Opening 2027 National Championship Odds – Is Michigan Favored to Repeat?
By Sascha Paruk in College Basketball
Published:
- With the 2026 tournament almost over, sportsbooks have opened the 2027 March Madness odds
- Reigning-champion Michigan is not at the top of the board
- See the 2027 March Madness championship odds for every team priced at +30000 or shorter
The 2027 NCAA Tournament won’t start for another 344 days, but the opening lines to win the national championship are already posted.
The table below sets out the March Madness championship odds for all teams priced at +30000 or shorter at DraftKings. The Michigan Wolverines are near the top, yet one Blue Blood is priced even shorter than Dusty May’s squad.
NCAA Tournament National Champion Odds (2027)
The odds in the table are from DraftKings Sportsbook on April 6, 2026.
If Michigan makes it back to the Final Four, it will feel like a home game; the 2027 Final Four will take place at Ford Field in Detroit, MI, on April 5.
Duke Favored Over Michigan in 2027 Title Odds
Jon Scheyer’s Duke Blue Devils have opened as the +800 favorite in the 2027 March Madness odds. Duke is sure to lose National Player of the Year Cameron Boozer to the NBA but his twin brother Cayden (7.7 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 3.0 APG in 22.8 MPG) is expected to return for a sophomore season and play a much bigger role than he did as a freshman.
It’s been hinted that dynamic scorer Isaiah Evans (15.0 PPG, 36.1 3P%) will also return for his sophomore season. Evans will likely start the season near the top of the Wooden Award odds.
Scheyer also has three top-25 recruits coming in, including ESPN’s #3-ranked Cameron Williams, a 6’11 forward. Though his overall grade of 94 would have only put him T9th in the 2025 class.
Wolverines Will Lose a Ton of Talent, But Not All
Michigan is going to lose a ton of minutes/scoring from its 2025-26 team. The team’s three leading scorers and rebounders – Yaxel Lendeborg (15.1 PPG, 6.9 RPG), Morez Johnson (13.1 PPG, 7.3 RPG), and Aday Mara (12.2 PPG, 6.8 RPG) – will be in the NBA next season. (Lendeborg is a senior, anway.)
Point guard Elliot Cadeau (10.3 PPG, 5.9 APG) is likely to return for his senior season, though, as are two-guards Trey McKenney (9.9 PPG, 39.4 3P%) and LJ Cason (8.4 PPG, 40.2 3P%).
Will Tschetter (3.6 PPG, 1.9 RPG in 13.9 MPG) will be asked to pick up a ton of slack in the frontcourt unless May lands an impact forward in the transfer portal.
Managing Editor
Sascha has been working in the sports-betting industry since 2014, and quickly paired his strong writing skills with a burgeoning knowledge of probability and statistics. He holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics and a Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia.
