The 2024-25 men’s college basketball season is tipping off in earnest this week for fans and North Carolina sports betting customers. So it’s time to check out who the top contenders are to be named the top player in the nation with the Naismith Award.
This season, North Carolina mobile sports betting operators have odds on the John R. Wooden Award but not on the honor named after the creator of the sport, James Naismith. That got us thinking about which NCAA player could take home that honor this year.
Between college veterans like North Carolina senior guard RJ Davis and freshman phenoms like Duke’s Cooper Flagg, there’s no shortage of interest as to which college star will win either the Naismith or Wooden awards. At BetCarolina.com, your source for North Carolina sportsbook promos, we came up with our own hypothetical odds as to which college basketball star will win the former honor this season.
Naismith Player of the Year 2025 Odds
Player | Percentage Chance | Odds |
R.J. Davis, UNC | 12.5% | +700 |
Cooper Flagg, Duke | 12.5% | +700 |
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas | 11.8% | +750 |
Mark Sears, Alabama | 11.1% | +800 |
AJ Storr, Kansas | 4.8% | +2000 |
LJ Cryer, Houston | 4.8% | +2000 |
Johni Broome, Auburn | 4.8% | +2000 |
Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State | 3.8% | +2500 |
Johnell Davis, Arkansas | 3.2% | +3000 |
Khalif Battle, Gonzaga | 2.8% | +3500 |
VJ Edgecombe, Baylor | 2.8% | +3500 |
Caleb Love, Arizona | 2.4% | +4000 |
Ace Bailey, Rutgers | 2.4% | +4000 |
Tyrese Proctor, Duke | 2.4% | +4000 |
Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga | 2.4% | +4000 |
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton | 2.4% | +4000 |
Dylan Harper, Rutgers | 2.4% | +4000 |
Liam McNeeley, UConn | 2.4% | +4000 |
Zeke Mayo, Kansas | 2.4% | +4000 |
See our college basketball betting guide for more information as the season tips off.
Whoever wins the Naismith Award in 2025 will unseat Purdue’s Zach Edey. The two-time winner is off to the NBA after taking home the honor in 2023 and 204 for the Boilermakers. Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky earned the award in 2022 and Iowa’s Luke Garza did so in 2021.
Who Are The Naismith Award Favorites?
Our preseason Naismith Award co-favorite is Davis out of UNC. He averaged 21.2 points per game for head coach Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels last season to rank 11th nationally in scoring across Division I. Check out our UNC basketball odds for more details.
Davis (+700) is tied with Flagg, a true freshman, for the top spot nationally on our Naismith Award odds board. Hunter Dickinson of Kansas (+750) and Alabama’s Mark Sears (+800) are other top tier candidates to win the honor this season.
At bet365 North Carolina, Sears and Davis are co-listed at +700 to win the Wooden Award, beating out Dickinson (+750), Arizona’s Caleb Love and Auburn’s Johni Broome (+1600 each). That again shows how dominant the two Tar Heel State college basketball stars are expected to be this basketball season.
Other names to keep an eye on when it comes to this year’s Naismith Award chase are AJ Storr of Kansas and LJ Cryer of Houston (+2000 each), Tamin Lipsey of Iowa State (+2500) and Arkansas’ Johnell Davis (+3000). But at least in our estimation, with games just getting started, none of them can hold a candle to UNC’s Davis or Duke’s Flagg this men’s basketball season.
Check out our Duke basketball odds to see if Flagg came come right in and help lead the Blue Devils to glory in the 2024-25 season.
USA Today photo by Kirby Lee
Author
Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetCarolina.com specializing in covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
