College Basketball 2025 National Championship Odds: Predictions, Favorites, and Betting Tips

Reed Wallach | Jan 13, 2025

Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley cuts the basketball net winning the Men's NCAA national championship game against the Purdue Boilermakers at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on April 8, 2024. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

With conference play in full swing we are starting to see the contenders emerge for the National Championship.

While the likes of UConn will be hard pressed to make it three titles in a row, Duke and Auburn appear to be the class of college basketball this season, navigating a treacherous non conference schedule and dominating through high-end conference play.

The most notable development is that Duke's Cooper Flagg has proven to be the best player in the country. The soon-to-be No. 1 overall pick has been trending up for the past month or so, and is now the Wooden Award favorite after Auburn's best player, Johni Broome, exited the Tigers last game with an ankle injury. However, the injury will cost the veteran big man some time, the Tigers are still the second choice to win the National Championship as the group has proven to be amongst the most complete in the nation.

Elsewhere, the always competitive Big 12 appears to be as formidable as ever with a handful of competitive rosters, headlined by Iowa State, Houston and Kansas.

The big story though, is the depth of the SEC, which has about a dozen NCAA Tournament hopefuls this season with plenty of high end rosters outside of just Auburn with Tennessee, Florida and last year's Final Four team Alabama all more than capable of a deep March Madness run.

Here's the updated National Championship odds through the early part of January.

2025 National Championship Odds

• Duke: +500
• Auburn: +600
• Iowa State: +900
• Houston: +1500
• Tennessee: +1500
• Florida: +1500
• Alabama: +1500
• Kentucky: +2000
• Gonzaga: +2000
• Connecticut: +2500
• Kansas: +2500
• Michigan: +3000
• Marquette: +3500
• St. John's: +4000
• Illinois: +4000
• Michigan State: +4000
• Arizona: +5000
• Mississippi State: +5000

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

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Through about a month of the college basketball season, we have already seen the ever changing year-to-year nature of the new era of the sport.

UConn, the two-time defending National Champions were swept in the Maui Invitational, a minor setback for the talented Huskies, while teams like Auburn and Kansas proved it had the upside to be viewed as National Championship Contenders.

After a handful of marquee matchups early in the season, teams will continue to round into form ahead of conference play, which starts in full as the calendar flips to 2025. Let's take stock in some of the early movers up the National Championship odds board with a handful of games to build on.

2025 National Championship Odds

• Auburn: +850
• Duke: +1000
• Gonzaga: +1100
• Houston: +1500
• Connecticut: +1700
• Kansas: +1700
• Tennessee: +1700
• Alabama: +1700
• Kentucky: +2000
• Iowa State: +2000
• Marquette: +3500
• North Carolina: +4000
• Cincinnati: +4000
• Baylor: +4500
• Arizona: +5000
• Creighton: +5000
• Texas Tech: +5000
• Michigan: +5000
• St. John's: +5000
• Florida: +5000
• Purdue: +5000
• Illinois: +5000

Auburn has emerged as the early front runner now that play is underway with an incredibly impressive showing in Maui behind Wooden Award favorite Johni Broome. However, the competition is fierce as the likes of Duke, Gonzaga and Houston all have played formidable competition already this season and have the profile of a National Championship contender.

Despite being unbeaten and ranked atop the AP Poll, Kansas has yet to win the support of oddsmakers, still grouped together amongst the second tier that features UConn, who will look to shake off its slow start to the season.

Titles aren't won in November, but with some datapoints building we are starting to see a group of teams emerged as the clear contenders as the season moves on.

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College basketball season is here!

The ever changing hoops landscape had a ton of turnover this past offseason with tons of conference realignment, transfer portal movement, and an injection of freshman talent. As November gets underway so does the 2024-2025 season. With the season set to tip off on Monday, let’s take a look at the National Championship odds ahead of a new season. 

All eyes will be on the Duke Blue Devils as the team bolsters a blend of veteran talent and the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation that includes Cooper Flagg. The Blue Devils may have some growing pains, but the team enters the season as the betting favorites to cut down the nets. 

However, Duke has a historical team that is poised to contend for a third straight National Championship in Danny Hurley’s Connecticut Huskies. While the team must replace the likes of lottery picks Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle, UCONN is a bonafide title contender entering the year, joined by the likes of Houston and Kansas. 

Below you’ll find the odds to win the National Championship ahead of the season in what should be another competitive season with plenty of viable contenders to win it all. 

2025 National Championship Odds

• Duke: +950
• Connecticut: +1100
• Houston: +1100
• Kansas: +1100
• Alabama: +1200
• Gonzaga: +1400
• Iowa State: +1600
• Auburn: +2000
• Arizona: +2500
• North Carolina: +2500
• Arkansas: +3000
• Baylor: +3000
• Creighton: +4000
• Tennessee: +4000
• Texas Tech: +4000
• St. John’s: +4000
• Purdue: +4000
• Kentucky: +4000
• Indiana: +5000
• Ohio State: +6000
• Cincinnati: +6000
• Marquette: +6000
• Michigan: +6000
• BYU: +6000
• Florida: +6000
• Michigan State: +6000
• Texas: +6000

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

2025 National Championship Contenders

Duke Blue Devils

All eyes will be on the Blue Devils this seaosn, the third of the Jon Scheyer era, and the first (and likely only) of the Cooper Flagg era.

Flagg headlines the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, but also a team that returns the likes of Tyrese Proctor and landed veteran forward Mason Gillis from Purdue in the transfer portal.

Duke has the highest ceiling of any team, but Scheyer's teams have come up short in both of his NCAA Tournament runs.

Connecticut Huskies

The two-time defending National Champions wil look to make it three in a row in 2025, the first since UCLA in the late 1960's, but with more roster turnover and a crowded race for the best team, it'll be head coach Dan Hurley's biggest test.

The Huskies return a few key contributors from last year's team, including sharp shooter Alex Karaban and Hassan Diarra, while adding the likes of St. Mary's transfer Aidan Mahaney to keep the teams motion offense humming.

The Huskies are in a challenging Big East that will give the team plenty of opportunities to round into NCAA Tournament form, but the group has history up against them.

Houston Cougars

Kelvin Sampson's group is still looking to breakthrough as a title winner, could it be in 2025?

The Cougars showed zero growing pains jumping from the AAC to the Big 12 last year, winning the league in 2024. Can the team put together a full season and remain healthy to win the National Championship?

Houston has a vaunted defense that will look give defenses fits while the offense spends most of the season replacing point guard Jamal Shead.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama paces the SEC as the league's most viable National Championship contender.

A year removed from the Final Four, Mark Sears returns under head coach Nate Oats to try and get over the hump in 2025.

The fast paced, perimeter-oriented offense will feature plenty of high scoring affairs, but can the team shore up its defense that was shaky at times during the season in order to be a more well rounded contender?

Gonzaga Bulldogs

The Bulldogs finished the season on a tear, but ran into a buzzsaw in Purdue in the Sweet 16, but return a majority of its roster for another run at the program's first National Championship.

Ryan Nembhard and Graham Ike will pace the way while a solid group of contributors like Ben Gregg, Nolan Hickman and transfer Michael Ajayi make this team a bonafide contender in the eyes of oddsmakers.

Recent National Championship Winner Odds

• 2024: Connecticut: +2000
• 2023: Connecticut: +8000
• 2022: Kansas: +1400
• 2021: Baylor: +10000
• 2020: N/A
• 2019: Virginia: +1350
• 2018: Villanova: +2700
• 2017: North Carolina: +1900
• 2016: Villanova: +2500
• 2015: Duke: +900

Odds courtesy of SpotsOddsHistory

How to Bet on NCAA Tournament National Championship Winners

To find the list of National Championship odds, click on the NCAA Men's Basketball tab on your sportsbook, and hover over to the "Futures" tab. It's worth noting that you can't bet on an in-state college basketball team. If that team, for example Connecticut, won and you are living in the state of Connecticut, the bet would void after the National Championship Game.

For who to bet on, there's no easy way to go about it.

As you can see from the above list, there is no rhyme or reason to the preseason National Championship winner, but there are plenty of signs during the season of who has the makings of one, including the KenPom 20/20, which is outlined here. 

The action gets started on Monday night and runs through April, make sure to check back here for the latest National Championship odds!

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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