On Wednesday, John Calipari, Tre Mitchell, and Antonio Reeves spoke to the media in Birmingham for SEC Media Days, and one thing came to mind: It’s officially basketball season.

As the Kentucky Wildcats approach their first exhibition game next week, rankings and final standing predictions are starting to roll out for conferences across the country. The Cats are ranked at No. 16 in the country in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll. They’ve also been predicted to finish fourth in the SEC in the preseason rankings released this week.

Even after all those rankings, betting odds still like Kentucky’s chances to bring home both the SEC Title and the National Championship.

According to the latest odds by DraftKings, the Cats have the second-best odds to bring home the conference title at +400, which is closely behind Tennessee, who currently sits at +300.

For the National Championship, Kentucky currently has the fourth-best odds at +1400. Schools ahead of them are Kansas (+1000), Duke (+1100), and Purdue (+1200).

This season has the feel of the Coach Cal teams early in his tenure. Elite young talent that we don’t know a ton about currently, but if everything clicks correctly, a run to the Final Four is absolutely on the table.

It is just about time to figure out just how legit of a title contender this team is.

Going to be fun to watch.