Full conference schedules are coming into view now, so the out of conference games will become few and far between.
But, just this past weekend pushed the top three quite a bit closer together. First things first, take a look at the table:
NCAA D1 Conference Comparison – Week 5
|
Conference |
Record |
% |
+/- |
|
ACC |
23-6 |
0.793 |
-0.071 |
|
Big East |
26-11 |
0.703 |
-0.067 |
|
Big Ten |
25-12 |
0.676 |
-0.058 |
|
Ivy League |
21-13 |
0.618 |
+0.098 |
|
Patriot |
20-14 |
0.588 |
-0.057 |
|
America East |
21-20 |
0.512 |
+0.093 |
|
NEC |
18-25 |
0.419 |
+0.012 |
|
CAA |
14-20 |
0.412 |
+0.052 |
|
MAAC |
16-25 |
0.390 |
-0.079 |
|
SoCon |
11-36 |
0.234 |
+0.015 |
|
Independent |
2-17 |
0.105 |
+0.043 |
Even though the top three conference all took a hit in terms of win percentage, it was the ACC getting the worst of it. Sure, Duke, UVA, and Notre Dame all won, but a two loss week from UNC and a loss by Syracuse actually doubled the conference losses on the year.
Denver losing to Notre Dame didn’t matter for this because they also beat UNC. Marquette taking a loss did matter. The Big East is now just barely ahead of the Big Ten, who is likely to leap frog them in the coming weeks. The core of that conference slate is still a ways off, so there is plenty of opportunity.
The Ivies making a big jump is the most surprising, but those teams are starting to come into their own. Their late start hangover is now a little distant, and they are winning some games. Yale, Penn, Cornell, Princeton, Brown, and Harvard all won solid games against good competition. They still have a ways to go, but they have some real potential.
In terms of postseason hopes, the muddling of conference superiority will make things tougher. The ACC does still have all 5 teams ranked, the Big Ten has 4, while the Big East only has three. Behind them are the Ivies (1), Patriot (3), and America East (2). That goes to show how top heavy those conferences are at the moment. With the opportunity to build a good resume slipping away, the ability to make a conference tournament will grow in importance for a ton of team out there.
