Kentucky Wildcats: 2010 NCAA Tournament March Madness Odds

The Kentucky Wildcats are a traditional betting favorite in March Madness odds as a powerful team that is almost always in the conversation as a Final Four contender and this year's 2010 NCAA tournament will be no different. The Southeastern Conference champions of both the regular season and post season tournament opened at 4-1 in odds to win the NCAA men's tournament. Kentucky enters the big dance with a record of 32-2 straight up on the season and 17-15 against the spread as favorites in college basketball betting odds.

Considering that the gambling public loves Kentucky when it comes to March madness odds, they were able to hold surprising betting value at 4-1 to win the 2010 NCAA tournament even though the Wildcats were 8-3 against the spread on the road for 2009-10. Online sports handicappers are warning players though that Kentucky enters March madness with less than favorable stats as they failed to cover 4 out of their last 6 games prior to the NCAA tournament. Despite winning the SEC tournament, they failed to cover 2 out of their 3 games in college basketball odds. The Wildcats carry an impressive resume for this year’s tournament though as they were one of the highest scoring teams in the country at 79.2 points per game average and shot 47.9% from the floor which was also one of the best in the land.

Kentucky was the fifth best offensive rebounding team in the nation. Guard John Wall will lead the attack with a team best 17.0 points per game while forwards DeMarcus Cousins (15.3 points per game) and Patrick Patterson (14.7 points per game) were right behind Wall. Cousins was also the Wildcats leading rebounder with 10.1 per game. Kentucky has posted recent wins over fellow tournament entries Tennessee, along with Florida, Vanderbilt and Louisville. Not since their opening two games of the season have the Wildcats lost more than 2 consecutive games against the spread heading into odds to win the 2010 NCAA tournament.

Kentucky will face their first test in March madness odds against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers on Thursday, March 18th at 7:15pm EST in a game that can be seen on CBS with the Wildcats -20 betting favorites. In their last game, Kentucky defeated Mississippi State 75-74 in overtime as a 7.5-point favorite in the SEC Tournament final. The combined score went OVER the posted over/under total of 135 at online sportsbooks. John Wall scored 17 points to go with seven rebounds and eight assists for Kentucky while Eric Bledsoe netted 18 points in the win. Vegas odds have the Kentucky Wildcats 7-2 to win the 2010 NCAA men's basketball tournament.