Which conferences are the top 5 in college based on strength? Bold your top 5. America East Atlantic 10 Atlantic Coast Atlantic Soccer Atlantic Sun Big East Big South Big Ten Big West Colonial Athletic Association Conference USA Horizon League Independent Ivy League Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Mid-American Missouri Valley Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Northeast Pacific 12 Patriot League Southern Summit League West Coast
Based on 2011: ACC Big East C-USA Colonial Atlantic 10 For 2012 I would say: ACC Big East MAC C-USA Big West (because, you know, I don't want to be accused of east coast bias)
No list would be complete without the Pac-6 and ACC, where the standard of play is clearly the highest. In addition, the Big 10 is solid top to bottom and a clear #3. Next in line, a couple of western contenders are neck and neck. After a spectacular 2011, The Big West can make a pretty good case that it has overtaken the traditionally powerful WCC, which no longer has some of the coaches who made it strong. But if you check which conference was better in 2010, or which conference figures to be better in 2012 (or check out what St Mary's did in the post-season), the WCC still has a pretty good case of its own. Running #6 is the Big East, which misses out because it is watered down by a large number of weaker programs. I do expect it to put it in my top five soon, though. Some of the league's newer coaches are performing well, and the exits of Pitt and Syracuse will be addition by subtraction.
My top 5 for 2012 in order: ACC - 4-5 top 25 teams (UNC, Maryland, Virginia, Wake Forest, Duke) Big East - 3-4 top 25 teams (UConn, USF, Louisville, St. Johns) MAC - 3 top 25 teams (Akron, West Virginia, Northern Illinois) Big Ten - 2-3 top 25 teams (Ohio State, Indiana, Northwestern) Big West - 2 top 25 teams (UCSB, UCI) CUSA - 2 top 25 teams (UAB, UCF) PAC 12 - 1-2 top 25 teams (UCLA, Washington) Atlantic 10 1-2 top 25 teams (Charlotte, Xavier)
You have left out some pretty good programs from the conferences above: CUSA- SMU and South Carolina (Tulsa will be back and 2013 will be a different story for this league) ACC- Boston College, Clemson BIG EAST- Notre Dame, Providence, Georgetown, Rutgers 1. ACC 2. BIG EAST 3. Big 10 4. CUSA (after this year, it doesn't look good) 5. CAA
For a more objective viewpoint, here is the average Massey ranking for different conferences over the past 3 years. 1. ACC 2.0 (#1 in 2009) 2. Pac-6 2.7 (#1 in 2010) 3. Big 10 3.0 4. Big West 5.7 (#1 in 2011) 5 (tie). WCC 6.0 5 (tie). Big East 6.0 7. CUSA 6.3 8. MPSF 7.3 9. Ivy 8.3 10. MVC 9.0 Others I looked at MAC 11.7 Colonial 12.0 A10 20.7 For the record, I hadn't checked Massey before writing my previous post, but I've checked it pretty often in the past, so maybe that's the reason I agreed with it.
SMU lost one of their best players to Akron. Was only mentioning the top 25 teams, that's why I didn't include the ones you mentioned. The MAC was even with the Big Ten last year in record against each other. The addition of WVU puts the MAC at #3. NIU could be a top 10 team this year, they're going to be a lot better than last year. Can't argue against the ACC as 1 and the Big East at 2
no idea what the Massey ranking is, but Big West as #1 in 2011 makes it very unreliable. You have the Big East as #6, when I don't see how anyone could possibly rank them anywhere other than #2 The PAC 6 as a top 5? No way!! The Big West owns the PAC 6
Once you get past the top 2-3 conferences, there isn't much of a difference in the next 6-7 conferences. Some might have one very good team, like the MAC does with Akron, but otherwise there's not a whole lot separating them.
NIU and WVU are both a serious challenger in the MAC this year. The 2012 season is going to very interesting. I believe the 2012 Zips will be better than the 2009 and 2010 teams. Imagine if the MAC could get Old Dominion or James Madison to join.
That's as much a statement about Akron then about them. Tell me again the list time either program went to a Final Four? Tell me all the players NIU has sent to MLS? (And it's not like the WVU list is that long, either.) NIU is a good college soccer program. But not much separates it from a Bradley or VCU or UC Irivne or Monmouth. Hopefully. You just said NIU and WVU are going to challenge them. Now you're saying Akron is going to be one of the best college soccer teams ever. (That's what the 2009 and 2010 teams were). Which is it? Because you can't certainly believe that WVY and NIU are going to be among the best college soccer teams ever. If you do, we're all wasting our time discussing things with you. Why would they do that? They have a slew of in-state rivalries and most of their games are bus trips - and most of them are three hours or less - and for football they are both 1-AA (and good programs at that level) while the MAC isn't. Other than getting to play Akron in soccer, what does joining the MAC get either athletic department?
Moving up to the FBS would be good for both ODU and JMU. UMass seems to thinks so. I don't believe Akron has to worry about NIU or WVU too much for the regular season title, but you never know what could happen in the MAC tournament. One bad game against a bad WMU squad sends you home As far as NIU's record in the NCAA tournament, the MAC rarely sends more than 1 team and that team 1 team is usually Akron. I don't think there's anyone more familiar with college players in the MLS than you, so no point in defending NIU there. But, Akron was always a decent program under Ken Lolla and didn't have MLS players during that time. They're getting 4 star recruits which doesn't mean a whole lot compared to the rest of the nation but it's a positive for their program. I'm not an NIU fan and I'm trying not to be biased because I'm an Akron fan, but I believe NIU will be a top 25 team in 2012.
NIU is onto something and they are progressively getting better and yes a top 25 ranking during 2012 season is very possible for them. However, taking MAC over Conference USA who has UAB, South Carolina, SMU, Tulsa and Central Florida? No way. 3 good teams in one conference just doesn't get MAC into a top 5 for me in anyway
Love the Akron fan saying the MAC is one of the top 5 conferences in the country. Look, we know you have a really good team, you don't have to say your conference is one of the best in the nation though, when it isn't even close. And the addition of Marlon isn't going to change that.
It's hard for me to believe the MAC isn't at the level of the Big Ten when the lower MAC teams are beating the Big Ten in regular season games. It's hard for me to believe CUSA is at a level higher than the MAC when I believe the MAC's #2 and #3 team would be #1 in that conference. I'm not going to argue that the MAC is at the same level as the Big East or ACC. There's a big gap. But believing the MAC isn't better than the rest is not looking at the present. I asked everyone to rank the conferences by 2012 strength. Think today, not the past.
Speaking of sending players to MLS, here's a reminder of the top conferences for that. Numbers are from 2010, and as I recall, the ACC has closed part of the gap on the Pac-6 since then. Notably, these numbers match up pretty closely with the Massey Ratings, even though they're based on completely different criteria. I find it hard to see where all of the praise some of us are giving the Big East is coming from. 1. PAC-10 6 teams, 43 players 7.17 Players per Team CALIFORNIA - 8 UCLA - 18 WASHINGTON - 7 OREGON STATE - 4 SAN DIEGO STATE - 1 STANFORD - 5 2. ACC 9 teams, 44 players 4.89 CLEMSON - 3 DUKE - 4 MARYLAND - 12 NORTH CAROLINA - 9 NC STATE - 1 VIRGINIA - 6 VIRGINIA TECH - 1 WAKE FOREST - 8 3. WCC 7 teams, 19 players 2.71 GONZAGA - 3 LOYOLA MARYMOUNT - 1 SAN FRANCISCO - 2 SANTA CLARA - 9 PORTLAND - 4 4. BIG TEN 7 teams, 17 players 2.43 INDIANA - 10 MICHIGAN - 2 MICHIGAN STATE - 1 OHIO STATE - 3 WISCONSIN - 1 5. BIG WEST 7 teams, 12 players 1.71 CAL STATE FULLERTON - 1 CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE - 1 UC DAVIS - 1 UC IRVINE - 2 UC SANTA BARBARA - 7 6. CONFERENCE-USA 9 teams, 13 players 1.44 ALABAMA-BIRMINGHAM - 1 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL - 3 SOUTH CAROLINA - 2 KENTUCKY - 1 SOUTHERN METHODIST - 4 TULSA - 2 7. BIG EAST 16 teams, 23 players 1.44 CINCINNATI - 1 CONNECTICUT - 5 RUTGERS - 2 ST. JOHN’S - 3 NOTRE DAME -3 SETON HALL - 3 SOUTH FLORIDA - 3 VILLANOVA - 1 WEST VIRGINIA - 2 8. MVC 6 teams, 7 players 1.42 BRADLEY - 1 CREIGHTON - 3 EVANSVILLE - 1 MISSOURI STATE - 2 9. MPSF 8 teams, 10 players 1.25 CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD - 1 DENVER - 1 NEW MEXICO - 4 SAN JOSE STATE - 1 SEATTLE - 1 UNLV - 2 10. ATLANTIC - 10 14 teams, 13 players 0.93 DAYTON - 2 FORDHAM - 1 RHODE ISLAND - 3 SAINT LOUIS - 6 UNC CHARLOTTE - 1 11. IVY LEAGUE 8 teams, 6 players 0.75 BROWN - 2 CORNELL - 1 PENN - 2 PRINCETON - 1 12. COLONIAL 12 teams, 9 players, 0.75 JAMES MADISON - 2 VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH - 3 OLD DOMINION - 2 UNC WILMINGTON - 1 WILLIAM & MARY - 1 13T. MAC 6 teams, 3 players 0.50 AKRON - 2 BUFFALO - 1 13T. SOUTHERN 8 teams, 4 players 0.50 FURMAN - 3 UNC GREENSBORO - 1 15T. HORIZON 8 teams, 2 players 0.25 ILLINOIS-CHICAGO - 1 WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE - 1 15T. AMERICA EAST 8 teams, 2 players 0.25 ALBANY - 2 17. BIG SOUTH 9 teams, 2 players 0.22 COASTAL CAROLINA - 2 18. MAAC 10 teams, 2 players 0.20 LOYOLA - 2 19. SUMMIT 7 teams, 1 player 0.14 WESTERN ILLINOIS - 1 20. PATRIOT 8 teams, 1 player 0.125 AMERICAN - 1 WOMEN'S ONLY EAST CAROLINA - 1
This makes absolutely no sense. How can you evaluate conferences based on 2012 when no matches have yet been played in 2012 and won't be for another 4+ months? In order to evaluate anything you must examine historical data/results.
Okay, I'll play: ACC (then in no particular order) Big West/Pac 5+1 (depending on the year, one or the other will make the list. Both generally wouldn't make it because it seems when one is seen as up, the other is seen as down. I think this has something to do with the regional aspect of the west - both leagues could be up, but it wouldn't appear it in the rankings/RPI because of western infighting) Big East (they've got a crapload of teams, so the top of the league is almost guaranteed to be good every year, though there is definitely a dropoff towards the bottom) Big 10 (I don't really know the scene east of the Rockies, but they seem to get a lot of NCAA bids, so why not?) Somebody else (MPSF some years, C-USA some years, you get the picture - there's a lot of variation year to year, so there's almost always a wild card in the top 5) I don't put the MAC here because, let's face it, it's Akron and a bunch of also rans. One team (no matter how good) does not a conference make. In judging the entire conference, I'm less concerned about the best team than teams 2, 3, and 4. West Virginia is a good addition, but the MAC is still INCREDIBLY top heavy in my (rather ignorant) opinion. Actually, it looks to me a lot like the Big West when UCSB was first rising to national prominence. Maybe some other conference members will step up (some appear to be trying), and maybe not. Time will tell.