The 2025 NCAAB season is upon us and it's that time again where we look to crown the national champion and who the top contenders are.
The top schools in the country will compete for a chance to cut down the nets at the Alamodome in Texas on April 7th with the UConn Huskies looking to make it an incredible three championships in a row, following their success earlier in 2024 and in 2023.
But who are their main competition? We'll take a look at the contenders and provide our best free NCAAB betting picks to try and earn you some extra cash.
| NCAAB National Championship 2025 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Blue Devils | +750 | +900 | +850 |
| UConn Huskies | +900 | +850 | +800 |
| Kansas Jayhawks | +1100 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Gonzaga Bulldogs | +1100 | +1200 | +1000 |
| Houston Cougars | +1200 | +1200 | +1100 |
| Alabama Crimson Tide | +1200 | +1200 | +950 |
Learn more about how to bet on NCAA Basketball here.
NCAAB 2025 season information
- First Four: March 18-19
- First round: March 20-21
- Second round: March 22-23
- Sweet 16: March 27-28
- Elite Eight: March 29-30
- Final Four: Saturday, April 5 at Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas.
- NCAA championship game: Monday, April 7 at Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas.
NCAAB 2025 season favorites
Below you'll find a list of favorites to win the 2025 NCAAB national championship.
Duke Blue Devils - (+900)
Duke reached the Elite 8 in its second season under head coach Jon Scheyer and now have the chance to improve on that thanks to their top recruitment class.
The Blue Devils will bring in four five-star freshmen, including 6-foot-9 wing Cooper Flagg, who many expect to be the top recruit in the country and No.1 draft pick in 2025, and 7-foot-2 center Khaman Maluach, who comes straight from the NBA Academy Africa project. It's a big blow for them that last season's leading scorers Kyle Filipowski and Jared McCain are heading to the NBA, but guards Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster will return. The backcourt may also contain Jeremy Roach, who could yet return for a fifth season.
Regardless of whether he stays or goes, Duke will have the talent to cut down the nets next year in San Antonio.
Head coach Scheyer has a 54-18 record in two seasons since taking over for the great Mike Krzyzewski. This is Scheyer’s program now, and he took them to the Elite Eight last season.
With Flagg leading the way, anything less than a Final Four appearance is probably a disaster for the Blue Devils. At +900 the value is fantastic and the talent in the roster, plus the head coach, makes them a fantastic pick to go all the way.
UConn Huskies - (+900)
A three-peat is a very, very rare occurrence in any sport - but UConn have every chance of making it a reality in 2025.
After winning it all in 2023, UConn lost three starters and five of its eight leading scorers yet still managed to defend its title with another impressive NCAA Tournament run by defeating the Purdue Boilermakers in the final for their sixth title.
After a few years rebuilding, this is Dan Hurley's team and he deserves all the credit in the world for the way he has his team playing. Hurley will have a lot of work to do this offseason with four of his five starters moving on.
Seniors Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer are now ineligible, while star center Donovan Clingan and freshman guard Stephon Castle have both made their move to the NBA also, but Alex Karaban has stuck around for another season, but four of Hurley's top-five scorers from last season are no more.
The level of coach he is was cemented by the fact he turned down the chance to become head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James this summer, so he's also clearly confident of bringing success to Connecticut once more.
Big things are expected of Samson Johnson to make up for the loss of Clingan and with veteran guard Hassan Diarra also part of the supporting cast, +900 is a great price for them to go again.
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Kansas Jayhawks - (+1100)
The last team to win a championship other than UConn was the Kansas Jayhawks back in 2022, but since then things haven't gone too well for Bill Self's side as they have exited in the second round in each of the two tournaments before then and since.
However, after welcoming young prodigies AJ Storr and Rylan Griffen, the Jayhawks have now reloaded for the new season and will be hoping for more success. Griffen comes in as a big scoring weapon for Kansas, having left the Alabama Crimson Tide as their fourth-highest scorer last season.
There is also big expectations and talk of a potential Player of the Year award about center Hunter Dickinson. But he will need a huge year to make up for the losses of Kevin McCullar Jr. and Johnny Funphy to the NBA draft.
Kansas had an 11-loss season last time out and Self will expect even more this time around. They have plenty of talent and quality and the coaching staff has championship-winning experience, so they can't be ruled out. At +1100, there are certainly worse bets out there.
