Big Ten, Big East sit atop Andy Katz's conference tiers
By Andy Katz
FOX Sports College Basketball Analyst
The Division I men's basketball committee doesn’t look at conference affiliation. It judges every game as its own event.
But in determining which leagues enter March as the strongest in the nation, we will look to answer the following question: Which conferences have the highest number of teams capable of reaching the Final Four?
Here are my three tiers of the top conferences in the country.
The best college basketball conferences from Andy Katz I CBB on FOX
Tier 1: Multiple Final Four contenders
Big 12: Kansas, Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas all have Final Four potential. The league could have three of the four and possibly all four in the Top 16. The Big 12 has been the most consistently strong league in the country this season.
Big Ten: The Big Ten has three legitimate Final Four candidates in Purdue, Illinois and Wisconsin, the latter in large part because of Johnny Davis. But don’t rule out Ohio State and Iowa, either. Why? Both schools have a player who could carry them in four games in EJ Liddell and Keegan Murray.
SEC: Kentucky and Auburn are legit title contenders with Player of the Year candidates in Oscar Tshiebwe and Jabari Smith, respectively. But Arkansas and Alabama have played with the best teams in the country when they were at their best.
Big East: Villanova, UConn and Providence are all candidates for a deep March run. All three teams can play a physical brand of basketball, which will help them in the first two weekends of the NCAA Tournament.
Pac-12: Arizona should be a No. 1 seed. The Wildcats are more than capable of getting to New Orleans. UCLA still has the core to do it again, as well. Those two programs keep the Pac-12 in the top tier.
Tier 2: One Final Four contender
ACC: When it comes to legitimate Final Four contenders, the ACC has Duke, and that’s it. The Blue Devils are the only team in the ACC that can get to New Orleans. The ACC will get a few more teams in the tournament, likely four, but they won’t advance far.
WCC: Gonzaga is the lone the reason the WCC is in Tier 2. Sure, the league has four total candidates for bids and could get as many as three teams in, but without the Zags, the league drops. Saint Mary’s, San Francisco and maybe BYU will get in, but won’t last long.
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Tier 3: No Final Four contenders
Mountain West: The MWC has four legit candidates for NCAA Tournament bids. Boise State, Wyoming, Colorado State and San Diego State. However, none of them have the potential to be in New Orleans.
A10: Davidson, VCU, Dayton and St. Bonaventure all have potential to make the dance. Could any of them win four games to get to New Orleans? Highly unlikely.
Missouri Valley: Loyola-Chicago could get in by itself without winning the conference tournament. Northern Iowa, Missouri State and Drake would all have a chance to win a game if they could get into the field. But don’t expect a magical run from any of them this March.
American: The AAC has candidates to advance in Houston and SMU/Memphis if either were to get a bid. But there is still a chance the American could get only one team in the dance in Houston. The Cougars are just not healthy enough to make a deep run.
Andy Katz is a longtime college basketball writer, analyst and host. He can be seen on FOX Sports and Big Ten Network platforms, as well as March Madness and NCAA.com, and he hosts the podcast "March Madness 365." Katz worked at ESPN for nearly two decades and, prior to that, in newspapers for nine years.
