Today is the first day of February. For college basketball that means teams are in the thick of conference play and little more than a month from conference tournaments and March Madness. After watching almost two thirds of the season, I’m going to make a case for the Big Ten being the best conference in the country.
The Big Ten is an extremely deep conference. 4 teams are ranked in the top 20, Michigan State (5), Purdue (10), Wisconsin (16), and Ohio State (20) and I think all four are final 4 contenders. Michigan State 
has been flat out dominate in conference play, other than their 3 game losing streak, which is long behind them, Purdue has been dominate in and out of the conference with wins against teams like Tennessee, Wake Forest, and West Virginia. Ohio State would probably be in or near the top 10 if it hadn’t lost Evan Turner, likely the national player of the year before his injury, for 6 weeks with a back fracture. But he’s back and so is Ohio State. Wisconsin, with their great defense, is capable of beating any team at any time, they beat Duke earlier in the year and gave Purdue its first loss after 14 straight wins. Then there is Illinois, Minnesota, and Northwestern who all a shot at making the NCAA tournament. Even the back end of the conference is dangerous. There is no guaranteed win, especially on the road, which is why from top to bottom the Big Ten is the deepest conference in the country. But to be fair, we have to take a look at some of the other conferences.
The ACC, a traditional power conference, is really having a down year. Duke is ranked #7 and will likely fall coming off a bad loss, and that’s pretty much it. Clemson is ranked 21st (and fell out of the rankings in one poll) and Georgia Tech 22nd, but they have been just average in conference play and don’t look like final four contenders. And defending national champ North Carolina is 13-8 with a losing record in the conference and in danger of not making the tournament at all. Not only is the ACC not top heavy like usual, but it isn’t a very deep conference to this point in the year.
The SEC isn’t bad this year. It has three ranked teams, Kentucky (#1 but probably falling after a recent loss), Tennessee (14), and Vanderbilt (23). But again, there isn’t much else there. Florida and Mississippi St are decent teams and likely to make the Big Dance but the rest of the conference is just average. Kentucky is a definite national title contender but its hard to picture Tennessee doing a lot come tournament time with only 6 scholarship players left on the team.
As for the PAC 10, it’s just awful this year. Not a single ranked team and the Cal is leading the conference with a record of only 14-7. I don’t know if it’s possible for an entire conference to have a rebuilding year, but that seems to be what is happening out west.
That leaves just conferences, Big East and Big 12, that I think are clearly in the top 3 along with the Big Ten. The Big 12 is really good. Kansas is about to regain the #1 ranking after Kentucky’s loss and despite two recent losses, Texas is still a top 10 team and national title contender. Kansas State (#13), Missouri, and Baylor are all teams that could make some noise come tournament time. The Big 12 is great at the top but starts to fall off a little bit in the bottom half of the conference and isn’t as deep as other conferences.
The Big East is just flat out loaded. It has 4 teams in the top 10 and 6 ranked overall. While the rankings might be a little inflated, I think 3 teams from the Big East are legit final 4 contenders (I’m not sold on Georgetown) and they will probably get 7 teams, maybe even 8, into the dance. I also think you can expect the ranked teams to fall a little bit, as the top teams have really played against each other yet. There isn’t one dominate team that stands out so I would expect them to start beating each other and their records will start to come back down a little. I should also mention that the Big East is also the biggest conference in the country with 16 teams. So while 7 or 8 teams may make the tournament, the bottom half of the conference is bad.
Its hard to make a call on which one is best. I’m going to have to leave the Big 12 out. They are clearly better than the other conferences but other than its 2 top teams, it doesn’t have the talent and depth the Big East and Big Ten have. Being a Purdue grad I would really like to say the Big Ten is the best conference but its a tough call. The Big East has an advantage purely because of its size. With 16 teams there are bound to be a few really good ones and I think because of that it has more really good teams than the Big Ten, but it also has more bad teams. The bottom of the Big East is pretty bad. I thinks its a situation of 1 and 1A, not necessarily 1 and 2. Top to bottom, the Big Ten is the best, but at the top I think its the Big East. We will have to wait until tournament time to see which conference’s teams go farther against non conference competition to really see who has the clear advantage.
Well Ryan, I think your analysis of the Big Ten & college basketball in general at the 2/3 mark of the regular season is pretty much spot on. I agree that the Big Ten is the deepest in the country. I know I’m biased towards the Midwest but I think you are overstating the strength of the Big East just a tad. I agree that there are several really good teams in that league. But I believe the top 4 in the Big Ten, maybe even the top 6 or 7 can play with those guys. They do have one exceptionally good team in Villanova though. They are not only a Final Four contender but a championship contender. I think the Big Ten has a chance to send 7 (which has only been done once) possibly even 8 (that’s stretching it a bit) of the 11 to the dance this year but Michigan & Northwestern need to turn it up a notch in the 2nd half of league play if that’s going to happen.
Now for my bitch about college hoops! With Villanova, Kansas & Kentucky almost certain locks for the Final Four college b-ball needs to do something about the one & done rule. While I think Purdue, MSU & OSU have a shot at making a run It’s just not fair for the programs that concentrate on the college experience and promote the true meaning of student/athlete.
Purdue & Wisconsin have two guys on their rosters that are juniors, player wise, That have finished up their under graduate degrees and are working on their graduate degrees. E’twan Moore (true junior) is one of them. Ohio State and MSU each have one. How is that fair to have to compete against teams like Kentucky & Kansas that are loaded with one and done guys. Guys who don’t even have to attend class the second semester but yet get to play for a championship! All they have to do is pass the 1st semester of classes and they’re done! That’s just not right. They need to change the rule to the one like the NFL has where they can’t go to the draft until 3 years out of high school or let them go straight to the pros like they used to.
Teams like the Dukes, North Carolinas and from the Big Ten pretty much run legit programs that stress education and that’s what college is supposed to be about. The Kansas’ & Kentuckys just recruit inner city thugs or rural trash who can bounce a ball but yet can barely write their names. It’s another reason why so many professional athletes end up in so much trouble when they sign that multi million $ contract. They just don’t have an education!
The one and done rule is an interesting topic. It’s pretty controversial and may just warrant an article in the coming weeks. There are a lot of different opinions on the subject and I would be interested in hearing pros and cons. Maybe it shouldn’t be a one and done, but more like a go for 2 years or don’t go at all. Wow, I like that one. I will expand more on that in a later article.
Well you definitely have a con to work with from my point of view in the above reply. I absolutely hate that rule and have never liked it from the beginning. As I said, having an opportunity to go to college is about getting an education, playing sports is secondary. The NBA also has a developmental league now. Send the one and done dummies there. Baseball puts them in the minor leagues, the NBA should too. Don’t take a scholarship away from someone who wants to get an education! And, give it to someone who is going to go to class for 1 semester! It’s a waste!