March Madness: NCAA Tournament National Championship Odds with Brackets Set

It’s officially the best time of the year in college basketball, as the regular season and conference tournaments have come to an end and the 68 teams with a chance to win a national championship are now set.

Selection Sunday took place just hours ago, officially placing those 68 teams into the four regions of the tournament, and now there’s clarity on each team’s path to a potential title, the opponents they could face, and the overall difficulty of those matchups if they happen.

As a result, we now have the clearest picture yet of which teams are viewed as the most likely winners of March Madness. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the tiers of teams, dividing these 68 schools up by their national championship odds shortly after Selection Sunday.

Odds via DraftKings

Favorites

The clear favorites in the NCAA Tournament are the four No. 1 seeds, who are expected to be the best schools in their quadrant of the bracket. In all likelihood, one of these four teams will win a championship this season, but that's not a guarantee.

• Duke: +300
• Michigan: +360
• Arizona: +390
• Florida: +750

Contenders

This group of teams has clear championship upside, but will need a few dominoes to fall their way. These are the schools who had very strong resumes all season long and have been locks to make the NCAA Tournament, but will ultimatley have to knock off some elite teams along the way in order to have a chance at a title.

• Houston: +1000
• Iowa State: +1500
• Illinois: +1900
• UConn: +2500
• Purdue: +2500
• Michigan State: +4000
• Gonzaga: +4000
• Arkansas: +6000
• Kansas: +6000
• St. Johns: +6000

Sleepers

This group of teams has championship upside, but also very clear flaws. It wouldn't be surprising if any of these teams made a deep run over the next few weeks, but winning a national championship would be relatively unexpected.

• Virginia: +7500
• Vanderbilt: +7500
• Wisconsin: +8000
• Nebraska: +10000
• Louisville: +11000
• Tennessee: +12000
• Texas Tech: +13000
• UCLA: +15000
• Alabama: +18000
• Kentucky: +20000
• Clemson: +25000
• BYU: +25000
• Villanova: +25000
• Ohio State: +25000
• North Carolina: +25000

Longshots

This tier includes teams that are unlikely to get it done, but are significant programs that primarily play in the top conferences in the country. Many of these teams have spent the last few weeks on the fringe of making it in the tournament, but are now here and theoretically have the talent to be a sleeper in March.

• Saint Mary's: +30000
• NC State: +30000
• Iowa: +30000
• Texas A&M: +35000
• Saint Louis: +40000
• Utah State: +40000
• UCF: +40000
• TCU: +40000
• Miami FL: +40000
• Georgia: +50000
• VCU: +50000
• Santa Clara: +50000
• Texas: +50000
• SMU: +50000
• Missouri: +50000

The Rest

The teams in this tier winning would effectively become the biggest underdog winners of all time. These are all mid to low major schools that played well against their level of competition, but are generally always first or second round exits.

• McNeese: +100000
• Akron: +100000
• South Florida: +100000
• Pennsylvania: +150000
• Miami OH: +150000
• Wright State: +200000
• Northern Iowa: +200000
• Idaho: +200000
• Siena: +200000
• High Point: +200000
• North Dakota State: +200000
• Troy: +200000
• Furman: +200000
• LIU: +200000
• Hawaii: +200000
• California Baptist: +200000
• Howard: +200000
• UMBC: +200000
• Queens NC: +200000
• Tennessee State: +200000
• Kennesaw State: +200000
• Lehigh: +200000
• Prairie View: +200000
• Hofstra: +200000

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Odds will vary based on the sportsbook, so when choosing which team you want to place a futures bet on to win the championship in the NCAA Tournament, ensure you search for the best possible odds.

All Odds as of Sunday, March 15, 2026