Summer Discussion: The Best Conference In College Basketball Will Be ... ?

In the barren summer landscape of college hoops news, the release of ESPN's Big 12 Monday schedule rates as a highlight. College Hoops Nation has the particulars of the schedule, which features Kansas State and Kansas four times. (Only two games for Mizzou and Baylor, which is mildly disappointing.) But as a whole, it got me thinking about how loaded that league looks next season. Are they the best in the nation? If not who is? When you survey the landscape of college hoops, it would seem the race for the best conference will come down to the Big Ten and the Big 12. (The ACC, while obviously top-heavy thanks to Duke, doesn't present a lot else beyond the Blue Devils, North Carolina and Virginia Tech in the way of top 25 teams. The Big East has greater depth, but fewer Final Four caliber teams at this point.) To render a verdict, we'll go through four categories: Final Four contenders, overall depth, star players and coaches. FINAL FOUR CONTENDERS: Winner - Big Ten....