In a big-name battle in college basketball, the Kentucky Wildcats will host the Kansas Jayhawks at Rupp Arena. Kentucky started the year off slowly but has won its last four games, including a big road win over No. 4 Tennessee. In contrast, No. 9 Kansas last lost its last three games. DraftKings Sportsbook is offering a cool promotion on tonight’s action: a 75% profit boost for wagers up to $50 on Kansas-Kentucky. Bettors should use this expert betting prediction to make their Kansas-Kentucky pick. Check out OddsShopper’s tools for other sharp plays.
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Kansas-Kentucky Betting Prediction | DraftKings Odds Boost
Kansas (+115) vs. Kentucky Prediction
The college football national championship just reminded the world how much better the SEC is at football than everybody else, especially the Big 12. Tonight’s Kansas-Kentucky game has the chance to prove the inverse is true for basketball. Of the AP’s top 25, six teams — No. 5 Kansas State, No. 9 Kansas, No. 10 Texas, No. 11 TCU, No. 12 Iowa State and No. 17 Baylor — hail from the Big 12. Just three — No. 2 Alabama, No. 4 Tennessee and No. 15 Auburn — hail from the SEC.
The Kansas Jayhawks have played a much harder schedule and have still lost fewer games than the Kentucky Wildcats. According to KenPom, the Jayhawks lead the NCAA in strength of schedule. Their four losses all came to ranked teams, three from the Big 12 and one from the SEC (Tennessee). The Wildcats rank 84th in strength of schedule, and three of their six losses came to unranked teams (Michigan State, Missouri and South Carolina).
Although the Wildcats come into Saturday’s action hot, and the Jayhawks enter on a bit of a cold streak, the season-long trends suggest Kansas still has an edge. The Jayhawks rank 25th in offensive efficiency and 16th in defensive efficiency on the year despite their recent struggles. Kentucky ranks 23rd and 57th, respectively. Kentucky head coach John Calipari’s decision to bench undersized guard Sahvir Wheeler has given the defense a boost, but not enough of one for the Wildcats to topple even a reeling Jayhawks squad.
DraftKings Sportsbook lists Kentucky as a 2.5-point home favorite. However, the Wildcats are 1-3 straight up against ranked opponents this year. They are 6-6 against the spread as a home favorite. The Jayhawks failed to cover in their lone game as a road underdog against Baylor on Monday. But the market has seemingly bottomed out for Kansas, and getting the Jayhawks to win at odds of +201 — which you can do with the 75% profit boost at DraftKings — makes for a great value bet tonight. The Jayhawks win this game more than the 33.2% of the time their implied odds suggest.
Final Kansas-Kentucky Betting Prediction: Kansas ML +201 at DraftKings
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