NCAA Basketball: Ranking the top 10 conferences for 2019-20 season

By Adam Childs | Aug 23, 2019

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates with his team after the 85-77 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 17: The Saint Louis Billikens celebrate their 55-53 win against the St. Bonaventure Bonniesduring their Atlantic 10 basketball tournament Championship game at Barclays Center on March 17, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

10. Mountain West

Nevada looked like a national contender last year but a late-season meltdown and a bad loss to Florida in the first round and all of a sudden the Mountain West looked like just another conference. Then head coach Eric Musselman left for Alabama and the Wolf Pack were all of a sudden in a tailspin. New coach and former UCLA coach Steve Alford will look to right the ship and get the Wolf Pack back in contention. They desperately need them to be good for the perception of the Mountain West to change.

Other teams to watch this year are Utah State, Fresno State, and New Mexico State. These teams flashed some signs last year, but again need to be better if the conference wants more than one bid.

9. Atlantic 10

Last year the Atlantic 10 looked a lot better than it does this year, but a fairly disappointing year coupled with a less than inspiring tournament and this conference has a lot to prove.

VCU is still the class of the conference, but they need some other teams to step up. St. Bonaventure won the conference tournament but finished just 18-18 for the season. Davidson and Dayton will look to help solidify the conference, but they also need to improve.

The one team that looks poised to make a jump back up is Rhode Island. Two years ago they were in the top 25 most of the year but proved no match for Duke in the second round of the tournament. Last year they fell back but they return a lot of talent and could be very good this year. If they can do that this conference will look better in most people’s eyes.

7. West Coast Conference

The gem of the WCC is obviously Gonzaga and that alone could almost rise this conference up the list. The Zags, somehow, could actually be underrated as they people seem to think they are a power because of the conference they play. They have shown they can compete with the big boys and will take on all comers.

The problem for this conference is they don’t have any other teams quite as good. Saint Mary’s is very good but they are still not on the same level as the Bulldogs. After the Gaels, it is just a bunch of pretty good teams, but none that strike fear in anyone.

The Zags make this conference better than it ever has, but they need other teams to step up if they want to jump up this list.

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