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The past week has struggled to find the great games that the previous week brought. That doesn't mean that teams aren't making runs forward or backward. Here is the first installment of a conference by conference breakdown. Note: All teams are in my order of ranking.

 

ACC: Best team- Duke (18-1, 6-0). It is hard to go against Duke right now after winning at Maryland, the team who beat North Carolina on the road.

Worst team- Virginia (11-8, 1-5). Another tough pair of losses in the past week has the Cavs thinking NIT.

Team of the week- Georgia Tech. A pair of road wins at N.C. State and Virginia has made up for its early struggles.

NCAA teams: Duke, UNC (20-1, 5-1). Bubble teams: Clemson (15-5, 3-3), Maryland (13-8, 3-3), Wake Forest (13-6, 3-3), N.C. State (13-7, 2-4), B.C. (12-7, 3-3), Miami (15-5, 2-4) and Virginia Tech (13-8, 4-3).

This is going to be interesting all year. After the top two, the rest are all just decent. Whoever is third will be in, but it is hard not to imagine at least two others making it as well. The question remains who.

 

Big East: Best team- Georgetown (17-2, 7-1). The Hoyas are playing a lot of close games, but a win is a win.

Worst team- St. John's (7-12, 1-7) See the G'Town game.

Team of the week- Connecticut (15-5, 5-3). A pair of victories over Indiana and Louisville has this team rolling.

NCAA teams: G'Town, Pittsburgh (17-4, 5-3), Marquette (15-4, 5-3), UCONN and Notre Dame (15-4, 5-2). Bubble Teams: Louisville (15-6, 5-3), Seton Hall (15-6, 5-3), Syracuse (15-7, 5-4), West Virginia (15-6, 4-4) and Villanova (13-6, 3-5).

Eight teams will probably be in the tournament with maybe a ninth. Right now Syracuse and WV are battling for that last spot, but if Nova can sweep the Orange, it will be back in the mix.

 

Big 10: Best team- Michigan State (19-2, 7-1). Sparty has the best wins out of an iffy bunch.

Worst team: Northwestern. It would struggle in the Horizon League.

Team of the week- Purdue (16-5, 7-1). It is hard to but it here after needing last-second free-throws to beat Iowa at home, but the win over Wisconsin was pretty big.

NCAA teams: MSU, Indiana (17-3, 6-1), Wisconsin (17-3, 7-1) and Ohio State (15-6, 6-2). Bubble Team: Purdue.

Purdue will probably get in with the UW win and a soft conference slate, while the rest of the teams are garbage, just look at their records.

 

Big 12: Best team- Kansas (20-1, 5-1). Even with the loss the Jayhawks are still the best.

Worst team- Missouri (12-9, 2-4). There are worse teams in the conference, but not with the p;ayers it has left to play, not to mention the troubles.

Team of the week- Kansas State(15-4, 5-0). The Wildcats knocked off undefeated KU. Enough said.

NCAA teams: KU, KSU, Texas (16-4, 3-2), Texas A&M (17-4, 3-3) and Baylor (16-3, 4-1). Bubble Team: Oklahoma (15-5, 3-2).

OU has a good chance to make it as as the sixth team, especially after winning at Baylor. Iowa State and Texas Tech need to make a huge run to get back in the mix.

 

Pac 10: Best team- UCLA (19-2, 7-1). Nothing has changed here in three years.

Worst team- Oregon State. Nothing has changed here since Brent Barry was playing (95')

Team of the week- USC (13-7, 4-4). After a slow start the Trojans are on fire, winning three straight on the road.

NCAA teams: UCLA, WSU (17-3, 5-3), Stanford (17-3, 6-2), Arizona (15-6, 5-3) and USC. Bubble Teams: ASU (14-6, 4-4), Oregon (12-8, 3-5), Cal (12-7, 3-5).

Six teams should make it, but a seventh isn't looking good with both Oregon and ASU struggling. ASU has a tough trip to the LA schools, while Oregon gets OSU. Cal got a huge win over WSU, but needs to back it up at Washington.

 

SEC: Best team- Tennessee (18-2, 5-1). Florida is keeping it close, but Chris Lofton getting hot makes the difference.

Worst team- Auburn (12-7, 2-4). Sure it has a better record than LSU, but it lost to the Tigers at home.

Team of the week- Arkansas (15-5, 4-2). A pair of big wins at LSU and versus MSU gets it back in the mix.

NCAA teams: UT, Florida (18-3, 5-1), Mississippi (16-3, 3-3), Vanderbilt (17-4, 2-4). Bubble Teams: MSU (14-6, 5-1) and Arkansas.

Another interesting conference with Ole Miss and Vandy struggling in conference play. Vandy has played some tough road game though and should hold serve at home. Meanwhile, MSU needs a win over Rocky Top Saturday at home or it could be in a tailspin with some tough road games still out there. The Hogs look to be in good shape if they stop losing games they should win.

 

Other NCAA teams: Memphis (20-0, 6-0), Xavier (17-4, 5-1), Butler (19-2, 8-2), Drake (19-1, 10-0) and South Alabama (17-4, 9-1).

Xavier has been red-hot again, while Drake's sweep of Creighton puts it in great shape for an at-large berth. South Alabama needs to go undefeated in conference, or at the worst lose at Western Kentucky. The win over Mississippi State looks good right now.

 

Bubble Teams: St. Mary's (17-3, 4-1), Gonzaga (16-5, 5-0), Davidson (14-6, 12-0), Western Kentucky (17-5, 9-1), Illinois State (15-6, 7-3), Creighton (14-6, 5-5), Kent St. (17-4, 6-1), Akron (15-5, 5-2), Ohio (14-6, 5-2), Houston (15-4, 4-1), UAB (14-6, 4-1), CSU Northridge (15-4, 7-0), VCU (15-5, 8-2), George Mason(15-6, 7-3), St. Joes (13-5, 5-1), Rhode Island (18-3, 4-2), Dayton (15-4, 3-3), UMASS (14-6, 3-3), Utah St. (15-6, 5-1), Charlotte (13-6, 4-1).

As you can see there are a lot of bubble teams in the non-BCS conferences, but only a couple will make it as an at-large. It will be in their best bet to win their conference tournament, or take a share of the regular season title. It also depends on the at-large gimmies above to win their conference tournament. I think three from the A-10 will make it, but who knows who it will be with Dayton's stumbles. The MVC normally gets two, but ISU and Creighton are having troubles. The MAC will have a hard time getting two with the non-conference schedules.