2026 College Basketball Odds: Best Bet for Bama-Tenn; Duke to the Final Four?

By Sam Panayotovich

Published February 27, 2026

Saturday’s college hoops slate is solid.

To name a few matchups, there's Duke-Virginia, Arizona-Kansas, Iowa State-Texas Tech, Alabama-Tennessee and Arkansas-Florida.

With that, here are a few bets I made today.

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No. 17 Alabama @ No. 22 Tennessee (-4, O/U 162.5)

Let’s turn the page to Saturday.

Knoxville will be up for grabs and oddsmakers believe we’re in for a shootout. DraftKings opened the total at 162.5, which is a tad high for a Tennessee game. Then again, Alabama tends to bring out the pace in everybody.

The Crimson Tide play at the second-highest tempo in the country. They run, run and run some more. Head coach Nate Oats prioritizes possessions and the Alabama style is simple: They want 3s and layups.

Rick Barnes has had some smothering defenses over the years at Tennessee, but I think this year’s bunch is a smidge overrated. You can score on ‘em.

I bet this total early and expect it to be higher tomorrow.

PICK: Over 162.5 points scored by both teams combined

Duke to make the Final Four

As I wrote last weekend, I was really hoping Michigan would beat Duke for selfish reasons. I wanted to get a bloated 8/1 on the Blue Devils to win the national championship, so naturally, they upset Michigan.

Now they’re as low as 4/1 to win it all.

Rats.

I still think the Final Four market is worth discussing. Duke was around +110 before the Michigan game, and now you can find -130. I don’t envision Duke losing another regular-season game and odds are good that Jon Scheyer’s squad will be the No. 1 overall seed in the East region.

They’ll be favorites in every game through the Elite Eight, and even though you’re a little late to the party, it’s still good math in my opinion.

By the way, a Duke Final Four ticket paired with Scottie Scheffler to win the Masters pays almost 6/1 if you’re into that sort of thing.

PICK: Duke (-130) to make Final Four

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/2026-college-basketball-odds-best-bets-michigan-illinois-bama-tennessee