2 weeks Ago By Ben Fawkes
The Florida Gators may have won the national championship 65-63 over the Houston Cougars on Monday night, but oddsmakers at BetMGM have the Cougars as the favorites to cut down the nets in 2026. Houston has the best odds to win the 2026 national championship at +900, followed by the Duke Blue Devils (10-1), UConn Huskes (14-1) and Louisville Cardinals (17-1). Houston guard Milos Uzan is expected to turn pro, but Emanuel Sharp and Joseph Tugler could return to fortify a Cougars team that easily could have won Monday night.
The Gators have 20-1 odds to repeat, tied for the seventh best with five other teams (BYU, Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas and Alabama). It's widely expected that 2025 Naismith Award winner and likely 2025 NBA Draft No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, as well as other Duke standouts, will declare for the draft, but the Blue Devils still have the second-best odds of any college basketball team to win it all.
Auburn (18-1) and Purdue (19-1) are the only other teams with odds better than 20-1. Sportsbooks did well on the futures market in the 2024-25 season, as the majority of wagers and money at most books were on the Blue Devils to win — and that included a $500,000 wager on Duke at +350 odds at BetMGM , which didn't cash. One bettor at BetMGM wagered $100,000 on the Gators at +900 odds to win the 2025 NCAA tournament March 6 and cashed a ticket worth $900,000 after Florida's win.
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