https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketball-conference-power-rankings-2023-big-12-still-no-1-but-big-ten-not-far-behind/
1. Big 12
This season snapped the Big 12's streak of four straight NCAA Tournaments with a team in the Final Four, but the league had two Elite Eight teams in Kansas State and Texas. Their runs were enough to make it a respectable postseason for the conference after it clearly stood out above the pack during the regular season. With no truly abysmal teams — Oklahoma was the league's worst-ranked team in the NET at No. 70 — the Big 12 became a self-sufficient cycle of Quad 1 and Quad 2 games for its members during the 2022-23 season. With BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF joining the conference next season, the calculus could change. But each of those four were top-100 teams in the NET while playing in weaker leagues this past season, and adding the Cougars gives the Big 12 another national power.
BY THE NUMBERS
1st in NCAA Tournament bid percentage: 7 of 10 (70%)
3rd in NCAA Tournament record: 9-7 (56.3%)
1st in top 50 NBA Draft prospects per team: .60 (six total)
1st in average NET ranking: 30.2 (33.2 last year)
1 in average NET ranking excluding bottom two teams: 21.3 (23.8 last year)
4. SEC
With six first-year coaches patrolling the sidelines, it was a transition season for the SEC, and that showed as the league's average NET ranking fell roughly 10 spots from the 2021-22 season. Complicating matters further was the regression of Auburn and Kentucky after both earned No. 2 seeds in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Both returned to the Big Dance, but neither made it past the first round. Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee each reached the Sweet 16, but none of them made it to the Elite Eight. Quietly helping the SEC salvage an otherwise mediocre season were Missouri and Mississippi State. The Tigers reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament under first-year coach Dennis Gates while the Bulldogs finished strong to reach the First Four under first-year coach Chris Jans. Without the impressive work of those two conference newcomers, the overall body of work from the SEC would have been substandard.
BY THE NUMBERS
T-2 in NCAA Tournament bid percentage: 8 of 14 (57.1%)
4th in NCAA Tournament record: 9-8 (52.9%)
T-2 in top 50 NBA Draft prospects per team: .57 (eight total)
3rd in average NET ranking: 74.6 (64.1 last year)
4th in average NET ranking excluding bottom two teams: 54.3 (43.7 last year)