Which Conference Is Best Represented in This Year's NCAA Tournament?

ACC

Sometimes it's quality over quantity, as the conference leading our rankings isn't one of the two conferences that gets to boast seven teams in the tournament this year.

The ACC doesn't come with the highest cumulative nERD (92.36), but they do boast the highest average nERD (15.39), thanks especially to Duke and Virginia, who are top six teams in the country, per our metrics.

The ACC saw seven of their teams finish in the top 40 of our power rankings this year, and Duke and Virginia were virtual locks throughout the season for the tourney -- we were just waiting for who would be seeded where. Virginia looked to control the conference after finishing first in the regular season but they, and Duke, lost in the semifinals of their conference tournament, allowing Duke to sneak in for a 1 seed.

The rest of the conference weren't slouches either, as Notre Dame secured a 3 seed, and two other teams secured a 4 seed. North Carolina State is their "worst" team with a 10.48 nERD, which is still better than the average nERD of the whole tournament (9.66). And they still secured an 8 seed in the East bracket.

And to make the conference look even better, the ACC boasts two of the top-five offenses in the tourney (Duke and Notre Dame) as well as two of the top-five defenses (Virginia and Louisville).