College basketball conference rankings: ACC remains on the bottom as the Pac-12 surges

Another week and another round of upsets to shake up the college basketball landscape. Find out which conference came out the most unscathed this time.

1. Big 12

Texas Tech started the week off with a bang by taking down then-ranked number one Louisville Cardinals at Madison Square Garden causing another shakeup atop the AP Poll this week. The Red Raiders have been up-and-down to begin the season but it looks like they have started to find their groove of late. Kansas steps into the top spot and they have held steady for the majority of the season but they have a test upcoming this week against Villanova. Bill Self’s team has size, skill and experience and looks the part of a team that could be cutting the nets down as “One Shining Moment” blasts from the in-arena speaker system. Baylor also got a key win over Butler to help give this conference a shot in the arm. They have the number one team and are also the number one conference as of now.

2. Pac-12

There were three big games involving Pac-12 teams on Saturday. It started with the Oregon Ducks traveling to Ann Arbor and holding off an upstart Wolverines team in overtime. We were treated to a great upperclassmen duel between point guards Payton Pritchard and Xavier Simpson, ultimately, it was the perimeter shooing of Anthony Mathis (6-of-10 on 3-pointers) that helped the Ducks steal a needed victory for the conference. UCLA had a chance to make noise but once again, Notre Dame ruined it. Finally, Arizona hung tough with the premier West Coast team of the decade, Gonzaga but fell short of pulling off the upset. Going 1-2 in this situation rarely means improvement but given how Pac-12 basketball has been looked upon lately this was a big step in the right direction.

3. American

After soaring towards the top by default a week ago, the conference got a big boost when the Memphis Tigers were able to take the battle of Tennessee and defeat the Volunteers in Knoxville on Saturday. They’ve done what they needed to do to remain a real contender in the race for the NCAA title this season. Penny Hardaway’s freshman haul has proven to be more than just James Wiseman and he is getting all the smoke that he wanted in the preseason. UConn is leaving next season and they had a chance to help raise the conference’s profile with their Jimmy V Classic game against the Indiana Hoosiers but couldn’t do enough to get a win in the end.

4. Big Ten

WHAT A WEEK FOR THE RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS! They got a good win over the Wisconsin Badgers and then followed that up by taking the crown for New Jersey by shellacking Seton Hall by 20 points at the RAC. Things couldn’t be any better in New Brunswick right now. If that wasn’t weird enough, Maryland was upset by Penn State, Michigan lost to Illinois and Minnesota took down Ohio State — who looked destined to be the next number one team on Sunday. As of Monday night, the Michigan State Spartans are the only undefeated team in the conference. These teams have legitimately cannibalized each other in conference play to start the season and it makes ranking them among the others a little more difficult but for now, the land about in the middle this week.

5. SEC

Tennessee’s lost took the wind out of the sails of what was a light schedule for the SEC. Kentucky and Auburn took care of business on Saturday and Arkansas proved once more that they should be taken seriously as a team worthy of being champions of the SEC conference. Alabama has seen some of their pre-season shine wear off through the beginning of the season and their latest loss to the Nittany Lions doesn’t help ease any concerns. The Tigers and Wildcats will continue to be the two main torchbearers for the SEC until another team can show their worth consistently.

6. Big East

Seton Hall and Xavier were once thought to be darkhorse candidates to make a big run in the 2020 NCAA Tournament. On Saturday, neither held up their end of the bargain for the Big East. As mentioned above, the Pirates were thoroughly outplayed by the Scarlet Knights in the Garden State faceoff, though losing Myles Powell to a concussion was a major turning point in the festivities. The Musketeers meanwhile could not do enough to beat Wake Forest in the Skip Prosser Classic. Even though they are 9-2 their record doesn’t reflect how this team has played so far this year. Yet, teams like Georgetown — short-handed too after losing four scholarship players — and DePaul have done enough to keep the Big East from checking in at the bottom of these rankings.

7. ACC

COLE ANTHONY IS OUT INDEFINITELY WITH A UNSPECIFIED KNEE INJURY AND THIS IS AS BAD AS THING CAN GET FOR THE NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS…checks Wofford score…OH NO, IT GOT WORSE! Roy Williams probably said a lot of “daggums” during the game and postgame in the locker room. Louisville held on to the number one spot as long as Duke did but the freefall that is happening in Chapel Hill is what keeps the conference down this week. They need all hands on deck from their best teams going forward to stay out of the conference power rankings dungeon going forward.

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