NCAA Tournament Conference Breakdown

One of my favorite subplots to the NCAA Tournament every year is the breakdown of the conferences and how they fare.  All season certain conferences get touted for their depth and ability and then the tournament is “put up or shut up” time.  This year is no exception. 

The big winners so far have been the Big 10 and the Atlantic 10.  The Big 10 validated their place as the best conference in America, going 6-1 in the opening round.  The Atlantic 10 went a staggering 6-0 and made this blogger proud to be a follower of the conference.  Ranked 7^th in conference RPI, the A-10 has 10 teams in the Final 32, second of any conference.  13 seed La sale has been a big surprise after beating Boise St. in a play-in game and then knocking off 4-seed Kansas St. in the actual first round.

The big losers so far are the Mountain West and the Big East.  For the Mountain West, 5^th seeded UNLV was upset by 12^th-seeded Ole Miss and 3 seed New Mexico lost to Harvard (Harvard!), a measly 14 seed.  Those top teams were huge disappointments for the 2^nd ranked RPI conference, who only send 7 seed San Diego St. and 8 seed Colorado St. to the round of 32.

The other big loser is the Big East.  I had a lot of Big East teams getting upset in the first couple of rounds, but I picked the wrong ones so far.  The conference had 8 bids, most of any conference, yet only 3 teams are going to the Final 32.  2 seed Georgetown was upset by 15-seed Florida Gulf Coast in the game of the tournament so far, and Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Villanova, and Cincinnati also came up short.  It’s a fitting sputter to the finish line for a conference about to be fissured in two.

Below is a breakdown of the conference records of each of the Top 10 RPI Conferences so far.  Conferences are listed in order of RPI rank.

Conference Records

1. Big 10 (7 bids)

6-1 record

Results: 1 Indiana beat 16 James Madison.  2 Ohio St. beat 15 Iona.  3 Michigan St. beat 14 Valparaiso.  4 Michigan beat 13 SD St.  7 Illinois beat 10 Colorado.  11 Minnesota upset 6 UCLA.  5 Wisconsin upset by 12 Ole Miss.

2. Mountain West (5) 

2-3 record

Results: 7 SD St. beat 10 Oklahoma.  8 Colorado St. beat 9 Missouri.  3 New Mexico upset by 14 Harvard.  5 UNLV upset by 12 California.  13 Boise St. lost play-in game to 13 LaSalle.

3. Big East (8)

3-5 record

Results: 1 Louisville beat NC A&T.  3 Marquette beat 14 Davidson.  4 Syracuse beat 13 Montana.  2 Georgetown upset by 15 Florida Gulf Coast.  7 Notre Dame lost to 10 Iowa St.  8 Pittsburgh upset by 9 Wichita St.  9 Villanova lost to 8 UNC.  10 Cincinnati lost to 7 Creighton.

4. ACC (4) 

3-1 record

Results: 2 Duke beat 15 Albany.  2 Miami beat 15 Pacific.  8 UNC beat 9 Villanova.  8 NC St. upset by 9 Temple.

5. Pac 12 (5)

3-2 record

Results: 6 Arizona beat 11 Belmont.  12 Oregon upset 5 Oklahoma St.  12 California upset 5 UNLV.  6 UCLA upset by 11 Minnesota.  10 Colorado lost to 7 Illinois.

6. Big 12 (5) 

2-3 record

Results: 1 Kansas beat 16 W. Kentucky.  10 Iowa St. upset 7 Notre Dame.  4 Kansas St. upset by 13 La Salle.  5 Oklahoma St. upset by 12 Oregon.  10 Oklahoma lost to 7 San Diego St. 

7. Atlantic 10 (5) 

6-0 record

Record: 4 St. Louis beat 13 New Mexico St.  5 VCU beat 12 Akron.  6 Butler beat 11 Bucknell.  9 Temple upset 8 NC St.  13 LaSalle beat 13 Boise St and upset 4 Kansas St.

8. SEC (3) 

2-1 record

Results: 3 Florida beat 14 NW St.  12 Ole Miss upset 5 Wisconsin.  9 Missouri lost to 8 Colorado St.

9. Missouri Valley (2)

2-0 record

Results: 7 Creighton beat 10 Cincinnati.  9 Wichita St. upset 8 Pittsburgh.

10. West Coast (2)

2-1 record

Results: 1 Gonzaga beat 16 Southern.  11 St. Mary’s beat 11 Middle Tenn. And lost to 6 Memphis.

Others (22) 5-19 Record.