NCAA Tournament 2026 Bracketology Predictions, Championship Odds for March Madness

Who has some net-cutting and championship-crowning in their future as the last team standing in the 2026 men's NCAA Tournament?

Oddsmakers have a few ideas.

Granted, the single-elimination setup can lead to some wild, wholly unpredictable outcomes, but teams are favored for a reason. The lines might be blurred by the madness of March, but separation still exists between the college hoops world's haves and have-nots.

After providing the tournament schedule and consensus championship odds, we'll close by taking a closer look at a few of the favorites.

Tournament Schedule

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Selection Sunday: Sunday, March 15

First Four: March 17-18

First round: March 19-20

Second round: March 21-22

Sweet 16: March 26-27

Elite Eight: March 28-29

Final Four: April 4 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis

NCAA championship: April 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis

Championship Odds

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Duke +320

Michigan +330

Arizona +475

Florida +800

Houston +1000

UConn +1600

Illinois +1800

Iowa State +2200

Kansas +3500

Purdue +4000

Michigan State +4000

Gonzaga +5500

Arkansas +6000

Tennessee +7000

St. John's +7000

Virginia +8000

North Carolina +8000

Nebraska +8000

Alabama +8000

Vanderbilt +10000

Texas Tech +10000

Louisville +10000

Kentucky +10000

Wisconsin +12500

Iowa +15000

Saint Louis +15000

*consensus odds via Action Network

The Favorites

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Duke Blue Devils

Freshman phenom Cameron Boozer has been everything this program could have wanted and more. Even if he doesn't wind up as this year's top overall NBA draft pick—he's clearly in the mix—he might be running away with all of the major Player of the Year awards, while pacing his top-ranked team in points, rebounds and assists.

Duke isn't totally top-heavy, though, and in fact might be the best balanced team in the country, at least in terms of executing at both ends. Per KenPom, this is the only school to crack the nation's top four in both offensive (fourth) and defensive (first) efficiency.

Michigan Wolverines

Coach Dusty May's club has single digit losses to Wisconsin (by three) and Duke (by five) on its resume. Otherwise, it's all wins, many by double-digit margins.

With top-five rankings on offense and defense, this is a club built to win any number of ways, which mimics the versatility of senior leader (and likely first-round NBA pick) Yaxel Lendeborg. He leads the team in points and steals while ranking second in rebounds, assists and blocks.

Arizona Wildcats

The Big 12 champions have essentially aced every test on their schedule. They've played a boatload of ranked opponents and handled almost every one. Even their two slipups—against Kansas and Texas Tech—were decided by a total of seven points. And one of those games went into overtime.

They have size, strength and two-way skill. Seven different players average between 15.5 and 9.0 points, and all but one of them shoots better than 46 percent from the field.

Florida Gators

The defending champs had to overhaul a good chunk of their roster and took a little time to sort out all of their new puzzle pieces. But the puzzle looks complete and compelling now with Florida sprinting to the finish line thanks to a scorching-hot offense that has propelled it to a 10-game winning streak.

The Gators have reached triple digits three times in this stretch and only failed to crack 85 points twice. And nine of these 10 wins were decided by double-digits. They don't have a ton of shooting, but that's about the only knock against them. A consecutive title, a feat pulled off by the 2006-07 Gators, could absolutely be in the cards.