Welcome back, sports fans, to the first basketball conference comparison for the 2025-26 season. We ranked all 363 teams individually yesterday which always brings up the question about conference strength. In football, the Core 4 (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, and Notre Dame) is clearly defined just as the Group of 5 (soon to be 6) and FCS are. In basketball, the Power Conferences are defined by which article one reads. Everyone includes the football Core 4 (with Notre Dame being part of the ACC) and the Big East. Some include the Atlantic 10, the Atlantic Sun, and/or the American East conferences as well. Not that it makes a big difference in the GCR, but we use the strictest definition. Just like in football, there is a slight bonus for playing teams in the Power 5 and a slight discount for P5 teams playing mid-majors – from a strength of schedule perspective. Within the 26 conferences that make up the mid-majors, there is no distinction at all in the GCR, except through the outcome of the games played.
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That said, conferences are not equal. Some tend to lose much more often than others (see the Northeast Conference this year) and some can flirt with competing at the Power 5 level for a season or two (see the Ivy League this year). Conferences in basketball are a little bigger than in football. Division I football averages roughly 10.6 teams per conference while basketball averages a little more than a team more per conference. Still, a good team or two can really make a difference in conference comparison, especially in smaller ones (Princeton is 19th while the next best team in the Ivy League is Columbia at 89th).
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A little data to help understand the table below a little better. The overall record for all women’s teams is 3146-2756 (.533) including 860 total conference games played. One would expect a .500 winning percentage, but we don’t see that because of the games played outside of the division (DII, DIII, NAIA teams) which were overwhelmingly won (but not always) by the DI team. The average wins per team is 8.7 while suffering 7.6 losses. The most wins so far for any team sits at 18 (Texas and Texas Tech) and the most losses is 17 (Morgan St, Omaha, and Valparaiso). The average record for the 31 teams that are the best in their conference is 406-102 (.799) with an average ranking of 64.9. The average record for the 31 teams that are having the worst season so far in their conference is 107-399 (.211) with an average ranking of 314.7. The worst best team is Southern of the SWAC with a record of 7-8/190. The best worst team is Arkansas of the SEC at 11-8/111. The conference with the biggest disparity is the Missouri Valley whose best team is Murray St (14-2/35) and worst team is Valparaiso (0-17/363) – a 328-place difference. The smallest disparity belongs to the SEC with just 108 places between Texas (18-1/3) and Arkansas. The average difference between best and worst team is a whopping 250 places.
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The table below ranks the conference by average Score (UCONN is ranked #1 so has a Score of 100 and all other teams are adjusted to that – Valparaiso has a Score just above 4). The RPI does not always align and is an interesting comparison statistic – for individual teams, we can use that to determine whether a team is expected to improve or not, and the same can be said at the conference level. Now from the SEC to the Northeast…
| Rank | Conference | Record | Avg Score | Avg RPI | Best Team | Worst Team |
| 1 | SEC | 226-55 / .804 | 74.99 | 0.609 | Texas (18-1/3) | Arkansas (11-8/111) |
| 2 | Big Ten | 220-83 / .726 | 70.55 | 0.604 | UCLA (15-1/2) | Northwestern (7-10/197) |
| 3 | B12 | 196-78 / .715 | 68.10 | 0.585 | Texas Tech (18-0/6) | Cincinnati (6-11/240) |
| 4 | ACC | 195-122 / .615 | 59.20 | 0.565 | Louisville (16-3/13) | Pittsburgh (8-10/244) |
| 5 | Big East | 112-74 / .602 | 57.36 | 0.554 | UCONN (17-0/1) | DePaul (4-14/315) |
| 6 | Ivy | 71-47 / .602 | 51.37 | 0.503 | Princeton (14-1/14) | Cornell (6-8/259) |
| 7 | Atlantic 10 | 136-98 / .581 | 49.55 | 0.499 | Rhode Island (14-2/26) | VCU (6-11/276) |
| 8 | Sun Belt | 132-99 / .571 | 49.50 | 0.488 | Troy (13-3/36) | Louisiana (1-15/358) |
| 9 | West Coast | 111-99 / .529 | 46.98 | 0.484 | Oregon St (13-5/47) | Washington St (3-16/331) |
| 10 | C-USA | 97-85 / .533 | 46.76 | 0.457 | Sam Houston (10-4/54) | W Kentucky (5-10/283) |
| 11 | American East | 86-64 / .573 | 46.68 | 0.460 | Vermont (13-5/84) | Lowell (6-11/291) |
| 12 | WAC | 62-50 / .554 | 46.07 | 0.457 | Abilene Chr (12-5/103) | Arlington (6-10/272) |
| 13 | Atlantic Sun | 95-89 / .516 | 44.62 | 0.445 | E Kentucky (13-4/73) | Bellarmine (2-15/350) |
| 14 | American | 107-102 / .512 | 44.52 | 0.495 | Rice (13-3/67) | Wichita St (3-14/337) |
| 15 | Ohio Valley | 88-85 / .509 | 43.87 | 0.443 | W Illinois (13-2/68) | TN St (2-13/349) |
| 16 | Big Sky | 80-79 / .503 | 43.62 | 0.447 | Montana St (11-4/41) | Montana (3-12/324) |
| 17 | Summit | 75-79 / .487 | 43.16 | 0.443 | South Dakota St (13-4/51) | Omaha (2-17/355) |
| 18 | Mtn West | 99-95 / .510 | 43.04 | 0.479 | Colorado St (13-4/66) | San Jose St (2-15/353) |
| 19 | SoCon | 67-67 / .500 | 42.40 | 0.416 | Greensboro (12-5/109) | W Carolina (3-13/336) |
| 20 | Coastal | 98-99 / .497 | 42.00 | 0.437 | Charleston (12-3/71) | Hofstra (3-12/320) |
| 21 | MAC | 96-98 / .495 | 41.79 | 0.460 | UMASS (11-3/86) | Buffalo (2-13/347) |
| 22 | Horizon | 95-96 / .497 | 40.25 | 0.442 | Green Bay (13-5/87) | Detroit (4-12/321) |
| 23 | Big West | 83-87 / .488 | 40.20 | 0.445 | Santa Barbara (12-2/78) | Long Beach (1-14/357) |
| 24 | Southland | 77-99 / .438 | 37.73 | 0.431 | McNeese (12-4/55) | New Orleans (1-14/360) |
| 25 | Patriot | 75-79 / .487 | 37.17 | 0.453 | Army (12-3/97) | American (4-11/329) |
| 26 | Big South | 68-86 / .442 | 36.70 | 0.414 | High Point (15-2/80) | Presbyterian (2-14/348) |
| 27 | Missouri Valley | 75-101 / .426 | 36.39 | 0.457 | Murray St (14-2/35) | Valparaiso (0-17/363) |
| 28 | MAAC | 78-123 / .388 | 30.45 | 0.428 | Fairfield (12-3/102) | Niagara (0-15/362) |
| 29 | MEAC | 46-100 / .315 | 29.33 | 0.416 | Howard (12-7/133) | Morgan St (2-17/356) |
| 30 | SWAC | 53-129 / .291 | 29.15 | 0.408 | Southern (7-8/190) | Florida A&M (2-12/351) |
| 31 | Northeast | 47-109 / .301 | 23.83 | 0.386 | Fair Dickins (13-4/134) | C Connecticut (0-15/361) |
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That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow for the Men’s Basketball Week 10 Top 365 followed by a similar analysis for them on Thursday. Then on Sunday we will preview Monday’s FBS Championship Game between Miami FL and Indiana. Thank you for reading and sharing with others. Please let us know what you think of our posts as we are always looking to improve what we do, JoJo and G.
