National Championship Odds

Duke +1100

Kansas +1100

Purdue +1100

Michigan State +1800

Creighton +2000

Marquette +2000

Tennessee +2000

Kentucky +2000

Connecticut +2200

Arizona +2500

Alabama +2500

The Blue Devils, Jayhawks and Boilermakers are co-favorites to win it all after early exits in the Big Dance a year ago. Kansas, which added Hunter Dickinson in the transfer portal, earned the No. 1 spot in Kevin Sweeney’s preseason rankings. Duke welcomed back Kyle Filipowski for his sophomore season and came in at No. 2, followed by No.3 Purdue, a program led by senior Zach Edey with a few recent embarrassing tournament exits on its resume.

Further down the list are the Huskies, who cut down the nets in April, but coach Dan Hurley is relying on a largely different lineup to defend UConn’s title. The Blue Jays and Golden Eagles both have better odds to win it all than the Huskies, their biggest competition in the Big East. Three SEC teams — the Volunteers, Wildcats and Crimson Tide — all find themselves among the favorites. Sweeney is especially bullish on Tennessee, the No. 4 team in his rankings.

Last year’s Final Four teams all had preseason odds of +6000 or longer: San Diego State was +6000, Miami was +9000, FAU was +250000 and UConn was +7500. For reference, No. 22 SDSU (+7500), No. 23 St. John’s (+6000) and No. 24 UVA (+6000) all made Sweeney’s preseason top 25 but have similarly long odds to make a title run.

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ACC Champion Odds

Duke +110

North Carolina +500

Virginia +650

Miami +650

Clemson +1200

Virginia Tech +1900

NC State +1900

Wake Forest +2600

Pittsburgh +5000

Syracuse +5000

Florida State +5500

Boston College +12000

Georgia Tech +12000

Louisville +25000

Notre Dame +25000

Apart from the Hurricanes’ Final Four appearance, 2022-23 was a down year in the ACC as the Tar Heels missed the tournament entirely and the Blue Devils lost in the second round. At 15–5, Miami and UVA split the regular-season title and both programs are expected to vie for it once again, but the blue bloods in North Carolina are the favorites with Duke at almost even odds to finish first in the conference in Jon Scheyer’s second season at the helm and UNC a distant second.

Sweeney picked the Blue Devils to win the ACC behind the play of Filipowski and Tyrese Proctor, two All-Conference picks. After Duke it goes Miami, North Carolina, Virginia and then Clemson, per Sweeney’s projections.

Big Ten Champion Odds

Purdue +155

Michigan State +340

Maryland +850

Illinois +1000

Wisconsin +1000

Indiana +1500

Ohio State +2000

Iowa +2500

Northwestern +3000

Nebraska +3500

Michigan +4000

Penn State +5000

Minnesota +25000

The Boilermakers won the Big Ten going away last season for the first time since 2017 with a 15–5 record in conference play. The Spartans have the best odds at preventing Matt Painter’s team from repeating, followed by the Terrapins, Illini and Badgers.

Sweeney projects Purdue will win the conference again behind the play of Edey and he likes Michigan State, Illinois, Maryland and Wisconsin to fall in line behind the Boilermakers.

Big 12 Champion Odds

Kansas +175

Houston +400

Texas +700

TCU +750

Baylor +1000

Texas Tech +1200

Kansas State +1500

Iowa State +2000

BYU +3000

Cincinnati +4000

Oklahoma State +5000

West Virginia +7500

Oklahoma +7500

UCF +10000

The Big 12 got bigger this offseason with the additions of BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Houston. The BYU Cougars, Bearcats and Knights are unlikely to make a splash in one of college basketball’s top conferences, but the Houston Cougars project to challenge the Jayhawks after years of dominant play in the AAC. A 13–5 mark in league play for Kansas gave coach Bill Self another outright regular-season title a year ago.

Sweeney projects the Jayhawks to repeat atop the conference and Houston to finish runner-up, followed by Baylor, Texas and Texas Tech.

Big East Champion Odds

Marquette +260

Creighton +270

Connecticut +300

Villanova +550

St. John’s +1200

Xavier +2000

Providence +2000

Georgetown +7500

Butler +14000

DePaul +25000

The Golden Eagles, Blue Jays and Huskies are all neck and neck in the battle for the Big East but Marquette, the reigning regular-season champions who went 17–3 in league play last season, has a slight edge in the betting market. The Wildcats seem to be in a tier of their own, behind the top three teams but also well ahead of the likes of the Red Storm, Musketeers and Friars.

There could be some value in backing UConn to win its first Big East title since it rejoined the conference in 2020. Sweeney picked the Huskies to finish first, ahead of Marquette, Creighton, Villanova and St. John’s (in that order).

Pac-12 Champion Odds

Arizona +175
USC +340
Colorado +600
UCLA +700
Oregon +950
Stanford +1100
Utah +1400
Washington +2200
Arizona State +5000
Washington State +5000
Oregon State +25000

The Wildcats have the best odds to go out as Pac-12 champions in the final season of the conference as we know it. Arizona, which won the regular-season title in Year 1 under Tommy Lloyd in 2021-22, is coming off a second-place finish behind the Bruins, who went 18–2 last year in league play.

Sweeney’s preseason rankings project the conference to be a bit top heavy with Arizona, USC and UCLA all ranked in the top 15 — No. 37 Colorado is next-best team. He picked the Wildcats to finish first, followed by the Trojans, Bruins, Buffaloes and Ducks.

SEC Champion Odds

Tennessee +290
Texas A&M +550
Kentucky +600
Florida +700
Auburn +800
Alabama +850
Arkansas +850
Mississippi State +1700
Missouri +1700
Ole Miss +2000
LSU +4000
Georgia +9000
Vanderbilt +10000
South Carolina +21000

The Volunteers are favored to finish first in a deep conference, but they’ll face tough competition from the Aggies and Wildcats, not to mention the Gators, Auburn Tigers, Razorbacks and Crimson Tide, who won two of the last three SEC regular-season championships. Tennessee won a share of the title in 2017-18 but hasn’t won it outright since the 2007-08 campaign.

Sweeney picked the Volunteers to end that drought behind their elite defense and the Wildcats, Aggies, Razorbacks and Gators to round out the top five. Sweeney has Alabama, the No. 1 overall seed in last year’s tournament, finishing sixth in the conference after an offseason of roster turnover.