2026 College Basketball
The blue and orange confetti clean-up may still be happening at the Alamodome, where the Florida Gators cut down the nets as the 2025 NCAA Tournament champions. Planning has been in motion for the 2025-26 season for a long time, as the transfer portal has been open and the CBB shopping spree has been taking place. But, that doesn’t stop the sportsbooks from putting up 2026 College Basketball National Championship odds.
Impact transfers and incoming freshmen are going to have a major impact on the upcoming season. Many of the rosters that we saw this past season will be stripped down thanks to the portal, graduation, and the chance to go pro, whether that’s in the U.S. or overseas. Continuity is hard to come by these days, so 2024-25 stats have the chance to be completely meaningless.
Keep that in mind as you consider the 2026 College Basketball National Championship odds.
2026 College Basketball National Championship Odds
- Duke 10/1
- Houston 12/1
- UConn 14/1
- BYU 16/1
- Purdue 18/1
- St. John’s 18/1
- Kentucky 20/1
- Kansas 20/1
- Arkansas 20/1
- Louisville 22/1
- Texas Tech 22/1
- Michigan 25/1
- Florida 25/1
- Auburn 25/1
- Alabama 25/1
- Baylor 30/1
- Arizona 30/1
- Michigan State 35/1
- Tennessee 35/1
- Iowa State 40/1
- North Carolina 45/1
- Gonzaga 45/1
- UCLA 45/1
- Creighton 60/1
- Texas 60/1
- Illinois 70/1
- Wisconsin 70/1
- Oregon 75/1
- Mississippi 80/1
- Villanova 90/1
- USC 90/1
- Mississippi State 100/1
- Maryland 100/1
- Marquette 100/1
- Indiana 100/1
- Xavier 100/1
- SMU 100/1
- NC State 100/1
- Ohio State 100/1
- Iowa 120/1
- Virginia 130/1
- Missouri 150/1
- LSU 150/1
- Clemson 150/1
- Texas A&M 150/1
- Saint Mary’s 150/1
- Notre Dame 150/1
- All others 200/1 or higher
Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook as of April 7, 8 p.m. PT
Taking longshots may seem pretty attractive and maybe you do get into a position to hedge and lock up some profit come tourney time, but it takes an elite-level team to win it all. We’ve seen that on an annual basis for a very long time now. So, you may want to look at the rosters, additions, coach, conference, and decide how high of a ceiling a team could have.
Here are a couple of those longer shots to consider:
Wisconsin 70/1: The Badgers barely rank inside the top 50 in terms of incoming freshmen per 247 Sports’ rankings, but they have a top-20 transfer class, headlined by PG Nick Boyd from San Diego State. Austin Rapp, a 6-foot-10 forward from Portland, and Andrew Rohde, a 6-foot-6 wing from Virginia, are two other strong grabs for Greg Gard. While their NCAA Tournament appearance in 2025 was short-lived, BYU was a tough matchup for the No. 3 seed that was a top-15 team for both KenPom and Bart Torvik at season’s end.
John Blackwell and 7-footer Nolan Winter will return. A lot of leadership is gone, but this should be a top-15 type team again.
Clemson 150/1: KenPom’s final rankings had Clemson as a top-25 team and their ability to bank wins in the ACC may inflate their resume enough to get a high seed come March. A ton of talent is leaving, as Chase Hunter, Ian Schieffelin, and Viktor Lahkin all move on with their careers, but the Tigers had a strong portal haul with Georgia’s RJ Godfrey, Nevada’s Nick Davidson, and Utah Valley big man Carter Welling. This is going to be a Clemson team with a ton of size and one waiting to know if they’ll have Jaeden Zackery for another season as the team has appealed to the NCAA on his behalf.
They also have a top-30 incoming class, headlined by Zac Foster as a combo guard. Redshirt freshman Dallas Thomas was the second-highest recruit signed in the Brownell era and he sat out all of last season and hasn’t transferred, so he must believe in the program and its direction.
