To all of our chagrin, college football is essentially over.
This is the time of year when the nation turns its collective heads toward the hardcourt, and college hoops become the collegiate world's focus through March.
While many haven't watched any non-conference ball, our Action Network college basketball team has been hard at work, observing play, calculating stats and following up on trends.
I usually do a non-conference trends recap around the new year to give a full-scale look at the state of the college basketball nation.
But we decided to do it differently this year, looking at how all the conferences did ATS during their non-conference schedule to give an idea of which conferences are trending up and which are trending down.
I'll recap some of the best- and worst-performing conferences and teams, alongside some extra notes, interesting facts and things to remember in the new year.
Let's dive in.
Non-Conf. ATS Record For Every College Basketball League
| ASUN | 75-53-2 | 58.6% | +16.9% |
| Ivy | 46-36-2 | 56.1% | +11.9% |
| Sun Belt | 71-56-0 | 55.9% | +11.8% |
| C-USA | 55-45-1 | 55.0% | +9.9% |
| MEAC | 47-39-1 | 54.7% | +9.2% |
| Mountain West | 65-54-0 | 54.6% | +9.2% |
| WAC | 62-52-2 | 54.4% | +8.6% |
| Southland | 51-43-2 | 54.3% | +8.3% |
| Big Ten | 81-69-0 | 54.0% | +8.0% |
| Big East | 69-62-2 | 52.7% | +5.3% |
| SWAC | 63-58-0 | 52.1% | +4.1% |
| Summit | 57-53-1 | 51.8% | +3.6% |
| America East | 47-44-0 | 51.6% | +3.3% |
| MAC | 61-58-0 | 51.3% | +2.5% |
| OVC | 48-46-1 | 51.1% | +2.1% |
| Big West | 50-48-2 | 51.0% | +2.0% |
| Big Sky | 54-52-1 | 50.9% | +1.9% |
| AAC | 62-60-2 | 50.8% | +1.6% |
| Big South | 49-48-1 | 50.5% | +1.0% |
| Pac-12 | 70-71-0 | 49.6% | -0.7% |
| Colonial | 67-68-2 | 49.6% | -0.7% |
| Big 12 | 54-55-0 | 49.5% | -0.9% |
| Patriot | 50-52-1 | 49% | -1.9% |
| MAAC | 50-53-2 | 48.5% | -2.9% |
| Atlantic 10 | 80-87-1 | 47.9% | -4.2% |
| SEC | 72-83-2 | 46.5% | -7.0% |
| WCC | 53-64-2 | 45.3% | -9.2% |
| SoCon | 42-54-1 | 43.8% | -12.4% |
| Missouri Valley | 58-75-2 | 43.6% | -12.6% |
| Horizon | 51-66-0 | 43.6% | -12.8% |
| ACC | 75-104-2 | 41.9% | -16.0% |
| NEC | 38-59-0 | 39.2% | -21.6% |
Best Performing Conferences
Historically, the ASUN has been owned by Darius McGhee and the Liberty Flames. Although Liberty is an excellent 8-4 ATS this season, there’s some competition at the top.
Florida Gulf Coast has soared to a 12-3 record with a road win over USC. Although the Eagles are a team built of transfers led by a first-year head coach, the squad boasts top-50 experience level (2.67 average years), and that coach is former Penn State leader Pat Chambers.
Plus, the Eagles are 8-6 ATS.
Meanwhile, Queens University jumped from D-II to D-I and is already 11-4. The Royals already have a win over Marshall and have picked up 38 spots in KenPom since opening day while posting the league's best ATS record at 9-3.
Throw in 10-5 (8-4 ATS) Kennesaw State, 8-5 Jacksonville (4-6 ATS), and 7-6 Stetson (7-3-1 ATS), and you have an impressive overall conference.