A definitive ranking of all six major men's college basketball conferences - ESPN

Conference play is beginning in earnest and for the first time this season we're seeing a steady stream of quality games played in home-court settings. Much basketball remains to be played, but we've already seen enough to come to some conclusions on the major men's Division I conferences and where they rank in 2024 — particularly before one of them disappears in a few months.

To put those conclusions on the record at the very beginning of the calendar year, ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi and John Gasaway sat down and ranked the major conferences. Balancing measures of top-to-bottom strength like KenPom with less comprehensive metrics like AP rankings and projected seeds, they came up with their very own combined rankings. Here's how they see the power conferences shaping up, counting down from No. 6 all the way to No. 1.

John Gasaway: Let's begin with the league that appears to be vanishing as an entity. With four teams heading to the Big Ten next season (Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington), four to the Big 12 (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah), two to the ACC (Cal and Stanford) and two to the West Coast Conference (Oregon State and Washington State), that leaves zero programs remaining for 2024-25. Happy New Year, Pac-12.

It just so happens that in its last season, the Pac-12 rates out as the weakest of the six major conferences. Yes, Arizona is a potential national champion. Past the Wildcats, however, there's either a lack of conference strength or, to strain optimism to its fullest, many teams that are yet to put the pieces together. Traditional contender UCLA might have its weakest offense in 20 years. USC is 6-7. Oregon has taken a half step back since missing the tournament last season. The best of the bunch might