March Madness is officially over for the 2022 season. The Kansas Jayhawks are the National Champions and they defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels 72-69. The last time they won it all was back in 2008 against the Memphis Tigers in overtime.
Kansas will be one of the top teams to win it all in 2023. Sports News are out for college basketball next season already. It is never too early to talk about next season. Who are some of the favorites to win it all next year?
Kansas +1000
The Kansas Jayhawks are the favorites to go back-to-back next season. Kansas will be loaded once again under head coach Bill Self and will also be one of the best teams in the BIG12 Conference. However, teams have not gotten past the second round of the NCAA Tournament in a while the year after they won it all.
The Florida Gators were the last team to go back-to-back in 2006 and in 2007. Dajuan Harris Jr. is projected to come back next year and so is Jalen Wilson. They will have three Top 25 recruits coming to town in Gradey Dick, M.J. Rice, and Ernest Udeh. All Kansas does is reload and they have one of the best college basketball programs in the country.
Arkansas and Duke +1200
The Arkansas Razorbacks and the Duke Blue Devils both have the second-best odds to cut down the nets next season at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Arkansas is going to be loaded next season under head coach Eric Mussleman.
He has led this basketball team to back-to-back Elite 8s, before getting bounced to the Baylor Bears in 2021 and the Duke Blue Devils in 2022. Next year could be the year that the Razorbacks finally cut down the nets. The SEC hasn’t won a National Championship since the 2012 Kentucky Wildcats.
This is Mussleman’s best recruiting class ever. He has landed two Top 10 recruits and three overall in the Top 20. Nick Smith, Jordan Walsh, and Anthony Black will all be lethal in the starting lineup as freshmen next season and Smith will be one of the top picks in the 2023 NBA Draft. They also have Devo Davis and Au’Diese Toney back on this basketball team as well.
As for the Duke Blue Devils, Jon Scheyer will now take over as the head basketball coach of this historic program for Coach K (retirement). Duke will be one of the top teams in the nation next season and also one of the best in the ACC, but they will be clashing with historic rivals the North Carolina Tar Heels.
North Carolina knocked them out in the Final Four and also ruined Coach K’s day. The Duke Blue Devils will be losing three to four players to the NBA, including freshman Paolo Banchero.
They will land three of the top five recruits and also four in the top 35 overall. Dereck Lively, Kyle Filipowski, Mark Mitchell, and Dariq Whitehead will be those players that land in the Starting 5 next year for the Duke Blue Devils. Point guard Jeremy Roach will stick around next year. He was great for them in the NCAA Tournament.
Houston, UCLA, Kentucky, and North Carolina +1400
The Houston Cougars, the UCLA Bruins, the Kentucky Wildcats, and the North Carolina Tar Heels have the third-best odds to win the NCAA Tournament next season. Houston, North Carolina, UCLA, and Kentucky in that order feel like the best.
The Cougars under Kelvin Sampson will be returning several marquee players next season and will land number nine recruit on the ESPNU 100 Jarace Walker.
The Tar Heels under Hubert Davis will be returning also several marquee players including Caleb Love, R.J. Davis, and Armando Bacot. They will be adding Seth Trimble, who will be the 45th ranked recruit in the ESPNU Top 100.
The Bruins under Mick Cronin returns marquee player like Johnny Juzang and will also add number two recruit Amari Bailey.
The Wildcats under John Calipari will be losing a lot of key players and will have to start from scratch. They also add number 12 recruit Chris Livingston.
