College Basketball Caucus: Which is the best conference?

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Once a week, USA TODAY Sports asks its network of college basketball experts to analyze the biggest topics.

This week: Which is the best league this season?

Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports: I think top to bottom, the Big 12 is the best conference in the country. Depth-wise, there's no comparison. There are eight NCAA tournament-worthy teams and the other two of those teams trump other leagues' basement squads. Ninth-place TCU entered conference play without a loss. And last-place Texas Tech just upset Iowa State last week. Now, if we're going based on how far teams go in the NCAA tournament, I think the ACC has the upper hand given the Final Four potential of Virginia and Duke. However, hypothetically the Big Ten, in one of its worst seasons as of late, could muster the same type of fortune with Wisconsin and another surging team that's dealt the right matchups. Same goes for the Pac-12, which has two top-10 teams in Arizona and Utah.

Plus, if we're going based on strength of teams, then we'd have to mention the SEC given Kentucky's dominance despite the parity among teams racing for second place in that league. Take last year's NCAA tournament as a barometer. The American Athletic Conference was notably snubbed with Southern Methodist missing the cut and Louisville getting a lower-than-expected No. 4 seed. Then Connecticut won the whole thing as a No. 7 seed. Grading the best league based on Big Dance prowess is almost too tricky. I look at it this way: In which league would Kentucky and Virginia — the two remaining undefeated teams — struggle the most? I think it's the Big 12. There are no nights off in this conference. Despite Duke, Louisville, Syracuse and others roaming the ACC, the wear and tear of playing a top-25 caliber team every night leads to hiccups.

Randy McClure, Rush The Court: The debate over which conference is the best is one that fills up airwaves and print space every college basketball season. And while it's mostly an exercise in meaninglessness — remember, the NCAA Selection Committee doesn't consider conference affiliation when it makes its selections and seedings for March Madness — it's probably one of the most fun barstool conversations a couple of fans can have while kicking back a few cold ones.

There are a couple of ways to look at this, and both have merit. The first is to consider a league in its totality from top to bottom. From this perspective, the Big 12, with its relatively low number of teams (10) is probably the best. Eight teams — Kansas, Kansas State, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor, Iowa State and West Virginia — have legitimate NCAA tournament aspirations. Even the two weaklings have something to offer: TCU was ranked in the AP Top 25 at one point, and Texas Tech just knocked off then-top-10 Iowa State. There really aren't any nights off in this league, and that makes for a compelling case.

The problem with that analysis is that, while the Big 12 is competitive from top to bottom, there might not be a Final Four team among the bunch. To take it a step further, if things break unfortunately for this league come March, there might only be one or two Sweet 16 teams. This brings up the other meritorious way to have the best conference discussion — a concentration of strength at the top. The ACC, with Duke, Notre Dame, Virginia, North Carolina and Louisville, can claim five of the 10 to 15 best teams, and it wouldn't surprise many followers of the sport if two or even three of those names found their way to Indianapolis in April. Sure, there are several bottom-feeders in this 15-team league, but few people argue the merits of a league's worst teams when making their case for the best conference.

For my money, I'll go with the league with the best bet to do the most damage in March. It might not be as mathematically sound as the other way of looking at best conferences, but it will allow me to enjoy my last laugh at my Big 12 friends when their teams are all at home while several ACC groups are still lacing up their sneakers this spring.

Ryan Neu, The Sports Quotient: There are only two conferences that could possibly be considered the best in the country — the ACC and the Big 12. As it stands right now, the ACC holds the honor. The ACC has four teams in the top AP top 10 and six teams in the top 25 total. The Big 12 has six teams in the top 25 as well but its highest-ranked team, Kansas, sits at No. 9 and the other five rank between 15 and No. 24. The ACC has two top-10 offenses (Duke and Notre Dame) and two top-10 defenses (Virginia and Louisville) while the Big 12 only has one of each (Iowa State and Texas). The only knock on the ACC is the six teams that reside in the basement of the conference. A clear line can be drawn between the teams that hope to some day scrape the surface of the conference and the teams that will almost certainly make the tournament come March. The Big 12, on the other hand, only has two or three teams out of the 10 that will not be invited to the tournament. But what makes up for that is the quality of teams at the top of the conference. The best three teams in the ACC (Virginia, Duke and Notre Dame) all are better than the top three teams in the Big 12 (Kansas, Iowa State and West Virginia) and as you look continually down the list the Big 12 team that matches up with its respective ACC team is rarely better. Excluding the cellar of the conference, the quality of teams in the ACC is much higher than that of the Big 12 and that's why it's the best conference in the country.

David Aldridge, Duke Report: I'll pick the Big 12, but this really depends on how you want to frame the argument. In terms of having the most teams with legitimate chances of winning the national championship, it's the ACC. The ACC has five teams (Virginia, Duke, Notre Dame, Louisville, North Carolina) in the Top 15 in both polls and the KenPom ratings, and it's not a stretch to think any of them are capable of reaching the Final Four. However, the bottom four teams in the ACC (Boston College, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech) are a combined 2-24 in conference play and all four schools are outside the KenPom Top 100. The bottom of the ACC is bad. Really bad.

The Big 12 isn't as top heavy, but with only 10 teams it's a more balanced league. Though Kansas is the only one currently in the Top 10 in the polls (ninth in AP, 11th in USA TODAY Sports), eight schools are in the KenPom Top 50. Texas Tech is the only team in the league that probably has no chance to reach the NCAA tournament. The other nine schools are either in good position or capable of making a run that could impress the selection committee. And with a true round-robin schedule, we're actually getting a chance to see which teams are the best because they're facing each other multiple times. Interesting that what hurt the league in football is actually helping it in basketball? From top-to-bottom, you can't beat the Big 12.

Paul Gotham, Pickin' Splinters: Deciding upon the metric might be as difficult as arriving at this answer. Is it player development? Per RPIRatings.com, the ACC leads the way with 69 former players on opening day NBA rosters. The Pac-12 ranks at the top with 5.2 players a school, and the ACC stands in second at 4.6. The SEC has 55 (3.9), the Big 12 has 34 (3.4) and the Big Ten has 35 (2.5). Maybe its championships you want. In the last 10 years, the ACC claims three crowns, the SEC three, the Big East two (Louisville now in ACC), and the Big 12 and AAC have one each. Maybe you want current standings. Hearing a lot about the Big 12's depth. They have five teams in this week's top 25 — with only one (Kansas) in the AP top 10. The Pac-12 has two teams in the top 10. That's pretty good. SEC has bookends: No. 1 and No. 25 with a whole lot of nothing in between. Four ACC teams sit in the top 10 and six among the first 25. Not to mention the top four coaches in career (all-DI) wins reside in the ACC: Coach K, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams and Rick Pitino. All this and I didn't even mention this year's national champion: Virginia. ACC is the best.