Which Conference Is Best Represented in This Year's NCAA Tournament?

Big East

The Big East is longer considered a "power" conference, and without Syracuse, Connecticut and Pittsburgh, among other teams, they're sort of a mixed bag this year in the NCAA Tournament.

Villanova leads the way with a 19.44 nERD and top-11 offense and defense, earning them one of the top seeds in the tourney. The Big East is also the second conference to put six teams into the tournament, and the rest of the entrants are all above-average in terms of our nERD -- and group similarly because of that.

Butler, Xaiver and Providence all have nERD ratings within 1.58 points of each other, and all received a 6 seed in the tournament. Georgetown has a 12.71 nERD, just 0.25 points behind Butler, but lucked out with a 4 seed despite an offense that ranks in the 78th percentile and a defense that ranks within the 66th percentile. Rounding out the conference is 9-seeded St. John's with a 10.17 nERD.