It looks like there will be plenty of contenders to win the 2021 NCAA Tournament with four teams opening as co-favorites according to opening odds to win the college basketball national championship by William Hill Sportsbook. Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Gonzaga each opened as 10-1 favorites to win the 2021 Big Dance.
The Zags are the No. 1 team and the Wildcats are No. 2 in the CBS Sports early Top 25 And 1. The Blue Devils are No. 6 in the early rankings while the Jayhawks are No. 10.
Dayton, which was on track to be a No. 1 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament before it was canceled, is at 100-1 to win the national championship.
That might be a tough pill to swallow for Flyers fans who are still coping with the reality that the best season in program history was cut short on the eve of the postseason. But with CBS Sports Player of the Year Obi Toppin expected to be a first-round NBA Draft pick, Dayton will have some re-tooling to do in the months ahead.
By contrast, North Carolina is at 40-1 to win the national championship even as the Tar Heels come off their worst season in coach Roy Williams' 17-year tenure. North Carolina finished 14-19 but has a five-man recruiting class ranked No. 3 in the country by 247Sports entering.
Virginia, which won the 2019 national championship, holds the fifth-best odds to win it all in 2021 at 12-1 after finishing the 2019-20 season with 11 wins in its last 12 games.
Here are the full odds from William Hill for the 2020-21 college basketball national champion:
