Power Ranking the College Hoops Conferences After Season's First Month

Last year, the Big East sent a record 11 teams to the NCAA tournament, including national champion UConn. One month into the 2011-12 season, the Big East is still awfully good, but the conference pecking order isn’t nearly so cut and dried.

The once-mighty Pac-12 had three teams in the preseason rankings, but that total has dropped to zero after four weeks of play. That’s one team fewer than the Ivy League, thanks to a very rare Top 25 appearance by the 8-0 Harvard Crimson.

Herein, a look at how the nation’s top conferences stack up against each other with one month gone from the schedule.

12. Ivy League

Highlights

Tommy Amaker's No. 24 Harvard team becomes one of the very rare Ivy squads to make an appearance in the national rankings thanks to an 8-0 start that includes a neutral-court win over Florida State.

Lowlights

Pretty much everybody else, notably perennial power Princeton (3-5), which has fallen to Wagner, Elon and Bucknell. Only three of the league’s eight teams are over .500.

Outlook

The Crimson may not have the chops to upset UConn in Storrs on Thursday, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they could finish with just that one loss on their record. Nobody else in the conference has looked like a meaningful NCAA contender.

11. Mountain West

Highlights

UNLV’s not-quite-home win over North Carolina is the game that put this conference back on the map in BYU’s (and Jimmer Fredette’s) absence, but San Diego State has also looked sharp.

Even having lost most of the key members of last season’s Sweet 16 squad, the Aztecs have knocked off Arizona and Cal (Nos. 23 and 24, respectively, at the time).

Lowlights

Wyoming has only lost one game, but it came against a lackluster Green Bay team. Colorado State’s conference-worst three defeats include a 20-point home loss to Southern Miss.

Outlook

The Rebels and Aztecs look to be legitimate NCAA tournament teams (and dangerous first-round opponents), but the rest of the conference has shown little thus far.

10. Conference USA

Highlights

Memphis, ranked No. 20 despite a rough showing in the Maui Invitational, has pounded a dangerous Belmont team and edged Tennessee. Marshall and Central Florida have both notched signature upsets (over Cincinnati and UConn, respectively).

Lowlights

UTEP, a conference tournament finalist a year ago, is 1-4 with an 18-point home loss to Stephen F. Austin. UAB, which actually made the 2011 NCAA tournament, is 1-6, including losses to Tennessee-Martin and Murray State.

Outlook

Many observers felt this should have been a one-bid league a year ago, and that appears to be the direction it’s heading again.

The Thundering Herd and Golden Knights are likely to take too many losses in conference play (or even earlier) to be serious at-large candidates, leaving Memphis squarely in the driver’s seat.

9. West Coast Conference

Highlights

Gonzaga is hanging on to the No. 22 ranking, though their biggest win thus far has been at home against a depleted Notre Dame squad.

Santa Clara did get a strong non-conference victory over Villanova on a neutral court, and Loyola Marymount knocked off then-No. 25 St. Louis in L.A.

Lowlights

San Diego has fallen to UC Irvine and Montana in a 4-3 start. Pepperdine, also 4-3, has lost to Cal State Bakersfield and Central Michigan.

Outlook

Gonzaga has a much tougher December schedule—Michigan State, Arizona, at Xavier—to establish themselves as a potential at-large team.

It’s hard to see anybody else having the non-conference résumé to make March Madness without a conference title, though BYU, St. Mary’s and Santa Clara all have some talent here.

8. Pac-12

Highlights

Few and far between. Arizona did beat St. John’s in a de facto road game at Madison Square Garden, but even that effort has been overshadowed by losses to Mississippi State and San Diego State.

Lowlights

UCLA, at 2-5, is off to one of the worst starts in school history, and 3-4 Arizona State has lost to DePaul and Fairfield.

Outlook

For the second year in a row, the once-powerful conference will be scrambling to get even a second bid to the big dance.

Cal and Arizona have shown flashes of respectability, but most of the league will be battling terrible strength-of-schedule and RPI numbers come Selection Sunday.

7. Missouri Valley

Highlights

Creighton has climbed to No. 17 behind solid wins over Iowa, San Diego State and Nebraska. Wichita State—last year’s NIT champs—knocked UNLV out of the national rankings, while Northern Iowa has scored wins over Old Dominion, Providence and Iowa State.

Lowlights

Southern Illinois, once a routine contender in this conference, opened its year with a home loss to Div. II Ohio Dominican. Bradley has dropped four straight, including defeats by Wofford and Nevada.

Outlook

The Valley is looking like at least a two-bid league, with an outside chance at a third if Creighton falls in the conference tourney.

Any of Northern Iowa, Wichita State or Indiana State (last season’s MVC tournament champion) could play its way into March Madness with a strong showing over the remainder of the season.

6. Atlantic-10

Highlights

Unbeaten No. 8 Xavier has been the star here, winning over Purdue and on the road at Vanderbilt. St. Louis took down Washington, Villanova and Oklahoma in a hot start, while Dayton won the Old Spice Classic with victories over Wake Forest and Minnesota.

Lowlights

1-7 Rhode Island has gotten beaten to a pulp, losing to Brown and Maine most recently. Fordham’s three losses include a home defeat by Lehigh and a loss at Loyola (IL).

Outlook

The A-10 will be lucky to be a three-bid league again this season. Xavier is a lock (and looking more and more like a top-four seed), but after St. Louis, it’s hard to find more teams with obvious cases for at-large spots.

5. ACC

Highlights

Even with two early losses, No. 5 North Carolina has pummeled Michigan State and edged No. 16 Wisconsin. No. 6 Duke got blitzed at Ohio State, but beat No. 19 Michigan and No. 13 Kansas to take home the title in Maui.

Lowlights

Boston College has been a wreck, starting 2-6 with a 20-point road loss to Holy Cross and a 36-point home defeat by UMass. Virginia’s only defeat came against hapless TCU.

Outlook

The Tobacco Road powers are both Final Four material, but the rest of the league is in bubble territory or worse.

Look for Miami (assuming Reggie Johnson comes back strong from his knee injury) and Florida State to battle it out for the third—and possibly last—spot in March Madness for this league.

4. Big 12

Highlights

Red-hot No. 10 Missouri has blown out every opponent by 15 or more points (including then-No. 18 Cal). 13th-ranked Kansas has played tough in losses to No. 2 Kentucky and No. 6 Duke while beating No. 21 Georgetown.

Lowlights

Texas Tech suffered losses against Indiana State and DePaul, while Iowa State’s three defeats include a loss at Drake.

Outlook

No. 7 Baylor and No. 25 Texas A&M give the league four ranked teams, and 5-0 Kansas State could easily join them with a strong December.

Even less-touted squads like draft-depleted Texas and rebuilding Oklahoma State have looked sharp early, meaning conference play should be more competitive than expected.

3. SEC

Highlights

Kentucky has solidly entrenched itself at the top of the rankings with wins over Kansas and North Carolina.

No. 15 Alabama earned solid wins over Wichita State and Purdue in Puerto Rico, while No. 18 Mississippi State has been one of the surprises of the season, beating No. 25 Texas A&M, West Virginia and Arizona.

Lowlights

Formerly-ranked Vanderbilt suffered a much-bemoaned home loss to Cleveland State, while South Carolina has fallen to Tennessee State and rebuilding USC.

Outlook

The league’s four currently ranked teams (also including No. 12 Florida) are an impressive bunch, with Kentucky on the short list of serious national title contenders. Other than Vandy, though, the pickings get very slim very fast after those top four.

2. Big Ten

Highlights

Ohio State is No. 2 in the nation with a bullet after beating Florida and demolishing Duke (both in Columbus). Illinois makes a well-deserved Top 25 debut—at No. 22—with a win over Gonzaga to punctuate an 8-0 start.

Lowlights

New arrival Nebraska has lost at home to Oregon and Wake Forest, while 8-1 Minnesota is living on borrowed time after Trevor Mbakwe’s season-ending knee injury.

Outlook

No. 16 Wisconsin and No. 19 Michigan give the league four ranked teams already, with Indiana, Purdue and Northwestern all having the potential to join them.

Despite several major draft/graduation losses from 2010-11, this looks like a conference in great shape for the rest of the season.

1. Big East

Highlights

Third-ranked Syracuse has ripped off eight straight wins, including a squeaker at home over No. 12 Florida. Georgetown has clawed its way into the rankings at No. 21 behind a win over No. 20 Memphis in Maui and a road victory over No. 15 Alabama.

Lowlights

Rebuilding St. John’s has shown flashes, but the Red Storm have also lost to Northeastern and Detroit. No. 9 UConn’s one loss came against Central Florida, while Cincinnati has fallen to Presbyterian and Marshall.

Outlook

While it’s not going to get 11 bids again, three teams in the national top 10 (with No. 4 Louisville) still make this the deepest league in the country.

Seton Hall and Providence have both played better than expected, and Cincinnati, Villanova and West Virginia will all be factors in conference play.