College Basketball Conference Power Rankings at Week 4

Here we sit at Week 4 and, thanks to a week of turkey and exciting early season tournaments (so cleverly dubbed “Feast Week” by the worldwide leader in sports and puns), the muddy college basketball picture is becoming slightly clearer.

Slightly.

Again, these conference power rankings will likely change throughout the season (ACC/Big Ten Challenge anyone?) and only reflect where we stand today.

With that in mind, take a look at the 10 best conferences in college basketball in Week 4.

No. 10: WCC

The WCC may end up being a two- or three-team race by the time March rolls around, but for now Gonzaga is carrying the conference on its back.

The Zags looked more than impressive this week in victories over Clemson, Oklahoma and Davidson and are sitting pretty at 6-0.

As for Saint Mary’s, this week wasn’t nearly as kind, which is the main reason why the WCC still sits in the 10 position. The Gaels fell to Georgia Tech and Pacific at the DirectTV Classic at Anaheim, dropping their record to 4-2.

BYU, a team that may have a say in the conference race this year, righted the ship somewhat this week with a slate of cupcakes.

Moreover, Santa Clara continued its undefeated season with some easy victories, but with games against Pacific and Duke on the horizon, that may change eventually.

No. 9: Missouri Valley

The Missouri Valley got its shot against a few big name teams this week and met it with mixed results.

Doug McDermott and Creighton continue to impress with victories over Arizona State from the Pac-12 and Wisconsin from the Big Ten this week.

Illinois State also got a crack at the Big Ten but fell in overtime to Northwestern in heartbreaking fashion. However, Wichita State took down Iowa to move its record to 6-0.

Drake fell to perennial mid-major power Xavier by a mere four points, but it’s hard to find the silver lining in a close loss considering the Bulldogs held a halftime lead.

Despite some early successes from other squads, Creighton, Illinois State and Wichita State will probably be the mainstays on top of the league for much of the year. There is a real possibility that the Missouri Valley grabs multiple bids in March.

No. 8: Mountain West

The Mountain West falls to No. 8 on the power rankings primarily because its flagship program lost a game on its home floor to an unranked Oregon team. 

Don’t get me wrong, the Ducks are much improved from last year, but that was a game UNLV should have won if it is to be considered a dark horse Final Four contender.

However, it wasn’t all bad news for the Mountain West. The other conference favorite San Diego State bounced back from its loss to Syracuse with a close win over USC, and New Mexico joined the Top 25 thanks to an impressive win over Connecticut.

Moreover, Colorado State picked up a nice victory against Washington, and even Boise State gave Michigan State all the Spartans could handle.

The Mountain West race should be one of the more entertaining ones to keep tabs on.

No. 7: Atlantic 10

The Atlantic 10 takes over the spot of top mid-major conference this week.

Charlotte and Temple are still undefeated, Xavier looks better than advertised (even with a loss to Pacific), Dayton and Saint Joseph’s had an effective week and VCU somehow managed to look good in losing two straight games.

The Rams lost to Duke by nine in a back-and-forth battle and then followed that effort up with a three-point defeat at the hands of Missouri. Shaka Smart will definitely have his squad ready to knock off a powerhouse or two in March.

Perhaps the best week in the A-10 came from the new kids on the block.

Butler stunned Marquette with a buzzer-beating heave to win in its first game at the Maui Invitational and then proceeded to shock the college basketball world with a dominating victory over North Carolina.

Sure, the Tar Heels clawed back at the end to make it respectable, but the Bulldogs held a 29-point lead at one time.

Butler’s loss to Illinois may have spoiled the week for its team, but it did nothing to detract from the impression the Bulldogs left in that UNC game.

No. 6: Pac-12

Really UCLA? Cal Poly?

There was a clear split regarding how people felt about the Bruins heading into the season as a team that didn’t qualify for the NCAA tournament last year but received a lofty ranking thanks to an impressive freshman class.

This loss gives some fuel to the overrated camp.

Were it not for UCLA I may have moved the Pac-12 up in these rankings because there are a number of other teams impressing.

California, Colorado and Arizona are all undefeated. We expected the Wildcats to get off to a good start, but the Golden Bears and Buffaloes have beaten the likes of Baylor, Dayton, Murray State, Pacific and Georgia Tech already.

Moreover, Oregon looked much improved from a year ago in its victory over a ranked UNLV team and close loss to Cincinnati.

Even Oregon State, Utah and Arizona State have gotten off to solid starts.

While there clearly isn’t a great level of depth yet in the Pac-12, the mid-tier teams are starting to pick it up which only means good things for the future of West Coast basketball.

No. 5: Big 12

The Big 12 is starting to resemble a mystery. It is clear that the talent level is there for a number of teams, but it isn’t quite translating on the court just yet.

To say Texas struggled mightily in the Maui Invitational would be an enormous understatement. Who had the Longhorns falling to Chaminade? Anyone? Bueller?

To make matters worse, Baylor, a team many thought would/will challenge Kansas for the conference crown, went ahead and lost to the College of Charleston this week. That gives the Bears two losses already.

Kansas State has looked better at times, but the Wildcats were simply outmatched against Michigan. Their in-state counterpart Kansas is definitely still the class of the league and bounced back nicely this week with a couple of wins.

Texas Tech is undefeated, but the Raiders may as well be playing high school teams so far.

That leaves Oklahoma State, which is the one team in this conference that has played above expectations in the early going. Marcus Smart and the Cowboys stretched their record to 5-0 this week.

Depending on how the next few weeks play out, the Big 12 could be anywhere from third to seventh on this list. For now let’s put it at five.

No. 4: SEC

There may not be a major conference with as large of a gap between its top teams and its bottom teams as the SEC.

Florida, Missouri and (eventually) Kentucky will likely run away with the top three spots in the league, and all three showed why this week.

The Gators continued to ride high from their earlier beatdown of Wisconsin with dominating victories, the Wildcats bounced back from the Duke loss with nothing but blowouts and Missouri picked up two decent wins over Stanford and VCU.

I know the Tigers got declawed by Louisville, but I think that said more about the Cardinals than Missouri.

There are other teams in the conference with good records, but that is primarily due to the fact that they have played schedules weaker than the SEC’s Week 12 slate in football (that included such doozies as Western Carolina, Jacksonville State, Wofford, Georgia Southern, Alabama A&M, Samford and Sam Houston State—got to love November in the SEC).

The three teams on the top will eventually separate themselves from the rest of the pack, which may be good enough to keep the SEC in the top four of these rankings for a while.

No. 3: ACC

The ACC can go ahead and thank Duke because the Blue Devils are absolutely carrying this league.

Coach K’s squad looked more than impressive at the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament with wins against the likes of Minnesota, VCU and Louisville. In fact, no team has looked better than Duke against harder competition in the entire country thus far.

The same cannot be said about preseason favorite NC State. The Wolfpack followed up their loss to Oklahoma State by almost laying an egg against UNC-Asheville in an 82-80 win.

The Tar Heels looked just as uninspiring in Maui where they were destroyed by Butler for 36 minutes before eventually falling by 11.

The news isn’t all bad though because Florida State continues to bounce back from its early loss to South Alabama, and Virginia Tech is still undefeated thanks to a number of cupcake victories.

Maryland also looks tough this year, although that may be a sore subject for the ACC, especially during the week of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Thanks to that Challenge, this will be a big week for the conference now and on Selection Sunday.

No. 2: Big East

Let’s not hold Louisville’s five-point loss to Duke against the Cardinals because that was a well-fought game that probably said more about Coach K’s squad than it did Rick Pitino's.

In fact, if I was a Louisville fan I would be more encouraged by the smackdown my team gave Missouri than discouraged by that loss.

But it’s not just the Cardinals that have been impressive so far. Syracuse looks like a potential conference front runner, and Cincinnati looks even better than its Sweet 16 team a year ago.

As for the Bearcats, it’s rare nowadays to see Mick Cronin’s team ever challenge itself out of conference, so the wins over Iowa State and Oregon are good signs, even if those two teams aren’t exactly Kentucky and Duke.

The Big East has ten teams that are undefeated or have only one loss, which is impressive even if it is early.

Pittsburgh and Georgetown are probably both underrated, and even penalty-saddled Connecticut has played better than expected.

The Big East may be falling apart soon with defections, but for now it is the second best conference in the country.

No. 1: Big Ten

It has been somewhat assumed early in the year that the Big Ten is the best conference when it comes to hoops, but for the first time that notion will be put to the test.

The ACC/Big Ten Challenge is this week, and those Big Ten teams that litter the top five will have a chance to prove themselves against top-notch competition.

Indiana will play North Carolina, Michigan will square off against North Carolina State and Ohio State will be taking on Duke in Cameron Indoor.

Notable victories for the Big Ten this week included Northwestern defeating Illinois State, Minnesota taking out Stanford and Memphis, Michigan beating previously-undefeated Kansas State and Pittsburgh teams, Indiana surviving Georgetown in overtime and Illinois taking the Maui Invitational with a victory over Butler.

Look for the Big Ten to state its claim as the top dog in the Challenge this week. If it can take seven or more of those games there will be very little doubt as to who is the best conference.

At least until Week 5.