BIG EAST

This conference is more than a little scary. Georgetown lost their best player in center Roy Hibbert after winning the league last year and they still look like a pretty good team on paper. Between them, Louisville, Notre Dame, UConn, Pitt, Marquette, Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia…well, you get the point. Tough league. Of course, having a 45-team league helps.

ACC

While the Big East has the quantity, the ACC might have the quality. If UNC doesn’t win a title this year, it will tie Roy Williams’s 96-97 and 02-03 Kansas teams for biggest disappointments in his career. They have more talent than everyone, and it’s not really even all that close. Plus, between Duke, Miami and Va. Tech they have other solid teams rounding out the league. While we’re here, I’d just like to say how hilarious it is to me that the ACC picked up Miami, Va. Tech and Boston College in hopes of becoming a football league and so far it has helped them more in the basketball department. Who knew Miami would stop producing first-round NFL draft picks so abruptly?

BIG 10

I think this position comes more out of a distrust of certain teams in other conferences than faith in this one. (I’ll explain very shortly.)  Also, faith in Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan helps. I say that because besides Michigan State and Purdue, this league looks pretty bleak to most. However, I have faith that Coach Ryan will take whatever group of nobodies he has this year and find a way to win. Think about it for a second. How many good NBA players can call Wisconsin their alma mater? It’s slim pickins.

WCC

If I had slightly bigger balls, I’d put them over the Big Ten. But alas, my balls are just average-sized. Simply put, the West Coast Conference (thought I’d help you guys out there) is here because they have three legitimately solid teams in Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and San Diego. I think Gonzaga can play with anyone in the country, excluding UNC. Too bad 75% of the country will be asleep during any of their league games.

SEC

The reason they are behind the WCC is I just can’t buy Florida as a legit team. I’m not even sure they’re Top 25 worthy. They were offensively inconsistent last year and that was before they lost their best post player to the draft. This team reminds me of the teams Billy D. had before the back-to-back crew showed up. They have a bunch of shooters who aren’t great at anything else. At least this year’s version has one exception to that rule in SEC freshman of the year Nick Calathes, but I still don’t think that will be enough. Elsewhere, Tennessee lost a lot but will be all right, Kentucky should be better and Alabama will surprise.

BIG 12

Anyone who watched Texas last year saw how instrumental point guard D.J. Augustine was to them. Taking him off this Texas team is like taking Steve Nash off the Suns. I just don’t see how anyone can rationally argue that this is an elite team. Couple that with Kansas losing their whole damn team after winning the championship and Oklahoma being just OK, and you start to understand why they’re down here.

PAC-10

Just like in football, they have one very-good-but-probably-overrated team, two above average teams and a bunch of crap. Good to know some things don’t change with the switch in sports.

With Midnight Madness about to take place all across the country, it will only be a few more weeks before the college basketball season is in full swing. Since we already know the conferences on the football side of things stack up with the Big 12 and SEC in a coin flip for the top spot followed by the Big 10 and a last place tie between everyone else, I thought I would rank the conferences for basketball. Here we go…

BIG EAST

This conference is more than a little scary. Georgetown lost their best player in center Roy Hibbert after winning the league last year and they still look like a pretty good team on paper. Between them, Louisville, Notre Dame, UConn, Pitt, Marquette, Villanova, Syracuse, West Virginia…well, you get the point. Tough league. Of course, having a 45-team league helps.

ACC

While the Big East has the quantity, the ACC might have the quality. If UNC doesn’t win a title this year, it will tie Roy Williams’s 96-97 and 02-03 Kansas teams for biggest disappointments in his career. They have more talent than everyone, and it’s not really even all that close. Plus, between Duke, Miami and Va. Tech they have other solid teams rounding out the league. While we’re here, I’d just like to say how hilarious it is to me that the ACC picked up Miami, Va. Tech and Boston College in hopes of becoming a football league and so far it has helped them more in the basketball department. Who knew Miami would stop producing first-round NFL draft picks so abruptly?

BIG 10

I think this position comes more out of a distrust of certain teams in other conferences than faith in this one. (I’ll explain very shortly.)  Also, faith in Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan helps. I say that because besides Michigan State and Purdue, this league looks pretty bleak to most. However, I have faith that Coach Ryan will take whatever group of nobodies he has this year and find a way to win. Think about it for a second. How many good NBA players can call Wisconsin their alma mater? It’s slim pickins.

WCC

If I had slightly bigger balls, I’d put them over the Big Ten. But alas, my balls are just average-sized. Simply put, the West Coast Conference (thought I’d help you guys out there) is here because they have three legitimately solid teams in Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and San Diego. I think Gonzaga can play with anyone in the country, excluding UNC. Too bad 75% of the country will be asleep during any of their league games.

SEC

The reason they are behind the WCC is I just can’t buy Florida as a legit team. I’m not even sure they’re Top 25 worthy. They were offensively inconsistent last year and that was before they lost their best post player to the draft. This team reminds me of the teams Billy D. had before the back-to-back crew showed up. They have a bunch of shooters who aren’t great at anything else. At least this year’s version has one exception to that rule in SEC freshman of the year Nick Calathes, but I still don’t think that will be enough. Elsewhere, Tennessee lost a lot but will be all right, Kentucky should be better and Alabama will surprise.

BIG 12

Anyone who watched Texas last year saw how instrumental point guard D.J. Augustine was to them. Taking him off this Texas team is like taking Steve Nash off the Suns. I just don’t see how anyone can rationally argue that this is an elite team. Couple that with Kansas losing their whole damn team after winning the championship and Oklahoma being just OK, and you start to understand why they’re down here.

PAC-10

Just like in football, they have one very-good-but-probably-overrated team, two above average teams and a bunch of crap. Good to know some things don’t change with the switch in sports.

Looking at what happened in the league this weekend, I didn’t feel like there were any real surprises. I guess I was slightly surprised to see Ohio State struggle to beat Wisconsin, even though Wisconsin is a good team and historically they play the Buckeyes tough at home. I also thought Penn State would score more than 20 points on Purdue. But as far as wins and losses, everything went pretty much like I thought it would. So, allow me to turn my attention to a subject I wouldn’t have ever believed I would think about, much less post about here. Usually, my wish for the Big Ten is to have OSU or Michigan skate through the league and then get killed in either a BCS bowl game or the National Title game, sullying the national reputation of the league even further. It’s usually especially sweet because all announcers and pundits wet themselves over the great tradition of both the schools and then act surprised when more talented teams from better leagues crap all over them. I have a slightly less combative position towards the league this year because of one team.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Purple Wildcats of Northwestern! Before writing this, I felt kind of old knowing Northwestern last made the Rose Bowl in 1995 and that I was able to remember it quite well. I also thought that they had basically turned into Duke once coach Gary Barnett left. A little quick research showed that Barnett was actually the one who fared worse after leaving. (I trust you all remember his distinguished stint at Colorado.) Much to my surprise, Northwestern was actually tied for first in the league in 2000 and has made bowl games in ’03 and ’05. Well, they have single-handedly altered my wishes for the league. I want the Purple Wildcats to run wild! I want them to run the table, win the Big Ten outright and go all Boise State on someone in a BCS bowl game, as long as they don’t play the Florida Gators. It would be the best of both worlds as far as I’m concerned. I would get to see something cool and exciting again as an underdog with a clearly less-talented team shocks the world and the Big Ten would still be getting embarrassed at the same time. Northwestern winning the Big Ten is about as great an indictment on the league as anything.

As for the chances of this actually happening, I must admit I haven’t watched the Purple Wildcats play at all yet this year. I probably never will unless they are still undefeated by the time they play Ohio State at home on Nov. 8. But, I do know a little about some of the teams they’ve played this year. Syracuse has been horrible from the second their coach Greg Robinson showed up there. That victory almost shouldn’t even count. Iowa and Ohio both were unimpressive the times I saw them as well. As scary as this sounds, their most legitimate victory may have been at Duke. Since that is arguably their most legitimate victory, I completely understand why people are going to be little skeptical about their chances of going undefeated the rest of the year. A look at their schedule should change that. They basically have a three game season starting with the aforementioned Ohio State game, Michigan at The Big House and the Fightin’ Zookers (Illinois) at home. Then again, I guess Northwestern can’t really afford to overlook anyone. Regardless of whether or not I can make a rational argument for them or I actually believe they can do it, I am rooting for them. Really.