Ranking the Top College Basketball Conferences in 2016-17

Conference play is right around the corner in the 2016-17 college basketball season.

Are you ready? I'm going to level with you right now: I don't think you're ready. You are not ready for this jelly, by which I mean the grueling portion of the college basketball season that separates wheat from chaff and No. 1 seeds from No. 9 seeds.

Fortunately, we're here for you. Not all conferences are equal, so the following rankings highlight the five power conferences you need to keep an eye on going forward. Which ones are most potent as they prepare for in-conference battle?

Conferences are ranked based on three factors: number of teams ranked or receiving votes in the Dec. 12 AP Top 25 poll, conference RPI per bracketologist Jerry Palm of CBS Sports and the number of conference teams Palm predicts will make it into the Big Dance in March.

5. Big East

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Teams ranked or receiving votes: Four

Conference RPI ranking: One

Number of teams projected to make tournament: Five

No other conference has the advantage that the Big East has: a team at the top.

Villanova is the defending national champion and the top-ranked team in the latest AP poll. 

Sharp-shooting Creighton and hard-nosed Xavier help round out the best of the Big East, which enjoys the top conference RPI ranking as well as the top AP slot. A 6-2 record against the ACC shows you what the Big East is capable of this season.

4. Big 12

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Johnathan Motley

Teams ranked or receiving votes: Five

Conference RPI ranking: Three

Number of teams projected to make tournament: Six

As always in the rough-and-tumble Big 12, the calling card this season is defense.

According to NCAA.com stats, West Virginia sits third and Baylor sits 10th in the nation in team defense with 57.1 and 59.0 points allowed per game, respectively.

It has translated to big success. Kansas and Baylor sit third and fourth, respectively, in the AP Top 25, and the Mountaineers aren't that far behind at No. 12.

The Jayhawks are again the class of the conference. With apologies to Indiana's defeat of North Carolina, KU's 77-75 win over Duke may be the signature game of this 2016-17 campaign. Fans in Lawrence have to be hoping they have repeat performances stored up for the winter, especially for a hard-nosed Baylor team that has emerged as their top Big 12 foil.

3. Big Ten

AJ Mast/Associated Press/Associated Press

James Blackmon

Teams ranked or receiving votes: Seven

Conference RPI ranking: Four

Number of teams projected to make tournament: Six

The high-flying Indiana Hoosiers are pacing the Big Ten thus far, but experienced teams in Wisconsin and Purdue are right there as well.

It's hard to know what else to expect from the Big Ten. Illinois looked good early before stumbling. Michigan State has looked good at times but is a deep shade of Spartan green. Maryland has faltered against top competition, even with Melo Trimble back at the helm. Ditto Ohio State. Throw in a Minnesota team that's overachieving thus far, and good luck projecting this conference.

If there ultimately will be six Big Ten teams in the tournament, the combination of teams that will make it is hard to predict. And it's entirely possible they don't get that many in come March. Of the five conferences on this list, none is more unsettled going into conference play than the Big Ten—which means a compelling conference season will unfold in the Midwest.

2. Pac-12

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Lonzo Ball

Teams ranked or receiving votes: Four

Conference RPI ranking: Six

Number of teams projected to make tournament: Seven

Second-ranked UCLA and masterful point guard Lonzo Ball are the story of the season thus far. Oregon started the season with big hype and still remains in the Top 25 despite stumbling early out of the gate.

The dark-horse pick for most interesting story in the conference, though, might be the Arizona Wildcats. With only seven scholarship players dressing for most games, they are undermanned in every game. And yet, here they are, No. 19 in the latest AP poll.

After surviving a late rally from Texas A&M on Saturday to win 67-63, Wildcats head coach Sean Miller explained to Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star the difficulties of having scarce resources:

"

We wear down. We have seven scholarship players and around the 10-, eight-minute mark, we have a couple of guys where all of sudden you miss shots and defense is not as easy as it was. That's why depth is so critical. ... When they sensed that we were running out of gas, they put it into overdrive. We were fortunate to hold on, but I also think we deserved to win.

"

Behind phenom big man Lauri Markkanen, the Cats are 10-2 and overachieving. Conference play will determine a lot about what kind of gas tank this team really has.

1. ACC

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Zach LeDay

Teams ranked or receiving votes: 11

Conference RPI ranking: 2

Number of teams projected to make tournament: Nine

Duke and North Carolina—they dominate the ACC and regular-season college basketball like skyscrapers. Ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, their matchups on Feb. 9 and March 4 will be must-see TV. 

But that fixation does a disservice to the depth of this conference. It overlooks a tough Louisville team and a Virginia squad that attacks like the blob, overcoming player departures without missing many beats. It also forgets resurgent Virginia Tech and rugged Notre Dame.

There's a lot to like in this conference, and the numbers bear that out. It will be interesting to see who remains standing after these teams spend the better part of two months bruising each other up this season.