MADISON, Wis. — So who is No. 1 in the world of men’s
college basketball?
Defending national champion Duke, of course.
“There’s Duke,” Illinois coach Bill Self said, “and then there’s probably a whole bunch of teams that are really, really good that hope that they can knock Duke off their perch.
“And we’re one of those teams.”
Duke was ranked No. 1 in both pre-season polls and backed up its lofty ranking by winning the Maui Invitational last week. Illinois, ranked No. 2, won the Las Vegas Invitational.
The debate won’t be settled until the national championship game April 1 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
But one debate that rages on year after year is this: Which conference is No. 1?
The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference are absolutely teeming with tradition. No conference has more sold-out venues than the Big Ten, where the fans view basketball as a religion, not just a diversion until spring football. And led by Arizona and Stanford, the Pacific-10 Conference is causing East Coast viewers to stay up late at night and take notice.
Yet during the 1990s and again last season, the ACC has proved to be the best when reputations are established. That is, during March Madness.
Beginning with the 1990-91 season, when Duke won the first of two consecutive NCAA titles under Mike Krzyzewski, the ACC has won four national titles, more than any other conference during that time.
The SEC has won three titles; the Pac-10 has won two and the Big Ten and Big East have won one apiece.
In addition, the ACC has the most Final Four appearances (12) and Elite Eight appearances (16) during that time.
Krzyzewski, who has won three national titles, is able to recruit just about any player he wants to Durham, N.C. But he also smartly takes his team on the road to play top teams at neutral sites early in the season to prepare his players for the NCAA tournament setting.
“That’s just part of becoming good and getting ready for March,” he said. “Because when you play in March, you’re going to play at a neutral site.
“The other thing is, you’re going to be playing against a team that is probably going to advance pretty far in March.
“So you’re playing a high-caliber team, at a neutral site, on TV… big-time stakes.”

Final Four contenders
This season, the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and the Pac-10 each boast a pair of Final Four contenders. Duke and Maryland lead the ACC; Kentucky and Florida are the dominant pair in the SEC; Illinois and Iowa are the premier teams in the Big Ten; and UCLA and surprising Arizona are the most formidable teams in the Pac-10.