Top 5 Conferences In College Basketball
By Bryce Olin
1. Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC)
Projected Tournament Teams: Duke, Louisville, Virginia, Miami, Notre Dame, North Carolina
The ACC is the best conference in college basketball, and it’s not really that close.
As you can see, every team in the ACC is .500 or better entering conference play. For a conference that has some weak teams at the bottom, that’s really impressive.
| Overall | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | School | W | L | W-L% |
| 1 | Notre Dame | 12 | 1 | .923 |
| 1 | North Carolina State | 10 | 3 | .769 |
| 3 | Florida State | 7 | 5 | .583 |
| 3 | Wake Forest | 6 | 6 | .500 |
| 5 | Duke | 10 | 0 | 1.000 |
| 5 | Louisville | 11 | 0 | 1.000 |
| 5 | Virginia | 11 | 0 | 1.000 |
| 5 | Miami (FL) | 9 | 3 | .750 |
| 5 | Pittsburgh | 9 | 3 | .750 |
| 5 | Georgia Tech | 8 | 3 | .727 |
| 5 | North Carolina | 8 | 3 | .727 |
| 5 | Clemson | 7 | 4 | .636 |
| 5 | Syracuse | 7 | 4 | .636 |
| 5 | Virginia Tech | 7 | 4 | .636 |
| 5 | Boston College | 6 | 4 | .600 |
Provided by Sports-Reference.com/CBB: View Original Table
Generated 12/26/2014.
The strength of the ACC is at the top of the conference.
Right now, as it stands, the ACC features three undefeated teams (Duke, Louisville, Virginia) and one one-loss team (Notre Dame). That’s ridiculous. No other conference in the country has that kind of power at the top of the conference.
And, that doesn’t even account for a super-talented team like North Carolina. Somehow, the Tar Heels have three losses this season.
Duke, Louisville, and Virginia figure to be the top three teams in the conference, but it’s going to be a bloodbath. Any team in the ACC can beat any other team on any given night. Most conferences don’t have that much parity.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports currently has six ACC teams making the NCAA tournament. I think that’s a good number for now, but it also doesn’t include Pittsburgh, Syracuse, North Carolina State, and Georgia Tech. All of those teams have three or four losses this season, and I could see each of them getting a bid for the Big Dance in March.
If that happens, that would be ten ACC teams would be in the NCAA tournament. I can’t say that will happen for sure, but I do think there’s a really good chance eight or even nine teams from the ACC make the tournament. And, I wouldn’t be surprised if a tenth team made it.
Next: Top 5 Candidates to Win Player of the Year in College Hoops