Ranking the Top College Basketball Conferences in 2015-16

The 2015-16 college basketball season is about to kick into the next gear as preseason games are coming to an end and conference play takes center stage. And with this shift in focus we're brought back to the topic of which leagues are better than others.

It's a mostly meaningless debate, albeit one that factors into how the NCAA tournament field gets determined since the overall strength of a team's league either adds to or takes away from its resume.

Nonconference games play a significant role in this discussion since a league that does well before conference play can offset the inevitable self-cannibalization that comes from conference games.

The usual subjects are perennially near the top of the list of the best conferences, as the power teams have the advantage of scheduling their early games in a more favorable manor than those from lesser leagues. But the order in which they pan out changes from year to year, and based on the first month of this season we've ranked the top ones.

We've ranked the 10 best leagues based on their overall body of work through Wednesday's action, taking into account unexpected results, performance against other notable conferences and teams' placement in KenPom.com's RPI-style rankings.

Honorable Mention

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Metro Atlantic 

Thanks to Monmouth and its bench mob, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is getting the kind of buzz that leagues like it only receive when pulling off an upset in March. Instead it's because of the Hawks' four major victories already, most recently on Tuesday at Georgetown. They opened the season with a win at UCLA and also knocked off Notre Dame and USC in the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando, Florida.

Missouri Valley

Wichita State reached the Final Four in 2013 and made it into the NCAA tournament with a perfect record in 2014. The Shockers have been dealing with injuries so far this season, though, resulting in a 5-4 start, which has the rest of the conference thinking it has a shot to take the top spot. The contenders include Evansville, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois, which was 12-21 last year but has started this season 9-2.

Sun Belt

Georgia State upset Baylor in last year's NCAA tournament, while Louisiana-Lafayette features the nation's top double-double guy in senior forward Shawn Long. But the reason the Sun Belt is getting attention this year is because of two less-heralded programs, Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington. Little Rock is one of eight Division I teams without a loss (thanks to wins at DePaul, San Diego State and Tulsa) and Arlington has won at Memphis and Ohio State.

10. West Coast

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Notable wins: Gonzaga vs. Connecticut; San Diego vs. San Diego State; St. Mary's vs. Stanford

Worst losses: Portland vs. Idaho State

As long as Gonzaga sticks around, the West Coast Conference will be among the 10 or 12 best conferences in college basketball. But as long as Gonzaga is the only standout team in this league, the WCC can't expect to do much better.

It doesn't help that the Bulldogs have already lost three times, twice at home, and nearly fell at home to Montana last week. They only have two more chances to beef up their nonconference resume—Saturday against Tennessee and in February at SMU—otherwise they're at the mercy of how much the NCAA tournament selection committee values what will probably be another dominant run through the league.

St. Mary's was unbeaten until losing at California on Dec. 12, one of only two games it played against power-conference opponents, and BYU went 0-2 against Pac-12 schools though it gets a chance to potentially grab some quality wins in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii next week.

And then there's the rest of the league, which includes six schools ranked 208th or lower by KenPom.

9. Mountain West

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Notable wins: San Diego State vs. California; UNLV vs. Oregon

Worst losses: Fresno State at Cal Poly; San Diego State vs. San Diego

The Mountain West is league that's been on the cusp of breaking into the next level of conferences for several years and had five teams make the NCAA tournament just three seasons ago. But a rough start to 2015-16 is making it look like it could be a one-bid league for the first time since 2001.

Only New Mexico, at No. 44, is currently in KenPom's top 50. The Lobos are 7-2 but its “best” win is probably a road victory over rival New Mexico State, while its losses were at USC and unbeaten Purdue.

Regular-league contenders San Diego State and UNLV have the conference's best wins, but also some confounding losses. SDSU is nearly unbeatable at home, but scored only 43 points in a loss there to Arkansas-Little Rock.

Meanwhile, UNLV's victories over Oregon and against Indiana (in Maui) are countered by Wednesday's 10-point home loss to Arizona State in which the Runnin' Rebels were outscored 41-19 in the second half.

Even if the Mountain West's top teams collectively dominate from here on out there's still dead weight at the bottom. Five of its 11 teams are rated 152nd or lower, including No. 332 San Jose State.

8. American

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Notable wins: Tulsa vs. Wichita State; SMU vs. Michigan; Houston vs. LSU

Worst losses: Memphis vs. Texas-Arlington; Tulsa vs. Oral Roberts; South Florida vs. NJIT

The lesser half of what used to be the Big East Conference features a recent national champion (Connecticut) that's trying to build its way back up to prominence and an unbeaten team (SMU) that has no shot at winning a title because it has been banned from postseason play.

Tulsa is the only team to have beaten a ranked opponent when it knocked off then-No. 9 Wichita State on Nov. 18. But the Golden Hurricane also have three losses, and thus aren't ranked in KenPom's top 50.

The American has three top-50 teams (Cincinnati, Connecticut and SMU) but also two (South Florida, Tulane) ranked below 200th.

7. Atlantic 10

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Notable wins: George Washington vs. Virginia; Richmond vs. California; Dayton at Vanderbilt

Worst losses: Dayton vs. Chattanooga; Saint Louis vs. Tennessee-Martin

The Atlantic 10 wants to be considered among the power conferences and if only judged on its top teams that would be very possible. But at 14 teams, there isn't enough depth to rank any higher from an overall standpoint.

Dayton, at No. 37, is the highest-rated team in KenPom's updated rankings thanks to its win at Vanderbilt and also against Iowa in the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando, Florida. But the Flyers also stumbled at home last time out to Chattanooga, scoring a season-low 59 points.

George Washington appears to be the cream of the crop, getting an early boost by knocking off then-No. 7 Virginia in mid-November. But reigning regular-season champion Davidson only has one loss (by 33 at North Carolina) and longtime doormat Fordham has won eight straight for the first time since 1990-91.

6. SEC

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Notable wins: Alabama vs. Notre Dame; Kentucky vs. Duke; Texas A&M vs. Gonzaga

Worst losses: Arkansas vs. Akron; LSU at Charleston; Mississippi State vs. Southern

The SEC's basketball motto should be something like “We're More Than Just Kentucky,” though the rest of the league needs to be able to make such a slogan hold to scrutiny.

The Wildcats are the team to beat until someone does so, and that's proven to be possible in the regular season when they lost at UCLA on Dec. 3. But Kentucky also has the SEC's most impressive win by a long shot, topping defending national champion Duke by 10 points in the Champions Classic.

After that, though, there's not much else to rave about. Texas A&M made a nice run to the Battle 4 Atlantis finals, beating rivals Texas and Gonzaga along the way, but then couldn't take down a Syracuse team that's proven not to be as good since then. The Aggies then were humbled at Arizona State on the road.

Same goes for Vanderbilt, which made the Maui Invitational final but couldn't get past Kansas. It has since lost at Baylor and at home to Dayton. And while South Carolina is 9-0 for the first time since 1970-71, that's come against a wholly unimpressive list of opponents.

5. Pac-12

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Notable wins: Arizona at Gonzaga; Arizona State vs. Texas A&M; UCLA vs. Kentucky

Worst losses: Arizona State vs. Sacramento State; UCLA vs. Monmouth; Washington State at Idaho

Based on how the preseason has gone, this has the makings of the deepest Pac-12 Conference since the league expanded to 12 teams in 2011-12. That could lead to a large number of NCAA tournament bids but not necessarily many high seeds, similar to how the Big 12 sent seven teams to this past tourney but only had two survive the opening weekend.

Standard-bearer Arizona is one of six teams ranked in KenPom's top 50, but at No. 14 it falls behind the highest-rated team from five other conferences. The next-best team is Oregon at No. 29, which would be no better than fourth in six other leagues.

However, the Pac-12 has nine of its 12 teams in the top 57 including Arizona State, which after dropping coach Bobby Hurley's debut against Sacramento State has won seven of nine with wins at Creighton and UNLV and a 13-point home victory against Texas A&M.

The overall depth and relative blah-ness of the Pac-12 can best be described by its unofficial last-place team, Stanford. The Cardinal, who are 5-3, won the NIT last season after reaching the Sweet 16 the year before.

4. Big East

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Notable wins: Butler at Cincinnati; Marquette at Wisconsin; Providence vs. Arizona

Worst losses: DePaul vs. Arkansas-Little Rock; Georgetown vs. Radford; St. John's at Fordham

When the original Big East broke up into two leagues a few years ago, it was hard to imagine this conference would ever be able to return to its old greatness of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. It still has a ways to go, but the top half is doing its best to make such a goal achievable.

With five teams in KenPom's top 50 and another two ranked 54th and 60th, 70 percent of the 10-team league would be in contention to make the NCAA tournament if the field were determined solely on nonconference play. That's because the Big East has only suffered six home losses and is 9-7 in true road games. Butler had the biggest of those road wins, knocking off then-unbeaten Cincinnati, though Providence toppling Arizona in the Wooden Legacy semifinals and then hanging with Michigan State in the tournament title game provided even more good fortune.

Topping the league is 10-0 Xavier, which has six wins against other power conferences behind the No. 2 scoring offense in the nation.

3. Big Ten

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Notable wins: Michigan State vs. Kansas; Purdue at Pittsburgh; Wisconsin at Syracuse

Worst losses: Minnesota vs. South Dakota; Purdue vs. Radford; Wisconsin vs. Western Illinois

While being top-heavy isn't great when building Legos, it's quite desirable as far as conference makeup goes. Unfortunately, the Big Ten resembles more of a tower with a gradually widening base due to three distinct tiers of hierarchy.

At the top of the league are two 11-0 teams, Michigan State and Purdue, as well as one-loss Maryland, whose only defeat came at North Carolina. Northwestern also has only one loss, also to UNC, but because the Wildcats don't have any notable victories they are still considered part of the Big Ten's second tier.

The rest of that group includes Indiana, Iowa and Michigan, teams who are expected to do well this season but so far haven't managed to live up to those expectations. They don't have any particularly bad wins, but also no impressive wins; Iowa would have had it not blown a 20-point second-half lead at rival Iowa State last week.

Ohio State and Wisconsin should be in this second tier, too, but both appear headed for major downturns in 2015-16 and thus are better served to be the top teams from the bottom tier. Which isn't a good thing, since that means only being better than the likes of Illinois, Nebraska and Rutgers.

2. Big 12

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Notable wins: Iowa State vs. Iowa; Oklahoma vs. Villanova; Texas vs. North Carolina

Worst losses: Oklahoma State vs. George Mason; Oklahoma State vs. Missouri State; TCU vs. South Dakota State

With a combined record of 73-16 and only four home losses, the Big 12 is off to another strong start and should contend for the top spot in the league rankings as the season progresses. For now, though, it's the runner-up mostly because it didn't win enough of the big games its top teams have been involved in.

Kansas missed a golden opportunity for an early signature win against Michigan State in the Champions Classic, giving up a six-point halftime lead to a team that has yet to lose and sits at No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. Same goes for Baylor and West Virginia, which had opportunities against Oregon and Maryland, respectively, that would have significantly boosted the Big 12's reputation.

Iowa State and Oklahoma have taken care of business as two of the eight remaining unbeaten teams, with ISU rallying from a 20-point deficit at home to beat rival Iowa and Oklahoma bulldozing then-perfect Villanova in Hawaii.

The Big 12's bottom isn't that deep, as TCU's 5-4 record is the worst in the league. Texas has three losses, but two came in the Bahamas (to ranked teams) and the other was in China. It made up for those by downing North Carolina on Saturday.

1. ACC

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Notable wins: Miami vs. Utah; North Carolina vs. Maryland; Virginia vs. West Virginia

Worst losses: Miami vs. Northeastern; North Carolina State vs. William & Mary, Virginia Tech vs. Alabama State

The Atlantic Coast Conference remains the gold standard in college basketball, and having the defending national champion among its members only adds to the resume.

Duke is one of nine schools ranked among KenPom's top 50, with 13 of 15 in the top 100. However, the Blue Devils aren't the highest-rated ACC team. That distinction goes to two-time regular-season champion Virginia, which after losing at George Washington to open this season has run off eight in a row.

The Cavaliers are one of six teams with one loss, while another five have only two setbacks. If not for Boston College, bringing up the rear at 4-6, the entire conference would be sporting a winning record at this point in the season.

And we haven't even mentioned North Carolina, which was the preseason No. 1 team in the Associated Press Poll but has lost at Northern Iowa and Texas. The 15-team league has gone a respective 8-9 so far in true road games, with four of those wins coming in the Big East/ACC Challenge.

All statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.