Michigan State Spartans (+450) and St. John’s Red Storm (+590) are listed among the top men’s college basketball Final Four futures for the 2026–27 season by betting analyst Mark Zinno.
Zinno projects Michigan State to win the Big Ten and advance through the NCAA tournament’s first four rounds. The Spartans return 61% of their minutes from last season’s Sweet 16 team and five of their seven top scorers. Point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. is the preseason Wooden Award favorite. The Final Four will be held in Detroit this season.
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St. John’s Red Storm are projected to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1985. Coach Rick Pitino added transfers Babacar Sane and Keyshawn Hall, both of whom played in the season opener against Monmouth while awaiting eligibility rulings. Sane previously signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Utah Jazz; Hall transferred from Auburn. Sophomore Tounde Yessoufou averaged 17.8 points per game last season and draws Wooden Award consideration.
Thomas Haugh, a senior forward for the Florida Gators, is the top Wooden Award betting favorite at +850. Haugh starred on last season’s No. 1 seed Gators. His odds improved after Duke’s David Mirkovic underwent emergency appendectomy over the weekend, following earlier foot surgery. Tom Izzo has never coached a Wooden Award winner; no school has produced three consecutive winners — factors that affect the odds for Fears Jr. and Duke’s John Blackwell.
Pennsylvania Quakers are the betting favorite to win the Ivy League at +235. Head coach Fran McCaffery won the Ivy League tournament to clinch an NCAA berth in his first season at Penn. The Quakers return four starters and 6-9 forward TJ Power, who averaged 18.5 points and 7.8 rebounds against Ivy opponents while shooting 47% from three. Penn holds the highest KenPom net rating in the league. Yale, last season’s most dominant Ivy team, returns only one starter.
Other notable futures include Queens University Royals (+174) to win the Atlantic Sun, Saint Louis Billikens (+188) to win the Atlantic 10, and Fairfield Stags (+500) to win the Metro Conference — formerly the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
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