Duke opens as 2026 NCAA championship favorite

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Although consensus national player of the year Cooper Flagg is expected to leave Duke now that his freshman season is complete, oddsmakers still favor the Blue Devils to win the 2026 national championship.

Duke went 35-4 this season, falling 70-67 in the Final Four as Houston pulled off a stunning last-minute comeback.

BetRivers, FanDuel and DraftKings all listed the Blue Devils as +1000 favorites for the 2026 title as of Monday.

Houston, which lost the national final to Florida 65-63 on Monday, was the unanimous second choice, listed at +1200 by DraftKings and FanDuel and +1300 by BetRivers. The Gators will need to find a replacement for NBA-bound All-America guard Walter Clayton Jr.

The next tier of expected contenders includes a number of schools.

DraftKings had UConn at +1400, BYU at +1600, St. John’s and Purdue each at +1800 and Arkansas, Kentucky and Kansas all at +2000.

Louisville and Purdue were both posted at +1400 by FanDuel, with Kansas and BYU both at +1600, then Arkansas, Auburn, Alabama and UConn all at +1800.

Arkansas, Louisville, Purdue and BYU were tied for the third spot on BetRivers’ board at +1400. UConn was next at +1700, with Alabama, Kentucky and Auburn all at +1800.

The interest in BYU is sparked by the program landing the top-rated prospect of the incoming freshman class, AJ Dybantsa. The 6-foot-9 wing chose BYU over Kansas, North Carolina and Alabama in December.

Newly crowned national champion Florida was listed at +2500 by FanDuel, BetRivers and DraftKings.

Auburn, the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s NCAAs before losing 79-73 to the Gators in a national semifinal, was posted at +2500 by DraftKings.

–Field Level Media