College basketball conference rankings: Can the ACC regain its footing?

An upset-filled weekend causes there to be a lot of movement up and down this week’s edition of the college basketball conference rankings.

1. Big 12

The Baylor Bears held onto the number one spot in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll for another week and at this pace, they are going to soon become the longest-tenured team atop the rankings this season. The good news kept rolling in when their point guard, Jared Butler was named to both the Wooden Watch list and a top-10 finalist for the Bob Cousy award.

With Butler running the show, Baylor has looked more dominant than any previous stretch in recent memory. However, things aren’t all great for Texas basketball. The state university in Austin is having another underwhelming season and if it continues, Shaka Smart might get handed a pink slip sooner than later.

2. SEC

The SEC has been a hard conference to get a handle on all year. Things kicked off with the Kentucky Wildcats looking like a shoo-in to make a Final Four but they came crashing back down to Earth a few weeks after the Champions Classic. Then the Auburn Tigers emerged as one of the last undefeated teams in the nation but Bruce Pearl’s team has hit some bumps in the road during conference play as of late.

Yet, when these two teams faced off over the weekend they gave us one of the better games of the entire season. So don’t count either team out when tournament time comes around and don’t sleep on the SEC either as teams like Arkansas, Mississippi State, and the league-leading (and undefeated in conference play) LSU Tigers will look to elevate their status around the country.

3. Big Ten

The Big Ten saw both teams at the top of their standings lose over the weekend. Michigan State lost its fourth game of the season against an unranked opponent while being ranked themselves — Xavier Tillman’s porous offensive display could explain that away. Illinois failed to take advantage of the Spartans’ downfall and instead, Luka Garza delivered a 300 style kick to their chest on Sunday.

Iowa is quietly creeping towards the top of the conference and Garza is putting together a National Player of the Year worthy season. The other surprise team of the year has been the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. They are 7-4 in the conference and have a 16-6 record overall, which is easily the best year the program has had in quite some time.

4. ACC

Cole Anthony is back and all of North Carolina’s ailments are cured! Just kidding, the Tar Heels have gone 0-2 since the freshman came back to the lineup on Saturday. However, the losses haven’t seemed has preordained as they did when Anthony patrolled the sideline in a suit rather than the Tar Heel blue and argyle that we longed for. Having him back on the court is a big boost for the entire conference as it makes one of the pillar programs watchable once again.

The first Tobacco Road clash of the new decade is coming soon and the Duke Blue Devils have done their part to keep it a marquee matchup. Elsewhere, Florida State has morphed into a basketball school overnight and sit comfortably among the other teams routinely found in the top 10 this season.

5. Pac-12

Another conference that has risen and fallen all over these seven slots this season, the Pac-12 is finally rounding into shape as we are a month away from the madness. It just so happens to be a shape we’ve come accustomed to over the last few years, Oregon versus everybody. The Ducks don’t have a commanding lead in the standings — Colorado trails by half a game — but in terms of consistency, there aren’t many other universities out West that can match the output Dana Altman’s group has put forward night-after-night.

Yet, on the whole, the conference features seven teams with single-digit losses on the year and five of them have six losses or less. While a few mid-majors are carrying the torch right now, this year could bring an end to the West Coast bias that’s permeated college basketball the last decade.

6. Big East

What a weird week in the Big East. Villanova, Seton Hall and Butler all were upset. Each loss came on the home floor of the losing team making things even weirder. After riding high in one of the two top spots in the past few weeks, those three results cause the conference to take a nosedive down towards the bottom of the rankings. It’s unfair to them as they don’t have the same firepower as some of the other big conferences in the country, however, it doesn’t matter what conference it is if three teams in the top 20 all lost on the same day it would cause a shakeup regardless.

7. American

Everything I said about the size of the Big East goes double for the American. The Big East still has some notable schools (i.e. Villanova, St. John’s, etc.) while the American has become a hodgepodge of cast-offs and universities on the outside looking in of the Power Five. What’s happened to the Memphis Tigers this year hasn’t helped and now they are going to be without D.J. Jeffries for a few games due to injury as more of Penny Hardaway’s top-flight freshman continue to be held off the court. Wichita State and Houston had managed to get into the back end of the AP top 25 but both suffered losses this weekend and now Tulsa is in first place just as everyone predicted before the season began.

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