Unlocking the Unexpected: Which Men’s College Basketball Conference Will Dominate in 2025-26?
Ever caught yourself in one of those endless debates about which college basketball conference truly rules the roost? I know I have — and trust me, the passion and pride on display could fill arenas all by themselves. Take the ACC, for example: Duke fans won’t hesitate to dissect every slip by North Carolina, but mention any weakness to an outsider, and suddenly they’re on the defense like it’s a family feud reunion! It’s a peculiar kind of loyalty, this conference pride—deep-rooted, unyielding, and fiercely protective. But beyond the chatter and rivalries, which leagues actually pack the most punch in the 2025-26 season? Let’s cut through the noise with TRACR, a sharp metric that measures team efficiency factoring in the strength of opponents and real-time court performance. Curious about how your favorite conference stacks up or if the SEC’s surprising depth really crowns it king? Buckle up; we’re diving into the six best conferences ranked by average TRACR. LEARN MORE.
There are several competitive conferences in college basketball this season. But which one is the best in the country?
Conference pride is a funny thing in college basketball.
Duke fans will spend all day and night pointing out every flaw in the North Carolina basketball team.
But if a fan of another conference uses that same argument to claim the ACC is weak, the Duke fans will instantly switch to being defensive.
This isn’t an indictment on Duke fans or the ACC; it’s how every conference is. Even in the age of realignment, there is a familial bond among all the teams in a particular conference.
But which conferences actually have a claim to being the best conference in 2025-26?
We can answer that by using TRACR, our net efficiency metric that calculates how well a team performs based on who it plays and who is on the court. We’ve ranked conferences based on the average TRACR of every team in the conference.
Here are the six best conferences by average TRACR. (Note: TRACR rankings are as of Feb. 3.)
The Top-Ranked Conferences in College Basketball
1. SEC (Average TRACR: 18.78)
The SEC being the strongest conference according to TRACR might be surprising, because the highest-ranked SEC team in the AP poll is Vanderbilt at No. 15.
But there are a couple reasons the SEC edged out the three conferences below it. One is that TRACR is significantly higher on both Florida (seventh in TRACR and 17th in the AP Top 25) and Texas A&M (18th in TRACR and receiving votes in the AP Top 25).
The reigning champion Gators do have six losses, but three are to teams in the top 15 in TRACR, only one is to a team outside the top 40 in TRACR and all were by single digits. Meanwhile, Florida also has 12 wins by 15 or more points, including against quality opponents Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.
The Aggies got off to a slow start this year but have rebounded in conference play, going 7-1 so far in the SEC. Tough matchups loom this week starting with a game at Alabama on Wednesday night followed by a home game against Florida on Saturday.
Even with Florida ranked seventh in the country by TRACR, the top of the league isn’t what makes the SEC the top conference. It’s the number of very good teams and the lack of very bad teams.
The SEC has nine teams in the top 40, two more than any other league. And it also has only two teams outside the top 100 (Mississippi State at 152 and South Carolina at 171), which is the fewest of any conference. You may not be as likely to see a marquee matchup between two of the best teams in the country when watching the SEC, but you’re more likely to see two good teams going head-to-head than in any other conference.
And that depth is enough to be the best conference in TRACR’s projections.
2. Big 12 (18.14)
The Big 12 has plenty of firepower at the top of the conference and enough depth to rank second in average TRACR. Iowa State has been a favorite of TRACR all season and sits at No. 5, just one spot behind Arizona.
Houston (No. 8) and Kansas (No. 11) are both national title contenders as well. The Jayhawks would be even better if they could find a way to keep freshman phenom Darryn Peterson consistently healthy. BYU (No. 22) and Texas Tech (No. 28) round out the elite teams in the league, as UCF (No. 62) has the seventh-based TRACR in the Big 12.
Like the SEC, the Big 12 doesn’t have a lot of subpar teams dragging the average TRACR down as only Arizona State (No. 106), Kansas State (No. 180) and Utah (No. 189) aren’t in the top 100.
3. Big Ten (17.08)
If fans guessed which conference had the highest average TRACR, the Big Ten might have been the most popular answer. The Big Ten has six teams in the top 16. The SEC has just one.
But the Big Ten is weighed down considerably by the bottom of the conference. There are four teams across the top five conferences on this list that rank outside the top 200. All four are in the Big Ten (Oregon at 206, Rutgers at 213, Penn State at 234 and Maryland at 270).
An argument can be made that the Big Ten has the most Final Four contenders of any conference and has some quality depth beyond that, with four teams ranking between 40 and 60. But when the entire conference is considered, the Big Ten falls a bit short.
4. ACC (16.84)
As you might expect, there is a significant dip after the ACC, as the Power Four conferences are still in a tier of their own.
The ACC isn’t as formidable at the top of the conference a usual, even with Duke in the top overall spot in TRACR. Louisville (No. 12) is the only other team ranked above the 20th spot. North Carolina (No. 32) isn’t as formidable as usual, although there’s enough talent on the team to shoot up the rankings if they can start playing a more consistent brand of basketball.
Another former power, Syracuse, is ranked down at No. 84, helping explain the ACC’s lack of quality at the top. There is some depth with 12 teams in the top 70, but unless North Carolina State (No. 20), Clemson (No.21), Virginia (No. 23) or North Carolina can find their way into the outer range of contenders, the ACC will likely remain in last among the big conferences.
5. Big East (12.18)
The Big East is in a tier of its own, well behind the four best conferences but still ahead of the mid-majors.
TRACR isn’t enamored with UConn (No. 14) despite its strong nonconference showing with some quality wins and an undefeated conference record. That’s mostly due to some close wins against pedestrian conference teams, including two against Providence (No. 125) by a combined 11 points and a two-point win over Georgetown (No. 103).
The Huskies are still a Final Four contender, along with St. John’s (No.17). After that, there isn’t much depth in the Big East, with only Villanova (No. 44) and Seton Hall (No. 73) in the top 100.
This isn’t the Big East of yesteryear, but there’s still enough to keep it a top five conference in Division I.
6. Atlantic 10 (9.30)
The Atlantic 10 deserves credit for its consistent excellence as a conference and this year is no difference.
Everything starts with Saint Louis (No. 6), but there’s some depth too. There are six teams in the A-10 in the top 100 and only two outside the top 200 (remember the Big Ten had four outside the top 100).
The best basketball among all mid-major conferences is being played in the A-10 right now.
The Rest of the Rankings
- Mountain West (Average TRACR: 7.92)
- West Coast (7.54)
- Missouri Valley (7.34)
- American (5.24)
- Conference USA (5.22)
- Mid-American (3.96)
- Ivy League (3.85)
- Coastal Athletic (2.98)
- Western Athletic (2.79)
- Big West (1.94)
- Big Sky (1.61)
- Big South (0.91)
- Southland (0.49)
- Horizon (-0.70)
- Southern (-1.17)
- Sun Belt (-1.40)
- Summit League (-1.57)
- Ohio Valley (-2.89)
- Atlantic Sun (-4.47)
- Metro Atlantic Athletic (-4.85)
- Patriot League (-5.31)
- Northeast (-8.83)
- America East (-9.37)
- Southwestern Athletic (-14.57)
- Mid-Eastern (-16.66)
Date modeling by Opta Analyst’s Matt Scott. For more coverage, follow on social media at Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook and X.
The post Ranking the Best Conferences in Men’s College Basketball for the 2025-26 Season appeared first on Opta Analyst.
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