It’s super early for 2025 March Madness odds. But that won’t stop us from taking an early look at next season.
Due to NIL and the transfer portal, many elite players have already switched teams or have at least left their former school.
We’ll look at the top 10 teams to win the 2025 March Madness NCAA Tournament and discuss the best value based on what we know at this very moment.
The Top 25
Below are the current odds for the top college basketball teams to win the 2025 national college basketball championship.
| Team | Opening Odds | Current Odds at Bovada |
|---|---|---|
| Duke Blue Devils | +1100 | +1000 |
| UConn Huskies | +1200 | +1200 |
| Kansas Jayhawks | +1600 | +1200 |
| North Carolina Tar Heels | +1400 | +1400 |
| Houston Cougars | +1800 | +1600 |
| Alabama Crimson Tide | +1800 | +1800 |
| Arizona Wildcats | +2000 | +1800 |
| Baylor Bears | +1800 | +1800 |
| Gonzaga Bulldogs | +1800 | +1800 |
| Kentucky Wildcats | +1400 | +1800 |
| Arkansas Razorbacks | +2500 | +2200 |
| Auburn Tigers | +2000 | +2200 |
| Iowa State Cyclones | +2200 | +2200 |
| Purdue Boilermakers | +2800 | +2800 |
| Illinois Fighting Illini | +4000 | +4000 |
| Michigan State Spartans | +4000 | +4000 |
| BYU Cougars | +5000 | +5000 |
| Creighton Bluejays | +5000 | +5000 |
| Marquette Golden Eagles | +5000 | +5000 |
| Miami (FL) Hurricanes | +5000 | +5000 |
| Tennessee Volunteers | +5000 | +5000 |
| Florida Gators | +5000 | +5500 |
| UCLA Bruins | +6000 | +6000 |
| Xavier Musketeers | +10000 | +6000 |
| Michigan Wolverines | +6600 | +6600 |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | +6600 | +6600 |
| Saint Mary’s Gaels | +6600 | +6600 |
| St. John’s Red Storm | +6600 | +6600 |
| Wisconsin Badgers | +6600 | +6600 |
| Maryland Terrapins | +7500 | +7500 |
| Villanova Wildcats | +7500 | +7500 |
Can the UConn Huskies Go Back-To-Back-To-Back?
In 2023, the Huskies won their first NCAA Championship under Dan Hurley. The team that won it all last season looked nothing like the team that won it all this year.
UConn figures to lose Stephon Castle, Donovan Clingan and Alex Karaban to the NBA. They’re also going to watch Cam Spencer and Tristan Newton graduate. Those two can’t play for the Huskies anymore.
That’s an entire starting five that will no longer be with the championship program. However, UConn will replenish and obviously have some of the best coaches in the world.
Therefore, we can’t really discuss UConn’s potential for next year until we see a full roster. There are a lot of spots for the Huskies to fill before the roster is complete. Still, we’ve heard Hurley continue to talk about wanting to go back-to-back-to-back. He’ll make a push, and that will help bring in guys from the portal.
Why Duke?
The Duke Blue Devils will lose top performers like Kyle Filipowski and Jared McCain to the draft. Jeremy Roach also announced that he’s transferring out of Duke.
However, the Blue Devils landed Cooper Flagg, who is the most highly touted freshman in college basketball. Flagg is a legitimate one-and-done type player and will likely be the No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA Draft. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils have also added four other top-25 recruits in their freshman class.
If Tyrese Proctor stays another season with the Blue Devils, Flagg and Proctor have the potential to do big things at Duke.
It’s just hard to win the NCAA Tournament with so much young talent. Duke will be fun but will have a hard time winning when it matters the most.
Kentucky Fooled by John Calipari
The Kentucky faithful ultimately fired John Calipari as head coach. His support was so low that he left Kentucky and landed a job in Arkansas.
The Arkansas team is small right now. However, the one thing Calipari struggled with at Kentucky was delivering in the transfer portal.
He has no choice but to find guys in the transfer portal to build his team at Arkansas. We already know Calipari is one of the best coaches in college basketball. He’s also developed the most NBA players in college basketball. That said, if he’s able to land some intriguing older prospects in the portal for Arkansas, the Razorbacks are an interesting find at +3000.
Kentucky ultimately wanted Calipari out because he couldn’t make it out of the Sweet 16 in nearly half a dozen years. It’ll be hilarious when he gets into the top 16 in his first season with Arkansas.
Maybe Gonzaga Gets Its First
The Gonzaga Bulldogs didn’t have the most powerful season last year. The Bulldogs struggled against St. Mary’s and didn’t rout teams like they normally do in conference play. However, the Bulldogs played very well in the NCAA Tournament last year and will likely hold onto all players but Anton Watson.
If the Bulldogs have Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Michael Ajayi, Ben Gregg and Graham Ike all healthy and starting, the Bulldogs could be a serious contender in 2025.
Ajayi transferred from Pepperdine after scoring more than 17 points per game. Meanwhile, Gonzaga should have a promising bench led by Steele Venters, who missed last year due to an injury. He’s got a lot of potential from downtown and could spread the floor for the rest of the team.
Although the Bulldogs have never won the NCAA Tournament, they’ve come close multiple times and have played in multiple NCAA Tournament Championships. They haven’t gotten the job done yet, but they seem to always outdo their seeding and play at a higher level than most expect coming into each year of the Tournament.
In Tournaments, the veterans always find a way. This Gonzaga team has a lot of experience and plenty of great athletes.
Gonzaga at +2500 is an interesting one.
