We are back, College Hoops sickos. The 2025-2026 NCAA Basketball season is less than 20 days away, as opening night tips off on Monday, November 3, so it’s more than time to discuss the season. Let’s quit messing around and get into our NCAA Basketball preview with picks, predictions and futures for the upcoming season.
NCAA Basketball Championship History
Past 10 NCAA Basketball Champions
- 2025: Florida Gators
- 2024: UConn Huskies
- 2023: UConn Huskies
- 2022: Kansas Jayhawks
- 2021: Baylor Bears
- 2020: No Tournament Held
- 2019: Virginia Cavaliers
- 2018: Villanova Wildcats
- 2017: North Carolina Tar Heels
- 2016: Villanova Wildcats
This season, the 2026 Final Four will be held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, the same place Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears cut down the nets in 2021. The Duke Blue Devils won both other National Championships in at Lucas Oil Stadium, in 2010 and 2015. The ACC, Big 12, Big East, and SEC all have championships in the past decade, but the last Big Ten team to claim the title was the Michigan State Spartans over two decades ago in 2000 (Maryland won in 2002 as member of the ACC). The Big Ten has eight National Runner Ups since the Spartans victory.
NCAA Basketball Rankings and Betting Odds
Braden Smith and Purdue are ready to be a National Championship contender this season
The AP Top 25 Poll just dropped this week, and here are the preseason rankings.
Preseason Top 25 AP Poll
- Purdue Boilermakers
- Houston Cougars
- Florida Gators
- UConn Huskies
- St. John’s Red Storm
- Duke Blue Devils
- Michigan Wolverines
- BYU Cougars
- Kentucky Wildcats
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Louisville Cardinals
- UCLA Bruins
- Arizona Wildcats
- Arkansas Razorbacks
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Iowa State Cyclones
- Illinois Fighting Illini
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Kansas Jayhawks
- Auburn Tigers
- Gonzaga Bulldogs
- Michigan State Spartans
- Creighton Bluejays
- Wisconsin Badgers
- North Carolina Tar Heels
It’s tough to rank just 25 teams, and the NC State Wolfpack and Oregon Ducks where just margins away from breaking into the rankings. San Diego State, Texas and Ohio State round out our top 30, although the Aztecs were much closer to the Ducks than the Longhorns (for what it’s worth).
Six different conferences have at least one representative in the Top 25, with five of them having at least three schools.
Top 25 by Conference
- Big 12: 6
- Big Ten: 6
- SEC: 6
- ACC: 3
- Big East: 3
- WCC: 1
But how does the top 25 poll matchup with the overall oddsboard to win the National Championship?
Milos Uzan and Houston look to get back to the National Championship
Odds to Win NCAA Basketball National Championship
Odds are courtesy of BetOnline as of October 15, 2025 at 11:33 a.m. eastern. Use Promo Code BNBOL55 for an instant 55% deposit bonus in your account.
- Purdue +700
- Houston +1000
- Duke +1200
- UConn +1400
- Florida +1400
- Michigan +1600
- Kentucky +1800
- St. John’s +1800
- BYU +2000
- Texas Tech +2200
- Louisville +2500
- Arkansas +2500
- Kansas +2500
- UCLA +2800
- Alabama +3300
- Illinois +3500
- Auburn +4000
- Tennessee +4000
- Gonzaga +4000
- Arizona +4000
- North Carolina +4000
- Iowa State +4500
Those are the top 22 teams listed, with everyone else priced greater than 50-1. Despite hardly earning any votes in the opening poll, the Indiana Hoosiers and Iowa Hawkeyes are both priced at 66-1, making them two of the lower priced dark horses this season. However with a new head coach and tons of transfers, that might be wishful thinking for the Hawkeye-faithful.
If you wanted my three futures, two would be chalk and one would be a dark horse.
#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/AKlzzFrvRt
— Brad Underwood (@CoachUnderwood) April 28, 2025
NCAA Basketball National Champion Picks
Purdue Boilermakers (+700)
Purdue has plenty of returning power. Trey Kaufman-Renn, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer all started in the 2023 National Championship loss to UConn. They have plenty of experience, they’ve been here before, and Matt Painter has a bench that is ready to roll as well. Between the trio of returning seniors, they average 49.7 points, 13.1 rebounds, 12.7 assists and 4.4 steals per game. All shot over 38% from deep, with Loyer shooting 44.4% and 84.8% from the stripe. Adding 6’11” center Oscar Cluff from South Dakota State and 6’8″ forward Liam Murphy of North Florida boosts a dangerous front court highlighted by 7’4″ beast Daniel Jacobsen. Experience alone can take the Boilermakers where they want to be.
Florida Gators (+1400)
Clearly repeating as champions is doable, as the Huskies proved to us two years ago, but it hadn’t been done since the Gators did so back in 2006 and 2007. Todd Golden reloaded his squad with Boogie Fland, Xaiven Lee and AJ Brown. Sure they won’t live up to the Clayton, Martin, Richard trio, but it should do the job. With Thomas Haugh at the wing and Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu in the front court, Florida is ready to run the SEC once again. But it won’t come easy. Give me experience and winners over freshman to get the job done late in March (see Duke last year for reference).
Illinois Fighting Illini (+3500)
Brad Underwood has assembled a European All Star team in Champaign, Illinois. They are lead by local senior guard Kylan Boswell, who is the highest returning scorer on the team. But there’s plenty of options on the roster. Two seven footers from Croatia lead the front court in twins Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic. California transfer Andrej Stojakovic (yes, Peja’s son) adds more scoring after putting up 17.9 points per game on 42.7% shooting, 32% from deep and 82% from the stripe. He could easily lead the Illini in points this season. Freshman Mihailo Petrovic of Serbia has come in to likely start at point guard and facilitate this star-studded offense. The value lies with the Illini now, and it might not be there long.
NCAA Basketball Wooden Award Past Winners
- 2025: Cooper Flagg (Duke)
- 2024: Zach Edey (Purdue)
- 2023: Zach Edey (Purdue)
- 2022: Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky)
- 2021: Luka Garza (Iowa)
- 2020: Obi Toppin (Dayton)
- 2019: Zion Williamson (Duke)
- 2018: Jalen Brunson (Villanova)
- 2017: Frank Mason III (Kansas)
- 2016: Buddy Hield (Oklahoma)
As you can see, you don’t need to win the title to be the player of the year. The only Wooden Award winner who also won the National Championship in the past 10 years is Jalen Brunson. The only other players to do this in history were: Anthony Davis (Kentucky) in 2012, Shane Battier (Duke) in 2001, Ed O’Bannon (UCLA) in 1995, Christian Laettner (Duke) in 1992, Danny Manning (Kansas) in 1988, and Darrell Griffith (Louisville) in 1980. Could any of the favorites below lead their team to a title and join this prestigious crew?
Cameron Boozer is the top freshman on the Wooden Award oddsboard
NCAA Basketball Wooden Award Betting Odds
- Braden Smith (Purdue) +400
- Cameron Boozer (Duke) +500*
- Darryn Peterson (Kansas) +800*
- JT Toppin (Texas Tech) +1000
- Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan) +1200**
- AJ Dybantsa (BYU) +1200*
- Darrion Williams (NC State) +2200**
- Bennett Stirtz (Iowa) +2200**
- Trey Kaufman-Renn (Purdue) +2500
- Otega Oweh (Kentucky) +2500
- Donovan Dent (UCLA) +2500**
- Boogie Fland (Florida) +2500**
* freshman
** transfer
As always, especially with futures, do your line shopping. There can be some major discrepancies between sportsbooks, and every penny matters. Which leads me to the first College Hoops wager of the season for me, and let’s talk some value.
Thomas Haugh put up 10 points, 6 boards and 2.2 assists in just 25 minutes per game last year
Wooden Award Pick: Thomas Haugh (Florida) +12500
Obviously this is the smallest sprinkle, but I had to for the value. This kid is sitting at 50-1 and 75-1 everywhere else, so I had to jump on this number. It may be gone very shortly. The talk of the Florida Gators is obviously transfer Boogie Fland, and returning big man Alex Condon. And I get it, those are going to be the guys.
Center Reuben Chinyelu returns and they added transfer Xavien Lee to round out the probable starters for the defending National Champions. Last year, with Florida’s trio of guards, Thomas Haugh came off the bench, subbing in as a stretch four for Condon. This year, he’s going to get plenty of time on the wing, where he can be a tough matchup on both ends of the court.
Haugh Can Do It All
Haugh is a three level scorer and he’s ready for a bigger role in the offense. As a true freshman in 2024, Haugh appeared in 36 games with two starts, averaging about 15 minutes per game. In that time, he shot 45% overall for 3.9 points, 3.7 boards and a block. The kid shot terribly from outside and at the stripe, but that changed last year.
He was one of two players to appear in all 40 games for the Gators, and was a huge part of their rotation. In just 25 minutes a game, he produced 10 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists, while adding a block and a steal as well. The best part? He shot 79.4% from the stripe and got there at least twice a game, plus he increased his shooting percentage from deep by nearly 10%, shooting 34% from downtown last year on three attempts per game.
His overall field goal percentage increased 3.5% as well, knocking down over 48.5% of his shot attempts. Given the fact that the Gators will need more help on both sides of the floor, Haugh will be their man. He can defend 1-5 and is an offensive nightmare for whoever tries guarding him on the defensive end. With an increase in minutes, Haugh could easily average a double-double this season, while adding four assists and a couple blocks per game.
Still Didn’t Get Your NCAA Basketball Fix?
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