The focus from here is to compare the Power Five conferences and the BIG EAST to see the strength of their schedules and which conference has the upper hand going into tournament play. The BIG 12 currently has seven teams ranked in the top This is the highest number of teams any conference has in the top When looking at the strength of schedule of the BIG 12, there are two teams out of the top ten hardest schedules. Those teams are Kansas and Baylor.
After that, the remaining teams are ranked in the mid to late teens and twenties. Those teams are 10 Villanova and 14 Creighton. Villanova has had success in the tournament in the past, but based on the strength of schedule, I would not expect anything special from the BIG EAST this tournament.
By Justin Barrasso. By Frankie Taddeo. By Madelyne Woods. College Football. By Dan Lyons. By SI Staff. Middle Tennessee won the regular season conference crown last season and returns eight of its top nine scorers. Arkansas-Little Rock won the conference tournament and returns two of its top three scorers and five of its top seven.
The entire conference looks better this season and should be taken seriously. The same cannot be said for Oral Roberts, who won the regular season title, but the Summit League still has the potential for a few big upsets. The MAC seems to always have an upset somewhere. Last year it was Ohio U making it to the Sweet 16 before losing a close game against No. I can't pick which team will pull off the upset, but I can guarantee that the MAC has reason to be feared in March.
Tommy Amaker led Harvard to its first NCAA tournament appearance in over 60 years, and he looks to continue that success against a solid Ivy League next season. Losing VCU hurts, but the CAA is still a solid conference that is going to be contending for a Top 10 spot on this list by the end of the season. Mary's, BYU and Gonzaga form a core that almost put the WCC into the Top 10 on this list, but having a few terrible teams like Santa Clara weigh this conference down just enough to keep them out of the Top However, that has no effect on this list.
The Tigers also bring in powerful big man Shaq Goodwin, and these two will make a fearsome combination. After Memphis the conference is a mystery, although I would say that Houston is a dark horse for the No.
Thanks to great recruits like Danuel House and Danrad Knowles, this team has the potential to rise to the top of the conference before joining the Big East next season.
UCF is another challenger for the No. The Knights finished third in the conference behind Memphis and Southern Miss last season, but they could be competing for the Conference USA crown if things work out in their favor.
While the A doesn't actually have any teams who should be in the Top 25 sometime this season, the conference is loaded with good talent and will remain among the nation's best. Having Butler join the conference a year early per Sporting News is a nice surprise for the conference, and having mastermind Brad Stevens is sure to spark some interest not to mention add a great team.
Butler will be among the conference's top competitors since you can't ever count Brad Stevens out. They probably won't win the conference, but they should be making some noise. The A also boasts Saint Louis, who made its first NCAA tournament appearance since last season; Temple who has the potential to crack the Top 25 at some point; and Xavier, who loses its entire backcourt and its seven-footer but should still remain competitive. The A has the potential to challenge some of the power conferences in the near future but will need to intensify its recruitment in order to do so.
The Missouri Valley Conference emerged as one of the nation's best conferences last year on the backs of Creighton and Wichita State, both of whom were Top 25 teams and among the nation's best mid-majors. The conference has a similar look this year although the Shockers have lost seven-footer Garrett Stutz. Creighton will be on top against thanks to the play of F Doug McDermott.
The Bluejays will be in the Top 25 again, potentially hovering around the Top McDermott will be in line for National Player of the Year candidacy and should be able to post similar numbers to his Wichita State will be a good team again, but not great. Losing C Garrett Stutz hurts, as he averaged And Louisville I think the depth of the ACC keeps it in the top four. Behind them, Xavier's played great.
The Wildcats check in at No. West Virginia, Texas Tech and Texas, that's the top five right now, where you could say any of those five could be in the Sweet Go a little further down, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, TCU all could be playing into the second round or beyond, so the depth of the Big 12 certainly puts them [at] two. The Big 12 has two of the top three teams in the country, according to the latest AP poll, with No. That's five teams in the top 13 nationally.
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