Kentucky's win over Duke proved the Wildcats are still title contenders under Mark Pope
No. 19 Kentucky got its first look at a big dog Tuesday with its game against No. 6 Duke, and by walking away from the Champions Classic clash with the 77-72 win, the Wildcats proved themselves to still be big dogs too.
One of college basketball’s blue bloods, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Kentucky might again be one of the best teams in the country. But that wasn’t a given after all the team’s turnover in the offseason, headlined by the departure of longtime head coach John Calipari.
Kentucky’s No. 23 AP preseason ranking was its lowest since going unranked in 2008-09. And even in that final season under Billy Gillispie, before Calipari took over, Kentucky had better national title odds than the +3500 they had entering this year at BetMGM.
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There has been serious doubt about how good this quickly constructed team of transfers can be under new coach Mark Pope. Tuesday’s game was the first sign that things might be just fine in Lexington.
The win didn’t come easy. Kentucky trailed by as much as 10, suffering through some scoring droughts in the first half. But their newfound experience proved to be useful against the young Blue Devils, as they were able to make a second half charge and seal the game on a late strip of freshman Cooper Flagg.
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Concerns about Kentucky may ultimately prove to be valid. But at 3-0 with a marquee win, the Wildcats’ national title odds have already moved up to +2200, which rank 10th-best overall. They have just the fourth-best odds to win the SEC at +1400, though we can expect those to also shorten soon if Pope and the Wildcats keep it up.