Selection Sunday for March Madness take on March 15, with the NCAA’s conference tournaments scheduled to begin later that week.
There are a total of 31 Men’s Division 1 Conferences. However, the Power Four Conferences are the Big 10, Big 12, SEC and ACC. All 31 conferences get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament including the Big East.
Here is where you will find all the rankings for men’s basketball updated daily. The top five teams are Michigan (Big 10, 23-1), Arizona (Big 12, 23-1), Duke (ACC, 22-2), Houston (Big 12, 22-2) and Illinois (Big 10, 20-5).
Up until the tournament, these rankings will change throughout the season.
Social science teacher and coach Rob Niemic believes that on any given day, anybody can beat anybody. Nothing is set in stone.
Big 10: Who’s on the rise?
There are 18 schools in the Big 10, some better at basketball, some not. Who is on the rise for this year’s tournament?
“The Big 10 has got about five teams that are legit,” said Niemic. “Michigan is obvious along with Michigan State because they’re always the toughest team in the conference.”
As of Feb. 12, there are only three schools in the top 10, according to NCAA Men’s NET Rankings, those being Michigan at number one, Illinois at number five and Purdue at number 10 with Michigan State trailing behind at number 11.
Wisconsin is a team that has been in March Madness 28 times. They are currently at number 24, according to AP. While they may be lower in the rankings right now, they should be a team to look out for in the coming weeks.
“Me and my brother are big Wisconsin Badgers fans,” said Niemic, “so we’re a badger family through and through.”
Big 12: What’s next for Arizona and the rest of the conference?
There are a total of 16 schools in the Big 12 Conference.
While Arizona has held their win streak for 23 games, their undefeated record was ruined in their 82-78 loss to Kansas (Big 12, 19-5) on Feb. 10. Coming off of a tough loss, Arizona is a March Madness contender to look out for.
“My wife’s a huge Texas Tech fan because she graduated from there,” said Niemic, “so I have been rooting for Texas Tech as well.”
As of Feb. 17, Arizona is now at number four in AP rankings, this was a result of their overtime loss to Texas Tech (78-75) on Feb. 14. Texas Tech is part of the Big 12 Conference, and this upset can leave them a spot in the tournament.
“There’s a few teams that can win the whole tournament,” said Niemic. “Starting with Arizona, obviously because they’re nasty. But other than that there’s four other teams in the Big 12 that could win it all.”
SEC: Why hasn’t there been much news about them?
There’s 16 schools in total in the conference.
The SEC is a perfect example of football over basketball. They had five teams in the newly expanded 12-team college football playoff. For basketball, they have one school in the top ten, which is Florida (19-6). Where is everyone else?
“When you’re mixing in the SEC,” said Niemic. “You got Tennessee, and Florida is nasty good.”
The SEC has five teams total in the top 25.
“I think the SEC has a lot of teams going into the conference championship and March Madness, along with having a deal with ESPN,” said social science teacher Cody Freund, “so there’s a theory behind that.”
ACC: Silent upcomings?
In the ACC, there are 18 total schools.
Duke, who’s ranked number one according to AP, has always made their way into the tournament. The other team that made their way to the top 25, is Louisville, who is also part of the ACC.
“I started liking Duke when I was younger,” said Freund. “Their head coach right now, he’s from the Chicago area, and I thought it was cool that he went there.”
North Carolina is the next team in the rankings from the ACC conference. They are currently ranked 25th, according to Basketball NET Rankings.
“Duke’s the best one,” said Freund. “It’s not even close.”
Conference tournaments for the Power Four began the first week of March. Selection Sunday for the madness begins on March 15. Who has what it takes to win the tournament?