(03-29-2014 08:54 AM)AntiG Wrote: (03-29-2014 06:53 AM)goofus Wrote: If the Big East is not careful, a new perception may quickly emerge that the Big East and A-10 are about the same in quality.
Once they lost/parted ways with the best of the old Big East - Louisville, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Notre Dame... they became basically the same level as the A-10.
It's nearly impossible to find any one metric that tells definitively which conferences are the best. Every rating service has its own formula, and even if they didn't, who can answer what makes a "best" conference? Is it the conference with the strongest top teams, the strongest bottom teams, or the strength of the "average" team (whatever that is).
My personal preference is to only consider the stronger teams. So, for each conference, I looked at the strength ratings of the top 50% of each conference - the ones that have some chance of being considered for post season play. I combined the rankings of the RPI, Pomeroy rankings, and Sagarin ratings.
This year, using that metric, the B1G and the Big 12 were in a virtual tie for first. Tied for 3rd were the ACC and the AAC, followed by the PAC 12, SEC, Big East and A10. Where it gets interesting is how the conferences would have been ranked if the final realignment moves (Louisville, Maryland, etc) had been made this year instead of next.
Had that happened, the ACC would have moved into a three way tie for first,
while the AAC would have fallen all the way to 8th, in a virtual three way tie with the Mountain West and West Coast Conference, significantly behind the A10 and Big East. Louisville makes that much of a difference.
As for which conference was the most disappointing, for that you have to consider what your own expectations were. I can't put numbers to that, so I'll have to let the fans duke it out.