It is that time for the Lunatic to grade the conferences on how they did. I might be growing a little lenient as I do this. I try to account for a few things – how many games the conference is supposed to win, and how many Elite 8 teams you have. I gave grades to all the conferences with more than 1 team.
ACC – A+. The ACC was clearly the best conference of the tournament. NC State was the best story of the tournament making the Final 4. Clemson and Duke also made the Elite 8. They went 12-5 in the tournament – considering they only had 5 teams, it was amazing that they ended up with the most wins from any conference.
Big East – A. The Big East’s performance in the tournament shows they kind of were robbed by only getting 3 teams. They are 9-2 in the tournament, with Connecticut in the championship game and Marquette and Creighton both making the Sweet 16. They have the best record of the conferences – but this is also what the three teams were supposed to do, so I left them at an A.
Big 10 – A. The Big 10 had the second most wins – going 10-5 in the tournament. With Purdue in the championship and Illinois making the Elite 8, this has been one of the best showings for the conference. Other than the ACC (who were +5 vs. seed), the Big 10 (+1 vs. seed) was one of the only other major conferences above expectation.
Pac 12 – B+. In the final season of the conference, they went 6-4 (with all 4 teams winning their first round games). With Colorado and Oregon both winning in the first round, they finished +1 over seed expectation, but with Arizona getting upset in the Sweet 16, I could not give them an A without a team in the Elite 8.
Atlantic 10 – B. Both Dayton and Duquesne won their first round games (+1 vs seeds). Any time the Atlantic 10 gets multiple teams to the second round is a good year, but can’t be better than a B without a Sweet 16 team.
West Coast – B. This is where their seed expectation would put them. But they got there by Gonzaga winning both games for the conference – since St. Mary’s was upset by Grand Canyon.
Mountain West – B. San Diego State led this team to a B by making the Sweet 16. Utah State (first round) and Colorado State (play-in) won games. None of the others were supposed to win based on seed and they didn’t. So, they were +1 based on seed, but I had a hard time giving a conference anything better than a B for a 4-6 record.
SEC – B-. This was the conference I had the hardest time seeding. They were supposed to win 12 games in the tournament, and they only won 8. Kentucky and Auburn losing in the first round were two of the biggest upsets in the tournament. But Alabama made it to their first Final 4, and Tennessee made it to the Elite 8 and came close against Purdue. So, this felt the right place for an 8-8 conference that had a few pleasant surprises and a few disappointments.
MID-MAJORS – C. This is the most awkward group to grade, because any win is above expectations (other than the 2 guaranteed play-in wins). So, going 6-22 is actually 4 games above expectations. Oakland, Grand Canyon, Yale and James Madison were exciting wins giving us hope. But with none of the Cinderella teams making the Sweet 16 (which does tend to happen despite what the expectations are by seed), I decided simply a passing grade was enough.
Conference USA – C-. FAU gave Northwestern a battle into overtime and UAB only lost by 4 to a San Diego State team that made the Sweet 16. But that still means they went 0-2. It didn’t seem fair to give them a D for two close losses, but couldn’t really give them much more since as the 8 seed, FAU was supposed to win the close game.
Big 12 – F. The Big 12 was supposed to be the best conference in college basketball. They were expected to win 14 games in the tournament and have 4 teams in the Sweet 16. Instead, only Houston and Iowa State got to the Sweet 16 (and both then got upset). BYU, TCU and Texas Tech lost in the first round. The conference ended up only going 7-8. According to seed, they lost 7 more games than they were supposed to – add into it being the only major conference outside of the Pac 12 that did not have an Elite 8 team and this has to be considered a failed season that looked like it would be full of opportunity.