3 Best Future Bets for the 2025 Men’s College Basketball Tournament

The 2025 men's college basketball tournament is finally here.

We're breaking down every First Round matchup here at FanDuel Research, but FanDuel Sportsbook also has an extensive futures market.

To make that even more exciting, you can now stack bracket predictions into a single parlay, including teams to reach the round of 16, win their region and cut down the nets. This marks the first time customers can build parlays that include bets from multiple rounds of the tournament, allowing you to transform you brackets into bets.

But what future bets should you consider? Let's break down the best future bets for the men's college basketball tournament with a little help from KenPom and Bart Torvik.

Any odds reference via the college basketball odds on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Men’s College Basketball Tournament Betting Picks

VCU To Reach the Round of 16 (+380)

Not only is VCU is the highest rated 11 seed on KenPom, their +20.6 adjusted net rating is actually higher than two of the 5 seeds' (Oregon and Memphis).

It's not a stretch to say the 28-6 Rams are under-seeded, but that's not really reflected in their futures odds. VCU has +380 odds to reach the Round of 16, meaning they'd only need to win two games to cash this future.

Now, the Rams are underdogs in their opening round matchup with BYU. But the Cougars are only favored by 2.5 on FanDuel, and KenPom only projects BYU to win by 1.

It's a good matchup for VCU. The Rams aren't an especially efficient 3-point shooting team, but they attempt them at a high rate and sport the country's 12th-highest offensive rebound rate. BYU is a good defensive rebounding team, but they give up a ton of open looks from beyond the arc. They've opponents shoot 34.8% from three (248th nationally) and surrendered the 44.4% 3-point attempt rate (331st).

VCU's bread-and-butter is their defensive, however. They're 23rd nationally in adjusted defense and force turnovers at the 31st-highest rate in the country. BYU's just 7-7 against top 50 defenses this season, and they're 207th in turnover rate.

The Rams would likely be underdogs again in their second game, presumably against Wisconsin. The Badgers would be a tougher matchup for VCU as Wisconsin takes care of the ball and doesn't let up many offensive rebounds. But they, too, have struggled against top defenses, losing six of eight games against teams in the top 25 for adjusted defense.

With VCU ranking 37th in Division-I experience (per KenPom), this veteran-laden team isn't going to fold over against anyone. It also doesn't hurt that head coach Ryan Odom has been here before; he took Utah State to the tournament in 2022 and led UMBC to a historic first-round upset over No. 1 overall seed Virginia in 2018.

That kind of experience should come in handy early in the tournament, and their unique style of play makes them an intriguing value at +380 odds to reach the Round of 16.

Kentucky To Reach the Round of 8 (+320)

I'm not sure the bracket lines up for any team better than Kentucky. The Midwest Region's 3 seed could be favored in every game leading up to the regional finals, so I do see value getting them at +320 odds to reach the Round of 8.

Kentucky is the worst 3 seed based on KenPom net ratings, though they're still 16th overall. The Wildcats were one of just three teams to beat Duke in the regular season, and they also have wins over Florida and Tennessee.

UK did get run off the floor in the SEC Tournament, but I don't want to succumb to recency bias too much here. They enter the tournament with KenPom's No. 8 offense and plenty of big-game experience. Kentucky not only has the seventh-most D-1 experience in the country, but they also played the third most-difficult schedule in the regular season.

That alone would make them a team to consider picking for a deep run, but their draw is what really makes this a wager intriguing.

First, Kentucky draws a Troy team that lost to all three power conference teams on their schedule by double-digits. The Wildcats are 10.5-point favorites in the opening round.

Then, UK would either face Illinois -- losers of four of their last eight games -- or Texas/Xavier. None of those would be particularly difficult matchups for Kentucky, and that's reflected in their +104 odds to make the Round of 16.

But if the Wildcats do make it out of the opening weekend, they'd then (likely) take on a Tennessee team they already beat twice during the regular season.

Oh, and that potential Round of 16 game against Tennessee would be played in Indianapolis, giving UK a legitimate home-court advantage.

I don't trust their defense enough to wager on Kentucky to make the semifinals, but their +320 odds to make the Round of 8 are worth considering given how uninspiring this part of the bracket is.

St. John's To Reach the Round of 8 (+210)

On paper, St. John's has more working against them than for them. Though the Red Storm earned a 2 seed after cruising through the Big East, teams that were unranked in the preseason and went on to be a top seed have traditionally not advanced far in the tournament. They're also just 70th in Bart Torvik's adjusted offensive efficiency -- the worst mark among any of the top-50 teams in the country.

Even so, the Red Storm have been playing their best basketball of late, and they haven't lost by more than 3 points all season.

Though St. Johns' calling card is their No. 2 adjusted defense, the Red Storm have quietly begun to figure things out offensively. They close the season with 9 wins in their final 10 games, during which their offense crept to 54th in offensive efficiency. Some of that is thanks to their stellar offensive rebounding and ability to avoid turnovers, but we've seen them flex from the 3-point line, too.

Still, the Red Storm defense is what could carry them to the Round of 8, especially given their potential matchups along the way.

Assuming they get by the 15 seed, St. John's would face the winner of Arkansas and Kansas -- two teams outside the top 40 in adjusted offense. From there, they'd likely face either Texas Tech or Missouri, both of which sport top 10 offenses.

But at that point, we'd be looking at St. John's needing just one win to cash this future. That potential Round of 16 game would surely feature a tight spread, so I'm happy to grab the Red Storm at +210 to reach the Round of 8, banking on them cruising through the opening weekend.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.