The Best Futures Bets in College Basketball

We’re over a month into the college basketball season and almost every team has played at least 10 games. We now have a good picture of how the best teams are performing, which teams might surprise people, and which teams were preseason fool’s gold, so it’s time to start looking at the best futures bets to make.

Kansas has been a NCAA powerhouse since the 90s and they’re as powerful as ever right now. Since Bill Self took over the coaching role in 2003, the Jayhawks have been to the tournament every year and they’ve had success in it. They’ve been a 1 seed 9 times, and won 2 national championships. 

So far this season, Kansas has had just one miss-step. A loss against Tennessee who were ranked 22nd at the time. Beyond that, they have an impressive resume with wins over Duke (ranked 7th at the time), Wisconsin, and most recently a 22 point annihilation of 14th ranked Indiana. They haven’t dropped lower than 9th in the rankings at any point yet this season. 

Senior forward Jalen Wilson leads the team with just over 21 points and 9 rebounds per game, and freshman guard Gradey Dick is shooting the lights out of the three ball at a 49.2% clip. They’ve kept the team consistent and competitive. Kansas has the 9th best odds at the NCAA title right now. 

It’s difficult to fathom the idea that the number 1 team in the country has only the 10th best odds to make the Final 4. Purdue has not lost a game yet this season, and they railroaded the only ranked opponents they’ve faced so far. They beat Gonzaga (ranked 6th at the time) by 18 points and Duke (ranked 8th at the time) by 19 points. 

Purdue plays in a loaded Big Ten conference that currently has 6 ranked teams, but they appear to be the cream of the crop. Conference play will have its own story to tell but right now, Purdue seems as close as a lock to make the Final 4 as you can be in mid December.

Given that they play in an incredibly weak conference, Gonzaga packed their non conference schedule this season. Competitive games will show the league and the tournament seeding committee what they’re worth. This year they played Michigan State, Texas, Kentucky, Purdue, Baylor, and Alabama, all of whom are ranked in the top-25 or were at some point this season. 

The Bulldogs went 3-3 against these teams, with their most impressive win coming most recently against 4th ranked Alabama. Senior forward Drew Timme paces the team with his 21.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, and his leadership and experience is crucial to their success. A national title still eludes Gonzaga though they’ve been a 1 seed in 4 of the last 5 tournaments and made the championship game twice. They’ve got a championship pedigree and as good a shot as anyone to make it to the final 4.

Of course, this is an obvious pick, but I had to mention Zach Edey here because he’s essentially free money. 

Zach Edey was relatively low on the college basketball radar last season as a Sophomore. He averaged 14.4 points and 7.7 rebounds a game in the 19 minutes he was given, a very solid big man who played about half the game. This year he’s blown up. Edey is averaging 22.6 points, 14 rebounds (5.5 offensive), and 2.2 blocks per game, dominating the post on both sides of the floor against every opponent this season. He has his undefeated Purdue team sitting pretty as the top ranked team in the country. 

Edey has only failed to score 20 points or secure 10 rebounds in 2 out of 11 games so far this season, but what really put him on the map was his otherworldly 31 point, 22 rebound performance at home against Minnesota. No team has had an answer for Edey yet this season.

This might be as cheap as it gets to buy a UNC ACC champion future. After spending a few weeks as the number 1 ranked team in the country to start the season, the Tar Heels had a brutal stretch where they lost 4 in a row including twice to unranked opponents. Since then though, they’ve won three straight, highlighted by an overtime win against #23 Ohio State. 

The ACC has more or less been run by UNC, Duke, and Virginia in the recent past, and in all likelihood one of them will end up with the conference title in 2023. UNC has the longest odds right now of those three schools, but once conference play begins they can make up lost ground in a hurry.