Updated March 31, 2026
College basketball is highly unpredictable these days, with the current climate of the sport leading to the potential for massive NCAA Tournament upsets on a regular basis. While the list of teams with a realistic chance to make the national championship game is a short one, there is still the potential to find value in the college basketball futures markets this year. Here, we look at the current March Madness odds and look at the teams that could win it all.
As of March 31, 2026, here are odds to win the national championship in college basketball in the 2025-2026 season.
Team | Odds |
|---|---|
Michigan | +175 |
Arizona | +175 |
Illinois | +400 |
UConn | +550 |
There are two clear favorites to win the national championship going into Final Four weekend in Indianapolis. The Michigan Wolverines and Arizona Wildcats are the favorites, as the two remaining one-seeds in the tournament going into Saturday's semifinals. Both of these teams have stacked up double-digit wins over countless opponents during this tournament so far. Now they will face each other with a spot in the national championship game on the line.
The winner of the Michigan vs Arizona matchup on semifinal Saturday will be the favorite to win the national title game that subsequent Monday. The biggest question will be whether that semifinal will take something out of either of these teams that will prevent them from playing to their full potential in the championship game against either Illinois or UConn.
In the other semifinal matchup, UConn and Illinois will do battle to make it to the championship game. The winner of this matchup will be the underdog against Arizona or Michigan on championship Monday. But both of these teams have proven that they can take care of business against quality competition and can't be counted out as they look to grab the title for themselves.
UConn's trip to the Final Four was especially remarkable. They came back from 19 points down in the Elite Eight to defeat Duke, getting a steal and making a three just before the final buzzer to win that game. The Huskies' toughness is well-documented going into Indy, but Illinois' elite rebounding ability will make them a tough out in the semifinal matchup between the two teams with the longest odds left in the tournament field.
At this point in the NCAA Tournament, there are no longshots to win the national championship. With all four teams involved sitting just two wins away from winning it all, the longest odds on the board are inside of +600 to get the job done. While Illinois and UConn come at longer odds than Michigan and Arizona, I wouldn't classify any of the remaining teams as longshots as they look to get to the top of the mountain in college basketball.
When looking for longshot bets to win the NCAA Tournament, the goal is to simply find teams that you perceive to have a better chance to win the title than the odds would suggest. There are many ways to come to such conclusions, with each bettor having their own unique style of handicapping teams in the futures markets. But the overall goal is to identify teams that can outperform expectations in the neutral-site tournament.
Right now, our pick to win the NCAA Tournament next season is the Michigan Wolverines. While Duke got the better of them in the regular season, Duke is no longer a concern for Michigan or anyone else in the field. The bigs of Michigan should continue to cause problems for their opponents on the interior, while their guards continue to do enough to make them champions once the Final Four wraps up for this year.
Jay Sanin is the GM and Head of Sports at ATS.io. He has been writing about sports gambling since 2013, handicapping tens of thousands of sporting events. He plays sides and totals aggressively across most sports and is more selective in player prop markets. He does his own modeling across most sports, and his family is jealous of how much time he spends on his precious spreadsheets.
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