Big 12 is now best conference in the country

For years, the ACC was regarded as the best college basketball conference in the land, and then the Big East made a big push for that distinction. Well, we feel that the Big 12 this season has supplanted both of those conferences as the best in the nation.

Sure, the ACC and Big East are still tied for the most teams in the Pomeroy Top 50 with eight apiece, while the Big 12 is third with six. Consider however that the average Pomeroy Rating for those eight ACC teams is 24.9, while the eight Big East teams have an average rating of 19.5. Meanwhile, the six Big 12 teams have an amazing average rating of 15.7, a fact that does not seem so surprising when you consider that five of those Big 12 teams are in the top 16!

It is not surprising that Kansas currently tops both the Pomeroy Ratings and the national polls, but beyond that, Texas and Kansas State are both in the Pomeroy top 10, and Missouri and Baylor rank 15 and 16 respectively.

In fact, all 12 teams in the Big 12 are in the top 100. There are no cupcakes in this conference, as every single team has a winning record overall. The same cannot be said about the Big East, as Rutgers is ranked 153 at 11-11 and DePaul ranks a dismal 175 at 8-13.

That leaves the ACC as the top contender to the Big 12 for conference superiority, and Duke is the only team from that conference in the top 10. That is the same Duke team that is 1-4 in their true road games this season, a fact that will make it difficult for them to advance far during March Madness.

Meanwhile, all five Big 12 teams in the Pomeroy top 16 are capable of making deep runs in the tournament with the right matchups, and in the case of Kansas, the matchups do not matter as we feel they are the best team in the country.

Here is a closer look at those five teams. Incidentally, the sixth Big 12 team in the top 50 is Texas A&M at 46.

1 Kansas (20-1): You want to talk about a team with no holes? Kansas ranks first according to Pomeroy in offensive points per possession at 1.235, and they defense ranks fourth with a PPP of .852. Their offense ranks eighth in effective field goal percentage at 56.2 percent while their defense ranks first in this category at 41.3 percent. Probably our favorite stat regarding the Jayhawks though is that their offensive three-point percentage of 41.3 percent is significantly higher than their defensive two-point percentage of 38.4 percent.

7 Texas (19-3): The Longhorns are also solid on both sides of the ball, as they rank 24 in offensive PPP at 1.139 and 10 in defensive PPP at .866. While Texas is known for its offense, the defense remains underrated, as the Horns are allowing just an effective field goal percentage of 42.9 percent, which ranks 12 in the country. This includes limiting opponents to only 42.1 percent shooting on two-point shots. The biggest risk to the tourney hopes of Texas is their foul shooting, as they are hitting a dismal 62.1 percent of their free throws, which ranks 328 out of 347 Division I schools.

9 Kansas State (18-4): The Wildcats are often forgotten because of the Big Two in the conference, but remember that they have already beaten Texas and they took Kansas to overtime before losing by only two points. Kansas State ranks 16 in offensive PPP and 21 in defensive PPP, and they are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, ranking fifth in offensive rebounding percentage at 42.6 percent.

15 Missouri (16-5): The Tigers play a helter-skelter style of offense that often resembles street ball, but they can do that because their defense ranks eighth in the country in defensive PPP, and they are the best team in the land at forcing turnovers, at 28.7 percent. It is this stifling defense that leads to a bunch of fast break points, and their pressing style makes for a nightmarish matchup in the NCAA Tournament for teams that are not accustomed to facing them.

16 Baylor (16-4): The Bears probably get the least publicity of the top five Big 12 teams, but make no mistake; this is a solid basketball team that can upset any team on any night, making them another tough out in the tournament. Baylor ranks 17 in offensive PPP and 34 in defensive PPP, and they also rank 17 in offensive effective field goal percentage and 16 in defensive effective field goal percentage. That defensive rating is bolstered by the fact that they rank fourth in defensive two-point percentage against at 39.2 percent, and for good measure, the defense ranks fourth in block percentage at 19.1 percent.