![big 12 conference best college basketball team big 12 conference best college basketball team](https://dbukjj6eu5tsf.cloudfront.net/big12sports.com/images/2017/3/24/EMSGFGALBHFLAGE.20170324040501.jpeg)
Though head-to-head match ups have shown relative equity between these two conferences, it seems that at this point in the season, the Big 12 may be a little bit stronger than the Big Ten. Not only does the Big 12 sneak in one more team than the Big Ten does, but it also has an average seeding 1.3 spots better than the Big Ten. Big 10 Teams' SeedsĪverage Big 12 Seed: 5.7 vs. These college basketball rankings point to the Big 12 as the better conference based on the body of work that they have accomplished thus far and how good they would be if they were to take the floor tonight. If we were to look at ESPN's RPI ranking system, commonly referred to for NCAA Tournament Selection, we see similar patterns.īig 12 Average RPI ranking: 48.5 vs. Whether or not this implies that the Big 12 is better is up for question, but it certainly hints at the strength that the conference possesses. So at this point in the season, you could expect teams in the Big 12 to, on average, play better than teams in the Big 10. KenPom does not describe his site as purely a ranking system, but rather a tool for predicting how well a team is going to play on a given night. Probably the most impressive aspect of their rankings is that they manage to have 7 of their 10 teams in the top 30 while the Big Ten finds only three of their teams in that category. The Big 12 blows the Big Ten out of the water in terms of actual rankings.
![big 12 conference best college basketball team big 12 conference best college basketball team](https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/s4y4W17OL3Phcezyr1-z3aMn9DM=/0x0:1036x583/1600x900/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49552991/Screen_Shot_2016-05-09_at_12.00.51_PM.0.0.png)
The results don't match up very closely with the equity in head-to-head match ups between the two conferences. KenPom Big 12 RankingsĪverage Big Ten Ranking: 67.2 vs.
![big 12 conference best college basketball team big 12 conference best college basketball team](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/03/12/PDEM/dec50ec6-20c1-46c8-af47-b8365531a5a4-USATSI_14172337.jpg)
If we were to find the average KenPom ranking for each conference by looking at all the teams as a whole, we could get a rough estimate of which conference ranks higher thus far. Since it seems to be too close to call based on pure head-to-head match ups, we could use this site to find a combined ranking for each conference. KenPom is a college basketball ranking site that ranks teams based on their wins, margins of victory, strength of schedule, and a variety of other factors. The only advantage either team gets is the fact that the Big Ten led in number of head-to-head championship wins 3-1. One other important note to mention is the fact that 4 of the 8 head-to-head match ups between the two conferences came in the championship games of early season tournaments over the holidays. The rest of the match ups were neutral court games in preseason tournaments in which the conferences once again split 3-3. Only two match ups were true road/home games, and those were split 1-1 between the Big Ten and Big 12. It is also difficult to judge which side has the edge on winning at home or on the road because we once again have a tie. Six out of these 8 games contained at least one team ranked in the top 25. It also can't be forgotten that these games weren't negligent games, but rather season-impacting match ups between top-tier teams in the early going. Neither side had an edge as the two conferences split 4-4. Upon a closer look at this year's non-conference match ups between the two conferences, it becomes clear that it is a fairly even battle.