It’s a annually stupid argument, but it’s well under way. Which is the toughest conference? Generally speaking, who cares. It is certain that it isn’t the PAC 10, Big XII or SEC. I’ve heard the arguments for the ACC — mainly because of Duke lifting all boats or something to that effect, and BC’s struggles as somehow indicative of the ACC superiority (of course that contradicts last year’s surprises when Miami and VT went from BE bottom feeders to middle of the pack. The Big 11 is a more reasonable argument because of the number of ranked teams as a percentage. I don’t buy the whole depth argument, though, because it’s not like their bottom feeders — Penn State, Purdue and Northwestern — are very good.
The Big East gets a lot of the love for this based on sheer size, and how stunning it is to see teams like Cinci, Louisville, Georgetown and ND somewhere in the middle of the conference standings.
Well, a columnist in Big 11 country will get hatemail for going with the Big East over the Big 11.
This conference is almost as large as the NBA now. The expansion to 16 teams included some solid basketball programs in Louisville, Cincinnati and Marquette. Add them to a group that includes two national-championship contenders, Connecticut and Villanova, plus three other ranked teams, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Syracuse. Pitt is one of three undefeated teams. Fourteen of the Big East clubs are ranked in the RPI’s top 90. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the NCAA Tournament selection committee handles this mega-conference when it’s time to hand out bids.
Big Ten: These top three conferences listed are really like 1A-1B-1C. All three are very comparable and clearly superior to the rest of the conferences. Like the Big East, the Big Ten has six ranked teams this week — No. 7 Illinois, No. 11 Michigan State, No. 13 Indiana, No. 15 Wisconsin, No. 19 Ohio State and No. 23 Iowa. There’s not much separating these six, which is why the home court usually prevails. Michigan likely will give the conference a seventh NCAA Tournament bid if it at least finishes around .500 in the Big Ten.
Ultimately it is the Tournament that tends to be the final arbiter as to determining the best conference.
