The blue and green confetti is done falling, we have watched endless Gator chomps, and after what will be remembered as an all #1's NCAA Tournament it's time to turn the page and take a glance at next season.
It's never too early to start looking at future plays, but in the new NIL driven college landscape it is getting harder and harder to find value in the early stages following the championship game. A lot has been written about how this year's, and let's be honest last season's, tournament has shown the disparity between the big programs and their overflowing money and the mid majors. Some have even called the new landscape the death of the mid majors and while that is sad, that should not deter bettors from shying away from finding some value.
The odds for next year's tournament read like a who's who of blue-blood college basketball royalty. Indianapolis will be hosting the 2026 Final Four inside Lucas Oil Stadium and that is fitting because this looks like race to the top.
At the top of that racing chart are the Duke Blue Devils with the shortest odds at 10 to 1. Jon Scheyer is back and now he's hungry after having his season slip away in the final seconds. He will return with the #2 overall recruiting class led by the Boozer twins, Cameron and Cayden as freshman on everyone's watch list.
The runner up Houston Cougars had an experienced team, which means many will leave, but Sampson has shown he will be here time and time again. The question is how many runs in him will the 70-year-old have left? I was hoping I could get some value on Louisville who have been really active in the portal, but they come in with 15 to 1 odds. Not exactly a value team. Pat Kelsey has brought on transfers Ryan Conwell, Isaac McKneely, and Adrian Wooley and maybe more to come.
Kansas is right behind them at 16 to 1 followed by Purdue. Matt Painter's team looks very dangerous in a winnable Big 10 but remember that conference hasn't won it all since 2000. The Jayhawks had a rough season and now has three early NCAA tournament exists, but Bill Self is still there, and people love to bet the Hawks.
BYU is not a blue blood but boy are they fun to watch and now they bring on the #1 prospect in the country to a loaded offense that just made a deep run with a good coach. I wish I was getting better odds than 18 to 1, but this is an intriguing team. Speaking of intriguing we all loved what Coach Cal did with the Razorbacks late in the season and even in a loaded SEC that kid of coaching is alluring for a nearly 20-1 payout.
Speaking of the SEC Bruce Pearl is back, the Gators might repeat, Alabama can run with anyone and all of them hover around the 20-1 mark in another really deep SEC. Kentucky isn't far behind them either
As for St. John's they are about 25-1 to cut down the nets and it's hard to count them out but the Big East could be very dangerous this season. Creighton has already landed a 7-foot transfer and UConn with Dan Hurley at 19 to 1 might actually be one of the underrated bets to make.