Big 12 #1, SEC Not So Much

From CBS Sportsline:

Ten for Tuesday ranks the country's best basketball leagues for the approaching season. Big East fans, skip to No. 2. SEC fans ... skip to 2006-07. Pass the time by memorizing The Natural.

1. Big 12: From Final Four contenders at the top (Texas, Oklahoma) to Top 25 teams in the middle (Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas) to potential NCAA Tournament sleepers down the ladder (Iowa State, Nebraska, Texas A&M), the Big 12 is the strongest league this year. Next year? Probably not, what with Texas and Oklahoma anticipating huge NBA hits. But next year is next year. Live in the moment, people.

2. Big East: Injuries at Villanova and Louisville, and suspensions at Connecticut, have made a mortal of this superhuman league. But still, you say with Syracuse, West Virginia and Georgetown -- not to mention Pittsburgh and Cincinnati -- that the Big East is the best league in the country this year? I say the Big East is closer to No. 3 than No. 1.

3. Big Ten: The Big Ten doesn't have a single sexy team -- if any of its members reach the Final Four, it'll be a shock -- but from top to bottom it'll be brutal. The Big Ten enters the season with eight schools housing legitimate NCAA Tournament aspirations: Ohio State, Michigan State, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota. Yes, that's the order. Call your bookie. (No, don't.)

4. ACC: It has the best team in the country; Duke can just barely see the rest of the league from way up there. Boston College, Wake Forest and North Carolina State are NCAA Tournament teams, but after that it'll be a scramble. Expect one of the following -- but only one -- to earn the ACC's fifth and final NCAA bid: Maryland, Virginia Tech, Miami, North Carolina. No, that's not the order. If you're so smart, you do it.

5. Pac-10: Arizona and Washington could be Top 10 teams. Stanford is a Top 25 team, and UCLA would be there with them if its players would stop getting hurt. Plus, any of the following three schools -- Oregon, Oregon State, California -- could get into the NCAA Tournament.

6. SEC: A crazy summer will take its toll on the SEC, which lost some of its best underclassmen to the pros (Alabama's Kennedy Winston, LSU's Brandon Bass, Florida's Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh, Arkansas' Olu Famutimi) and saw freshman scoring leader Toney Douglas transfer from Auburn. High school recruits Monta Ellis (Mississippi State) and Louis Williams (Georgia) also turned pro. Add it up, and the SEC has just one obvious Top 25 team: Kentucky.