During his first six seasons at Pitt, coach Jamie Dixon would tell recruits that the Panthers played in the best conference in the country. Those words were not always spoken with complete confidence. Now, when Dixon hits the recruiting trail, his pitch is a little more assertive. "In the past when I said that there could have been a little debate," he said. "This year there is no debate. We play in the best conference in the country." With the Big East adding Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette, DePaul and South Florida from Conference USA to an already potent lineup of teams, the barroom and talk-show arguments are heating up over whether the Big East has overtaken the Atlantic Coast Conference as the top basketball conference in the country.

"I'm not ready to coronate any conference as the best until the season plays out," said CBS college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg. "It's a little early to claim the Big East as the best. But it's right up there along with the ACC and the Big Ten. I think those three leagues have been the premier leagues. Occasionally, the Big 12 or the Pac-10 will make a splash. But if you look at those three leagues, year in and year out, it's usually between them."

Two decades ago the Big East was the No. 1 conference in the country, hands down. The league won back-to-back national championships in 1984 and '85. In '85, the Big East advanced three teams to the Final Four -- St. John's, Georgetown and Villanova. Villanova beat Georgetown in the championship game. That feat has gone unmatched for 20 years. What is often forgotten is that No. 11 seed Boston College came within two points of upsetting No. 2 seed Memphis in a Sweet 16 game. Memphis was the other Final Four team that year.

The ACC took over in the early 1990s. Duke won national titles in 1991 and '92 and North Carolina won in '93. Since '91, The ACC has won six of the past 15 national championships.

But the Big East won three in a six-year span from 1999-2004 to close the gap again.

"I think the Big East could make a case for itself for being the best conference in the country before expansion," said Billy Packer, a CBS college basketball commentator.

Based on NCAA tournament success the past 10 years, it's pretty much a dead heat between the Big East and ACC.

Going beyond national championships and taking into account Final Four and Sweet 16 appearances, the ACC edges the Big East for best conference in the country, according to the numbers. Since 1996, the ACC has sent 23 teams to the Sweet 16, 10 to the Final Four and won three titles. The Big East has advanced the most teams to the Sweet 16 (24), sent four teams to the Final Four and tied the ACC for the most championships (3).

The other conferences can all make a case for being next in line.

The SEC sent 20 teams to the Sweet 16, five to the Final Four and won two championships (Kentucky in 1996 and '98). The Big Ten sent 20 teams to the Sweet 16, nine to the Final Four but only produced one champion (Michigan State in 2000). The Big 12 sent 21 teams to the Sweet 16 and five to the Final Four. But the Big 12 has not produced a national champion since Kansas in 1988. The Pac-10 is the weakest of the six major conferences. The Pac-10 sent 19 teams to the Sweet 16 the past 10 years, three to the Final Four and produced one champion (Arizona in '97).

"Those numbers are clear evidence and they're nice to look at," Kellogg said. "But I'm more of a qualitative guy. I try to divide leagues into tiers. I look at a league's top teams and ask myself how would teams fare against other league's top teams. And I do the same with the middle and bottom teams."

The general consensus among experts polled is that the Big East has about five elite and five second-tier teams but also about six below-average teams. The top teams in the league this season are Villanova, Louisville, Connecticut, West Virginia and Syracuse. The second-tier teams, the ones that could challenge for a berth in the NCAA tournament, are Pitt, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Cincinnati and Marquette. The bottom teams figure to be DePaul, Providence, Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall and South Florida.

"I think if you take the top 10 teams in the Big East and match them up with 10 teams from any other league in the country, there's no question that year in and year out the Big East would be among the best in the country," Packer said. "You could certainly make an argument that it is the best conference in the country right now. But then if you take the bottom six teams and match them up with the bottom six teams from other conferences, then it wouldn't be. It all depends on how you look at things."

The Big East is certainly getting a lot of respect in the preseason polls. The league has five teams -- the most of any conference -- ranked in the USA Today coaches' preseason poll. Three are among the top eight. Connecticut is No. 2, Villanova No. 4 and Louisville No. 8.

Duke is the preseason No. 1, but no other ACC team is in the top 10. The ACC and Big Ten each has four teams in the top 25.

ESPN college basketball analyst Len Elmore gives a slight edge to the ACC going into the season but believes the Big East could be the best conference by the end of the year.

"The Big East can certainly rival the ACC," Elmore said. "Whether they become the strongest remains to be seen.

"Based upon my criteria, the ACC edged out the Big East the past couple of years. In certain years I think the Big 12 could lay claim to being the best. But in the final say, with the addition of Louisville and Cincinnati and Marquette and DePaul, there's an argument to be made now for the Big East."

This debate is raging again because the ACC raided the Big East of Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech a few years back.

That was done so that the ACC could become a stronger football conference. But in the process of bolstering the football league, the shuffle might have weakened the storied basketball league. Boston College is expected to be a good team this season, but the Eagles never had sustained success as a member of the Big East. Miami and Virginia Tech had been cellar dwellers in their final years in the league.

The ACC also has to worry about defending champion North Carolina rebuilding after losing all of its stars to the NBA. The Tar Heels are not ranked in the preseason coaches' poll or The Associated Press poll.

"That's why it's so hard to debate this," Packer said. "The way college basketball has changed with players leaving early for the NBA, conferences change from year to year. If Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor had stayed [after Connecticut won the national championship in 2004] that would have changed college basketball history. Where would North Carolina and the ACC be if their players hadn't gone to the NBA early? I don't think any conference out there should say we're the best after any year because it changes so much from year to year."

The Big East has concerns heading into the season as well. The Big East might lack a dominant team. Villanova had been considered a strong national contender, but two weeks ago, the Wildcats lost star forward Curtis Sumpter for the season with a knee injury. Connecticut has potential, too, but the Huskies enter the season with questions at guard. A.J. Price was suspended for the season and starting point guard Marcus Williams for the first semester for their part in a computer theft scam on campus. Louisville went to the Final Four last season, but coach Rick Pitino is going to be forced to use a lot of freshmen to fill some holes on his roster.

"I have five really good freshmen, but none of them know anything about defense," Pitino said.

The other two Big East teams that begin the season ranked in the coaches' poll are No. 15 West Virginia and No. 16 Syracuse. There is a perceived drop-off after that. The only other team receiving votes in the poll is Georgetown. Pitt, an NCAA tournament team the past four seasons, and Marquette, another recent power, are thought to be rebuilding.

But the depth of the league is what commissioner Mike Tranghese believes will separate the Big East from all other leagues. "I never said we were the best. But we have the greatest depth."

The season is less than a week away. But don't look for answers on this question for another five months. The definitive conclusion on conference supremacy, for this season at least, will have to wait until April, after the NCAA championship.

-- Clark Kellogg,

CBS analyst

"It's a little early to claim the Big East as the best. But it's right up there along with the ACC and the Big Ten." -- Clark Kellogg, CBS analyst "I think if you take the top 10 teams in the Big East and match them up with 10 teams from any other league in the country, there's no question that year in and year out the Big East would be among the best in the country."

-- Billy Packer

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