As conferences continue to expand, league play in the power conferences is starting earlier and earlier. The days of waiting until the calendar turns to the new year for conference play to begin are long over (for most of the major conferences, at least). By this time next week, teams from the ACC, Big East and Big Ten will have already played some of their fellow members. The Pac-12 begins days after Christmas, while the Big 12 and SEC still wait until after the new year kicks off.
So, even though it feels like the season just began -- it's still only about five weeks old -- and we're dealing with sample sizes, trends are already beginning to form. No. 1 is the relative strength of each of the big leagues, in turn creating narratives about NCAA tournament depth, Quadrant 1 wins and Selection Sunday fate.
Given what we know so far, here are the biggest big-picture questions and concerns facing each of the top six conferences as they begin their slate.
How much does the ACC need Duke to live up to preseason expectations?
The ACC is the only one of the top six leagues without a team ranked inside the top 10 of the NET or KenPom. Duke leads the way in KenPom; for the NET, it's Clemson. But there is no clear powerhouse in the conference -- especially not with the Blue Devils losing guard Tyrese Proctor to injury and heading into a date with Baylor in New York with three losses. Duke was the preseason No. 2 team in the country and was expected to be a national championship contender and the tide to lift the rest of the ACC. There's still plenty of time to turn things around, but there's a case to be made that there's no true title contender in the league.
A disappointing nonconference campaign has weighed on the league for the past few seasons, sinking the metrics to a point that has a tangible impact on Selection Sunday. Could that happen again? Eight ACC teams are ranked in the top 80 of the NET. Clemson is 4-0 against Quadrants 1 and 2. The other seven teams were a combined 7-14 entering Wednesday.