Fans of the NBA and WNBA will all know who the current stars are of the two biggest men’s and women’s professional basketball leagues in the world.
But who are the stars of tomorrow? The best way to find out may be to tune into March Madness, where the USA’s best NCAA (University-level) basketball colleges will compete for just under three weeks to find out who the champions are for the year 2026.
March Madness at a Glance
- Start: March 17 (Runs till April 6)
- Venue: Cities all across the USA
- Coverage: Disney+ (UK) CBS, Paramount+ (Live Streaming)
March Madness is about far more than just seeing today’s bright young things and tomorrow’s superstars of the game in action.
For starters, winning the whole thing is extremely prestigious and an opportunity for fans of a particular college to experience a potential three weeks of sporting excellence, drama, buzzer-beaters, and ‘Cinderella stories’, where big underdogs beat the odds against hot favourites.
And speaking of odds, it’s also one of the biggest betting events on the US sporting calendar, and also a huge betting heat for punters all around the world.
In both the men's and women’s competitions, it starts off with 72 teams, which are reduced to 68 after four are eliminated right across the first two days.
Those 68 are then divided into four brackets, meaning that at the start of the tournament, everyone knows who they might play in each round. The overall winner will therefore have to win six matches after the brackets have been drawn up.
Betting on March Madness 2026
Who is going to win this year's March Madness? This is our pick:
March Madness Betting Tip: Back the Michigan Wolverines to be the Men’s NCAA Championship Winner.
In terms of individual matches, they’ll have many of the usual markets that you’d expect to find for any NBA game.
That includes: the moneyline, the main handicap, and plenty of other handicap markets, total points, 1st half total, Team A total points, Team B total points, and win margin.
In the men’s competition, the Duke Blue Devils are the 4.00 favourites. They are, after all, the Number 1 seeds, and that’s thanks to being the joint-best team during the season (a 32-2 record) leading up to March Madness. They also have a great record in this competition and one of the deepest rosters in the tournament.
Hot on their heels are the Michigan Wolverines at 4.5, the Arizona Wildcats at 5.0 and the defending champions, the Florida Gators, who are 7.5.
The key element to the Wolverines is that they’re extremely balanced when it comes to both offence (averaging 88 points per game during the season) and defence, thanks to superb coaching by Dusty May.
It also helps to have a superstar like Yaxel Lendeborg on the side, superb in both points-scoring and rebounds. Maybe the Wolverines should be the favourites.
Fun Fact
Atlantic Sun champions Queens and WAC champions California Baptist will both be making their first appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
Queens secured qualification in its very first year of eligibility, becoming only the fifth program since 1972 to reach the tournament in its debut season of eligibility.
