Most exciting time of the year for college hoops fan is starting about right now. I don't know if anything beats the next 3 weeks (bubble week, championship week, NCAA tourney rounds 1,2, and 3) for a basketball fan.
I think right now there is little to debate the Big 12 has been the best basketball conference this season. If Texas and Oklahoma State can't right the ship and snap 4 game losing streaks they will both be out and allow weaker teams from the other power conferences to take their spots in the tourney.
Here is an example.
-Texas played 12 ranked teams during the regular season. Oklahoma State played 13 ranked teams during the regular season.
-Compare that with the SEC...Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss combined played 13 ranked teams in their regular seasons.
I think it's fair to say that type of discrepancy gets overlooked when the talking heads on ESPN talk about the bubble.
I would rank the power conferences like this today. Locks for the tourney (Bubble teams)
Big 12 - KU, Baylor, Iowa State, OU, West Virginia, (Texas, Oklahoma State)
ACC - Virginia, Duke, Notre Dame, Louisville, UNC, (Pittsburgh, Miami, NC State)
Big 10 - Wisconsin, Maryland, (Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois)
Pac 12 - Arizona, Utah, (Oregon, Stanford, UCLA)
SEC - Kentucky, Arkansas (Georgia, A&M, LSU, Ole Miss)
The rest:
Big East - Villanova
MVC - Wichita State, Northern Iowa
Atlantic 10, American, West Coast, Mountain West, etc. will all have very exciting conference tournaments that could put potential bubble teams in the NCAA tourney.
The bubble will be talked about a lot on ESPN for the next 2 weeks so its going to fluctuate a lot depending on how teams finish the regular season. A lot of good teams in college basketball this year.
I think right now there is little to debate the Big 12 has been the best basketball conference this season. If Texas and Oklahoma State can't right the ship and snap 4 game losing streaks they will both be out and allow weaker teams from the other power conferences to take their spots in the tourney.
Here is an example.
-Texas played 12 ranked teams during the regular season. Oklahoma State played 13 ranked teams during the regular season.
-Compare that with the SEC...Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss combined played 13 ranked teams in their regular seasons.
I think it's fair to say that type of discrepancy gets overlooked when the talking heads on ESPN talk about the bubble.
I would rank the power conferences like this today. Locks for the tourney (Bubble teams)
Big 12 - KU, Baylor, Iowa State, OU, West Virginia, (Texas, Oklahoma State)
ACC - Virginia, Duke, Notre Dame, Louisville, UNC, (Pittsburgh, Miami, NC State)
Big 10 - Wisconsin, Maryland, (Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois)
Pac 12 - Arizona, Utah, (Oregon, Stanford, UCLA)
SEC - Kentucky, Arkansas (Georgia, A&M, LSU, Ole Miss)
The rest:
Big East - Villanova
MVC - Wichita State, Northern Iowa
Atlantic 10, American, West Coast, Mountain West, etc. will all have very exciting conference tournaments that could put potential bubble teams in the NCAA tourney.
The bubble will be talked about a lot on ESPN for the next 2 weeks so its going to fluctuate a lot depending on how teams finish the regular season. A lot of good teams in college basketball this year.
