No. 4 UConn vs. No. 16 Michigan college basketball odds, picks: Powerhouses meet in 2026 title game rematch

I do not plan to address much college basketball in my columns until the power leagues start their conference schedules. But Friday night offers an intriguing neutral-site matchup as No. 4 UConn takes on No. 16 Michigan. They have combined for three of the past four national championships in the sport and either could certainly win another come April.

It's an 8 p.m. ET neutral-site tip from TD Garden in Boston, so you'd think the Huskies would have the fan advantage but the Wolverines have big fan bases in pretty much in every major city. As 7.5-point favorites at DraftKings, UConn is taking around 75% of the tickets and handle. There is split action on the total of 142.5, down two from the opener.

Back in April, I could have made an easy argument that the two best coaches in this sport were UConn's Dan Hurley, who led his team to titles in 2023 and 2024, and Michigan's Dusty May, who won his first back in April at Lucas Oil Stadium. Which team did UM beat 69-63? UConn. That was exactly seven months ago today on April 6.

Hurley pretty much could have had any NBA job he wanted after that repeat title, and he reportedly rejected a six-year, $70 million offer from the Los Angeles Lakers. You do hear the only NBA job Hurley would leave for is the New York Knicks.

While there had long been chatter on Hurley going to the NBA, it was a pretty big shock when the Dallas Mavericks hired May last summer off his title. The Wolverines were set to bring back a ton of talent but also lost three players in the Top 12 picks in the 2026 NBA Draft in Morez Johnson Jr. (went to Dallas at No. 9), Yaxel Lendeborg (an utter steal for Golden State at No. 11) and Aday Mara (No. 12 to Oklahoma City).

May had ruled out all other college jobs last offseason but always had an eye toward the pros and became the first college head coach to take an NBA job since former Michigan coach John Beilein went to Cleveland in 2019. That didn't work. You can understand the allure, though, of the Mavs with Cooper Flagg and mega-rich owners in a major market.

Michigan was caught off guard and pivoted to promoting assistant Mike Boynton Jr. to the top job, and he was running things this summer for a few weeks after May left. Boynton, formerly a head coach at Oklahoma State, was hired at UM shortly after May was and was the team's defensive coordinator last season. Michigan had the nation's No. 1 defense.

Boynton's debut was a success as Michigan beat neighboring Oakland 84-68 on Monday but didn't come close to covering the 27.5-spread. Some of that was probably looking ahead to this one.

Two key returners in guards Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKinney combined for 24 points, eight assists and four steals. That's one of the better backcourts in the country and both were named to the 50-player preseason watch list for the 2027 Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year Award.

UConn opened Monday by trouncing Gardner-Webb 86-46. That was Hurley's 200th career victory at Connecticut, the third coach to reach that number there. Several players made their team debuts led by sophomore center Na'Jai Hines, a transfer from Seton Hall. He had 12 points and 12 rebounds to become the first Husky with a double-double in their debut since Liam McNeeley in the 2024-25 opener.

Returning starting guard Silas Demary Jr., the Big East Preseason Player of the Year and a consensus preseason All-American, had only five points. I'll sure take that tonight.

This will mark only the 11th time since 1996 that the previous season's national finalists met the following season. And the last one involved Michigan on Nov. 14, 2018, when the Wolverines routed Villanova seven months after losing to the Wildcats in the title game. Defending champions are 6-4 in these games in that span.

I do like my parlays but I'm not going to force them, especially with what I believe is such a generous number on the spread – I simply paid 15 cents to add another point, so technically it's an alt as of publication but the way the board is looking right now 8.5s are going to pop anyways. Thus, I don't consider it as such. And I really don't care for college hoops totals much.