Author Spotlight
Hassan Sufi
The NCAA tournament starts on Mar. 12, but over the next three weeks teams across the league are competing for their conference titles. Winning these titles will be accolades that will give these teams higher ranks in the tournament. Here’s a look at the leaders in the Power 5 conferences.
It’s no surprise that the Big 12 conference is the strongest in the league this year, with six teams currently in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. As usual, this conference is becoming extremely competitive going into the final stretch of games which will help teams get higher seeds in the NCAA tournament. As of now, the Kansas Jayhawks are leading the conference, hoping to become conference champions for the second year in a row. University of Texas and Baylor are trailing close behind.
The No. 3 ranked Kansas Jayhawks have a strong record of 11-4. They are led by tough players on their team like midseason All-American Jalen Wilson averaging 19.9 points per game, followed by freshman Gradey Dick who’s averaging 20 points per game in his last three games. After winning five consecutive games, the Jayhawks will finish their season playing against unranked West Virginia and Texas Tech — which should be easy wins as they are home games. Their final game against No. 5 Texas will be a difficult away game because of the atmosphere in Austin, but after beating the Longhorns once already, I don’t doubt that they can do it again.
The Jayhawks are a major contender because of their strong coaching and hardworking players, but don’t count out other teams in this conference like the 10-4 Texas Longhorn, led by guard Marcus Carr who averages 17.1 points per game, Texas is 3-2 in their last five games. But will they be able to prove themselves for the rest of their difficult schedule?
It’s looking like the Jayhawks will finish at the top of the Big 12 for the 17th time in the last 20 years, but other teams like Baylor and Texas could be contenders in the NCAA tournament.
The Pac 12 only has two teams in the AP top 25 poll, making it one of the less competitive out of the Power 5 conferences. But don’t count them out yet, as No. 4 UCLA and No. 7 Arizona have strong records.
UCLA is led by Jamie Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell who led the Bruins to a Final Four appearance two years ago. Freshman Amari Bailey plays a strong role for them as well, averaging 10.3 points per game. UCLA finishes their schedule with Utah, Colorado and Arizona State before playing Arizona as their last game of the season.
UCLA should finish this conference off with the conference title, as they are extremely experienced. It is very unlikely that they lose two of their last four games, especially considering they have only lost two conference games all year. Even if Arizona beats UCLA in the last game, UCLA should still win the conference.
This conference was yet again projected to be headlined by Blue Blood teams like Duke and North Carolina, like usual. Despite both teams coming off of Final Four appearances last season, this year they’ve been lacking the coaching and experience that they had last year. Teams like No. 13 Miami and No. 6 Virginia have been well coached and committed to playing good team basketball.
Although both of those teams don’t have star players like some of the other top teams in the league, they use their grit and willingness to compete to win tough games.
Miami is 1.5 games back from Virginia, and both teams have a relatively easy finishing schedule. Miami plays unranked Florida State and unranked Pittsburgh. Virginia finishes with UNC, unranked Clemson and unranked Louisville. Clemson is a home game, giving them a huge advantage. UNC and Louisville are both teams at the bottom of the conference. Virginia should hang onto this conference title.
The Big 10 has three teams in the AP top 25 poll, showing that it isn’t nearly as competitive as the Big 12. Purdue leads the conference with Northwestern 1.5 games behind.
The No. 5 13-4 Purdue Boilermakers are led by 7’4 big-man Zach Edey who averages 22.1 points per game and 12.7 rebounds per game. Edey is definitely making his case for Naismith player of the year. The Boilermakers have only won two of their last five games as they haven’t shared the ball well. They finish their schedule with No. 17 ranked Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois.
The Boilermakers should be able to finish their season off with three wins. Indiana is a very good team led by midseason All-American Tyrese Jackson-Davis, but it is a home game giving the Boilermakers a huge advantage. Wisconsin and Illinois should be easy wins as they are both unranked teams with NET rankings of 78 and 31. The Boilermakers have a NET ranking of 5. They should be able to close out the Big 10 conference.
The SEC has three ranked teams in the AP top 25 poll. The conference is led by Alabama who is followed closely behind by Texas A&M.
The No. 2 14-1 Alabama Crimson Tide is led by standout freshman Brandon Miller. Miller averages 19.5 points per game and adds 8.0 rebounds per game. Although the Alabama basketball program has gone through some heat recently due to a shooting involving two of their players, including Miller, they are easily the best team in the conference.
The Crimson Tide are followed closely by the No. 25 13-2 Texas A&M Aggies. The Aggies are led by Wade Taylor IV who averages 15.9 points per game and 4.1 assists per game. The Aggies have won six straight games.
Alabama finishes with a much more difficult schedule as they have Auburn and Arkansas, both teams who are capable of pulling off an upset. Texas A&M have Ole Miss and Mississippi State who are much easier games. The two teams face off in their last game of the season. Texas A&M will upset Alabama in this game and win at least a share of the conference.
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