College Basketball Conference Power Rankings at Week 3

We have now completed two weeks of the college basketball season, meaning we probably know even less than we did at the start of the year.

After all, with an early slate of games that included cancellations because of condensation, neutral floor showcases hundreds of miles from campus, action out of the country and plenty of cupcake openers, are we really sure of anything?

One thing is for sure—the conference power rankings will likely change plenty of times before March.

Read on to see where they stand for the time being. Feel free to let me know why I am wrong in the comments section.

No. 10: WCC

A case could be made to throw Memphis and Conference USA into this spot, but I am going to give the nod to Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and the rest of the West Coast Conference.

The Gaels are undefeated after playing pushovers, but it was Gonzaga’s 84-50 beat down of West Virginia in the season opener that caught the country’s eyes.

In fact, after last year’s NCAA tournament and this year’s opener, Bob Huggins probably doesn’t want anything to do with the Zags for quite some time.

Santa Clara is also sitting pretty at 2-0, thanks to an impressive road victory over Atlantic 10 contender Saint Louis.

BYU will eventually join Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga near the top of the conference, but forgivable losses to Florida State and Notre Dame have the Cougars at 2-2 for now.

No. 9: Missouri Valley

The Missouri Valley may be Creighton’s conference to lose, but the Bluejays are far from the only undefeated team so far.

Wichita State, Bradley, Northern Iowa, Illinois State and Southern Illinois have not suffered a loss either.

Wichita State’s 4-0 mark is probably the most impressive total of the group. The Shockers shocked (sorry) VCU at VCU’s home arena, 53-51, in a defensive struggle.

Creighton also grabbed a nice 20 point victory over Tony Mitchell and North Texas.

I would be surprised if the Missouri Valley Conference stays in the top 10 of the conference power rankings for the whole year, but it has been an excellent start to the season for Creighton and company.

No. 8: Atlantic 10

By season’s end I expect the Atlantic 10 to be the best non-power conference in the country.

Whether that means 6th or 7th overall will ultimately be determined later, but for the time being the A-10 will slide into the 8th slot.

Xavier is off to a better start than expected with its victory over Butler, Temple is sitting at 2-0 and Charlotte has fed off cupcakes to the tune of 3-0.

The A-10 would probably be higher than this were it not for the early losses by some of the conference contenders.

VCU fell to Wichita State and Saint Louis was stunned at home by Santa Clara. Moreover, Butler didn’t look good at all in its loss to Xavier, raising some red flags about whether the Bulldogs are really that much better this year.

Saint Joseph’s also lost, albeit to a solid Florida State squad. However, the Hawks also picked up a solid victory over Notre Dame in overtime and look to be one of the strongest teams in the A-10.

No. 7: Mountain West

The Mountain West lost its chance to possibly surpass a power conference league in these rankings when San Diego State failed to impress against Syracuse.

The game was on an aircraft carrier against a Top 15 team, so it’s hard to hold that loss against the Aztecs, but it was nevertheless a golden opportunity.

Elsewhere, conference favorite UNLV has coasted against easy competition, and New Mexico grabbed an impressive win over Davidson.

What’s more, Colorado State, Air Force, Boise State and Wyoming are all undefeated.

It should be an intriguing race between the Atlantic 10 and the Mountain West for the hypothetical crown as the best non-power conference in the country all year.

For now, the Mountain West sits on top.

No. 6: Pac-12

The Pac-12 is much better than it was a season ago.

In fact, the argument can be made that there were multiple mid-major conferences that were better than the Pac-12 in 2011-12.

However, thanks largely to the recruiting and reemergence of UCLA and Arizona, west coast basketball is making a comeback.

The conference has gotten somewhat fat feeding off of cupcakes so far, but there have been some impressive wins thrown in the mix.

Oregon destroyed Vanderbilt, and Colorado impressed early against Dayton and a ranked Baylor squad.

But if there was any doubt that the Pac-12 will primarily be a two team race, Washington probably erased that in the first couple of weeks.

The Huskies, who are the defending regular season champions, came out and lost to Albany at home.

Look for the Bruins or Wildcats to take the crown in 2012-13.

No. 5: Big 12

The Big 12 can thank the more than impressive efforts of Oklahoma State for its current lead on the Pac-12 on this list.

Marcus Smart and the Cowboys are off to a 4-0 start, including massacres of Tennessee and preseason ACC favorite North Carolina State.

But that is where most of the good news ends for the Big 12 in the first two weeks of the season.

Kansas was outclassed by Michigan State (who is probably the fourth best team in the Big Ten), Baylor fell to Colorado and really struggled against a bad Boston College team, and West Virginia was embarrassed by Gonzaga in the season opener.

Kansas State and Texas should provide some much needed depth for the conference, meaning that there is a decent chance it can eventually climb in these power rankings.

If Oklahoma State continues to play at a high level, the early struggles for the Big 12 will soon be a distant memory.

No. 4: SEC

The difference between the Big 12 at five and the SEC at four is basically one team—Missouri.

Missouri gives the SEC some depth beyond just Kentucky and Florida, which is something that has been missing since Tennessee was a legitimate threat under Bruce Pearl.

As for those perennial favorites, Florida has looked better out of the gate than the Wildcats, but that probably has something to do with the inexperience of John Calipari’s freshmen more than anything else.

The Gators handled an underrated Wisconsin team at home and looked formidable in the first half of the outdoor game that never happened against Georgetown.

The Wildcats will improve every week, but they fell to Duke and struggled mightily in the second half against Maryland.

Throw in Alabama’s wins over Oregon State and Villanova, and Tennessee’s victory over a dangerous Massachusetts squad, and the SEC is off to a solid start.

No. 3: ACC

Had these rankings been compiled in the preseason, the ACC probably would have been in the second slot.

That is largely due to the early love conference-favorite NC State was receiving, but how much do we really believe in the Wolfpack after they were sliced apart by Oklahoma State this weekend?

Florida State losing early to South Alabama and the general awfulness that is Boston College and Wake Forest hasn’t exactly helped either.

Nevertheless, the old reliables Duke and North Carolina have done their fair share of the heavy lifting in the first two weeks.

The Blue Devils were impressive in their methodical win over the defending national champions, and the Tar Heels got out of Long Beach State with a double-digit victory and look primed for Maui.

The ACC will have a golden opportunity to move up the conference rankings in the coming weeks with the ACC/Big Ten challenge.

No. 2: Big East

Who knows where the Big East is going to be a couple of years from now, but for the time being it is the second best conference in these early power rankings.

Louisville looks as impressive as anyone, Syracuse grabbed a win over a talented San Diego State team and Connecticut shocked Michigan State in its first game since Jim Calhoun’s retirement.

Other impressive wins include Notre Dame’s over BYU and Villanova’s over Purdue.

Georgetown, Marquette, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have played nothing but cupcakes so far, but it is clear that the talent level is there.

The Big East has 16 teams, more than any other conference by multiple schools, so the depth is partially a byproduct of that, yet this doesn’t mean we can simply discount the league's depth when ranking the conferences.

If some of these teams can continue to win consistently when the level of competition increases and keep pace with Louisville and Syracuse, the Big East will rank near the top of this list all season.

No. 1: Big Ten

It hasn’t been all good news for the Big Ten in the first couple of weeks, but it is still the strongest conference for the time being.

Wisconsin took one on the chin at Florida (although it is hard to hold that against the Badgers), Purdue looks much worse than it has in the past few years, and Michigan State lost a tough game to Connecticut.

However, the Spartans bounced back quickly with an impressive neutral-court victory over Kansas.

Illinois, Nebraska and Northwestern all have attractive zeros in the loss column for now, but that probably has more to do with the respective schedules than anything else.

It is also worth keeping an eye on Minnesota and Iowa early in the season. Both teams, especially Minnesota, are probably undervalued and have a great chance to make the NCAA tournament.

Despite some early wins for the rest of the conference, it is the fact that the Big Ten has 60 percent of the Top Five in the rankings that has it atop the conference power rankings.

As long as the Buckeyes, Wolverines and Hoosiers keep winning impressively, the Big Ten is relatively safe in the number one spot.