I believe we can officially put the “which conference is toughest” discussion to bed. Here’s a look at the number of teams each conference sent to the 2009 Sweet Sixteen:
- ACC – 2 (North Carolina, Duke)
- Big 10 – 2 (Michigan State, Purdue)
- Pac 10 – 1 (Arizona)
- Big 12 – 3 (Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas)
- Conference USA – 1 (Memphis)
- West Coast Conference – 1 (Gonzaga)
- Atlantic 10 – 1 (Xavier)
- Big East – 5 (Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Syracuse, Villanova)
The only conferences that sport a better tournament winning percentage than the Big East are Conference USA and the West Coast Conference — represented by Memphis and Gonzaga, those two are batting 1.000, while the Big East’s percentage is a gaudy .846.
via 2009 NCAA Tournament: Second Round Recap.
