzzer beaters, but most of the favorites are still in the field heading into the second weekend of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. That means that heading into the Sweet Sixteen, it\u2019s still the Kentucky Wildcats that are the odds-on favorite to walk away with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":28035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,1,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKentucky Wildcats Still Big Favorite Heading Into Sweet Sixteen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kentucky may not have struggled at times in their last game, but they are still the team to beat in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kentucky Wildcats Still Big Favorite Heading Into Sweet Sixteen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kentucky may not have struggled at times in their last game, but they are still the team to beat in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-26T20:19:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-12T17:40:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/458724470.0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"487\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen\/\",\"name\":\"Kentucky Wildcats Still Big Favorite Heading Into Sweet Sixteen\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/458724470.0.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-26T20:19:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-12T17:40:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Kentucky may not have struggled at times in their last game, but they are still the team to beat in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kentucky-wildcats-still-big-favorite-heading-into-sweet-sixteen\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/458724470.0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/458724470.0.jpg\",\"width\":730,\"height\":487,\"caption\":\"Kentucky is still an even-money favorite to win the NCAA Tournament. 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