So, what do I do with all of this information? I use it to figure out what I really think of the smaller-name conferences like the Atlantic 10 (another mathematically-challenged league, it should be noted) this year, particularly when I am frequently told while watching a game about how great that conference is this year.

I also like to use the efficiency data compiled by Ken Pomeroy. Efficiency data takes into account who you played, where you played them, and how you performed against them versus how they have performed in all of their other games. While the Atlantic 10 has a few teams that have had nice non-conference wins (Xavier over Kansas State and Indiana, Dayton over Louisville and Pittsburgh, and UMass over Boston College all come to mind), the reality is that only Xavier and Dayton are “top 50” caliber teams. In fact, 37 of the top 50 teams (74%) are from the Power Conferences. This means that, once again, the Big Six Conferences are each better from top to bottom as conferences, even if individual teams like Xavier and Memphis are as good as anyone in the country.

The bottom line is that when you consider the landscape of college basketball, you should consider teams, and who those teams have played, where they have played them, and how they have performed against them. You can just about throw conference affiliation out the window (until you are filling out your bracket – then you had better be sticking with teams from Power Conferences, because 90% of Final Four teams come from this pool)!