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2026 NCAA tournament: Early men's national championship odds revealed

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•04/07/25•

griffin_mcveigh

ncaa tournament odds
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

One more game is left in the college basketball season to determine who will be the national champion. After thrilling victories Saturday night, Florida and Houston are battling to cut down the nets from the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Most attention is on Monday’s game but the rest of the college basketball world has already moved on to the 2025-2026 season. FanDuel has even provided odds for who will be the 2026 national champion.

Indianapolis will be hosting the 2026 Final Four inside Lucas Oil Stadium. The journey to that point has already begun for most, with a lookahead of who is favored to win the whole thing.

Duke Blue Devils +1000

Jon Scheyer will likely live with Saturday night’s collapse for some time. It’s difficult not to, considering the circumstances, being so close to playing for a national championship. But oddsmakers believe Duke will be right back in this position.

The No. 2 overall recruiting class in the country will call Durham home next season. The two Boozer twins, Cameron and Cayden, highlight the group of freshmen in what will be another season of contending for the Blue Devils.

Houston Cougars +1200

Kelvin Sampson-Houston-Texas
(William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports)

Houston has one more game to worry about before moving on to the 2025-2026 season. Winning this year’s national championship is the top priority.

Nobody expects them to go anywhere, though. As consistent of a program out there, Houston will be in the national conversation next year — win or lose Monday night.

Louisville Cardinals +1400

Pat Kelsey has completely turned around the Louisville program in one season. Now, the warchest of funds is being unlocked to make sure the Cardinals are competing with the best out there in college basketball.

Louisville has already made a couple of splashes in the NCAA transfer portal, landing Ryan Conwell,
Isaac McKneely, and Adrian Wooley. With On3’s Pete Nakos saying $8-10 million is available in NIL money, more should be on the way.

Purdue Boilermakers +1400

Similar to Houston, the consistency has been remarkable with Purdue. Ten consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances have resulted in four Sweet Sixteens, an Elite Eight, and Final Four appearance. Matt Painter is up there with any coach in America.

This is the first Big Ten team to be listed by FanDuel. Nobody from the conference has cut down the nets since 2000, with the streak extending to 25 years this year. A streak Purdue is hoping they can be the ones to end.

Kansas Jayhawks +1600

kansas-head-basketball-coach-bill-self-jokes-back-three-or-four-of-coaching-career-
Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

March has not been too kind to Kansas since its last national championship. Three straight years have resulted in first-weekend exits under the legendary Bill Self.

Kansas is still Kansas, though. FanDuel places them inside the top 10 as the roster reconstruction gets underway in Lawrence. Five players have already entered the NCAA transfer portal while others have run out of eligibility. The Jayhawks should look quite different moving forward.

BYU Cougars +1600

Mark Pope got BYU to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since the Jimmer Fredette days. Now, arguably an even bigger name is heading to Provo with the vision of doing something special.

AJ Dybantsa, the Five-Star Plus+ product and No. 1 overall recruit, will play for BYU next season. An opportunity of a lifetime for the Cougars, expectations are going to be sky high.

Arkansas Razorbacks +1800

Something clicked late in the season for John Calipari. After appearing to be on a disastrous path, Arkansas got hot in the final month and a half. Nobody would have predicted a Sweet Sixteen appearance after an 0-5 start in SEC play.

Momentum is hoping to be carried into next year. Calipari is as proven as anybody in the sport and FanDuel sees them as the top team in the SEC from a national title odds perspective.

Auburn Tigers +1800

Bruce Pearl (Photo by Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)
Bruce Pearl (Photo by Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)

Similar to Duke, Auburn is going through a difficult Final Four loss. A poor second half sent the Tigers back home as the No. 1 overall seed after leading by as much as nine points.

Bruce Pearl now turns into roster retention mode, hoping to bring back some critical players from this season’s run. A nice recruiting class comes into the program as well and Auburn will fight for top names in the portal.

UConn Huskies +1800

The national championship steak for UConn ended at two. Dan Hurley was not able to put together the three-peat, crashing out in the second round as a nine-seed.

Nobody has won three of four since UCLA in the mid-1970s, the tail end of the dynasty under John Wooden. The Huskies are looking to stay in that realm of history.

Alabama Crimson Tide +1800

Expectations have been made clear by Nate Oats. He believes Alabama should be playing in Final Fours and attempting to win the school’s first national championship.

FanDuel is giving the Crimson Tide a chance of doing so in ’25-26. Alabama will be losing several key seniors but will bring back a good mix of experienced pieces. Historically, Oats has found most of his best players through the portal as well.

Remaining 2026 national championship odds in college basketball

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