2026 NCAA Tournament odds, spreads for every First Four, first-round game in March Madness

The opening odds and game spreads with the NCAA Tournament action set to get underway this week

By Chip Patterson

Mar 15, 2026 at 8:11 pm ET • 2 min read

Imagn Images

The 2026 NCAA Tournament bracket was announced on Sunday, kickstarting the annual tradition of filling out your entries for the Bracket Games and predicting exactly how the opening rounds will unfold. Official action will get started quickly, with the First Four headlining on Tuesday and Wednesday before the wall-to-wall basketball fills up on Thursday and Friday.

Selection Sunday brought to a conclusion the question of where Miami (Ohio) would be seeded after an undefeated regular season hit a speed bump with an upset loss in its MAC Tournament opener. The Redhawks made the field as an at-large team on the merit of their resume, but when the seeding process took over, the team took a tumble down in the committee's rankings. That has Miami (Ohio) making the short trip to Dayton for its NCAA Tournament opener, where they will be an underdog to SMU in the second of two games on Wednesday.

Brackets are here! Get your pools ready and enter our Bracket Challenge for your chance to win a dream trip to the 2027 Final FourⓇ.

Highlights from Thursday and Friday's schedule include a collection of Hall of Fame coaches in the East Region, the handful of conference champions in the West Region and high-octane first-round matchups across the bracket.

Here are the opening odds for the 2026 NCAA Tournament, per FanDuel Sportsbook.

First Four

No. 16 UMBC (-1.5) vs. No. 16 Howard
No. 11 Texas (-1.5) vs. No. 11 NC State
No. 16 Prairie View A&M (+1.5) vs. No. 16 Lehigh
No. 11 Miami Ohio (+7.5) vs. No. 11 SMU

East Region

No. 1 Duke (-27.5) vs. No. 16 Siena
No. 8 Ohio State (-2.5) vs. No. 9 TCU
No. 5 St. John's (-9.5) vs. No. 12 Northern Iowa
No. 4 Kansas (-13.5) vs. No. 13 Cal Baptist
No. 6 Louisville (-6.5) vs. No. 11 South Florida
No. 3 Michigan State (-16.5) vs. No. 14 North Dakota State
No. 7 UCLA (-5.5) vs. No. 10 UCF
No. 2 UConn (-20.5) vs. No. 15 Furman

South Region

No. 8 Clemson (+2.5) vs. No. 9 Iowa
No. 5 Vanderbilt (-11.5) vs. No. 12 McNeese
No. 4 Nebraska (-13.5) vs. No. 13 Troy
No. 6 North Carolina (-2.5) vs. No. 11 VCU
No. 3 Illinois (-21.5) vs. No. 14 Penn
No. 7 Saint Mary's (-2.5) vs. No. 10 Texas A&M
No. 2 Houston (-22.5) vs. No. 15 Idaho

West Region

No. 1 Arizona (-29.5) vs. No. 16 LIU
No. 8 Villanova (+1.5) vs. No. 9 Utah State
No. 5 Wisconsin (-11.5) vs. No. 12 High Point
No. 4 Arkansas (-15.5) vs. No. 13 Hawaii
No. 3 Gonzaga (-18.5) vs. No. 14 Kennesaw State
No. 7 Miami (-1.5) vs. No. 10 Missouri
No. 2 Purdue (-23.5) vs. No. 15 Queens