It's been quite some time since we last checked in on the great time waster of the 2011 offseason -- the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft. With the 2011-12 college basketball season coming to an end, I thought it would be fun to evaluate how the six conferences performed on the hardwood this season.

Of course, we all know that college basketball is not the driving force behind conference realignment, so programs considered college basketball royalty probably weren't at the top of the six conference commissioners' draft boards. Consider that the eventual National Champs -- Kentucky -- were selected in the sixth round (32nd overall) by the House of a Thousand Sanctions. And with House of a Thousand Sanctions first pick, they selected 6-26 USC. So it goes.

Here's how the six conferences measured up in terms of overall W-L in 2011-12:

6. The Empire, 211-186 (.531)

Best Team: California 24-10 (6th round, 34th overall)
Worst Team: Arizona State 10-21 (8th round, 46th overall)

With Alabama, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas A&M drafted 1-4, The Empire was clearly not built to be a college basketball powerhouse. As a conference overall, they finished with the worst record of the six (211-186). The top three teams by wins were Cal (24 wins), Arizona (23) and Alabama (21) so, yeah.

5. The Cult Of Les Miles, 255-176 (.561)

Best Team: North Carolina 32-6 (3rd round, 18th overall)
Worst Team: South Carolina 10-21 (8th round, 43rd overall)

The Cult made the most of its third round pick taking North Carolina, but solid basketball performances in 2011-12 were hard to come by. For every North Carolina (32 wins), Michigan (24) and Stanford (26) there was a Florida Atlantic (11 wins), Georgia Tech (11) and South Carolina (10 wins).

4. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, 228-177 (.563)

Best Team: Kansas 32-7 (6th round, 35th overall)
Worst Team: Texas Tech 8-23 (11th round, 62nd overall)

The Sisterhood edged out The Cult by two one thousands of a point in overall winning percentage to take fourth. Kansas was a steal in the sixth round, winning the Big 12 for the fifteenth straight season (or something like that) and posting a 32-7 overall record. Texas Tech? Not so much. The Sisterhood used their 11th round pick on the Red Raiders and were rewarded with just eight total wins.

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Everyone has gotten so caught up in actual conference realignment that we've seemingly lost track of the great time waster of this past offseason, the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft. Yesterday, the House of Sparky revisited the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft, taking a look at overall win-loss records and the current BCS standings.  

Let's dig a bit deeper and look at total offense, total defense and what is really driving conference realignment ... the almighty dollar (home game attendance).

Total Offense

The Cult of Les Miles is averaging 33.5 points per game, best in the nation. This average has been bolstered by Oklahoma State and Stanford, both who are averaging nearly 50 points a game so far this season. Had The Cult not drafted Florida Atlantic late in the 11th round (the Owls are averaging a blistering 11.7 points per game), the conference would be even further out in front. 

At the other end of the standings is the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which is averaging just 28.0 points per game. Both TCU (42.9) and Texas Tech (38.9) have put up some serious points this season, but the Sisterhood's per-program average is significantly weighed down by the offensive output of Indiana (23.2), Penn State (21.8) and Colorado (18.8).

Let's next take a look at the other side of the ball.

Total Defense

Conference TMZ is the draft's best defensive conference thus far. On average, the conference is giving up just 4.83 yards per play and 330.1 yards a game. Certainly helps when you have seven defenses ranked in the top 25 in total defense -- Michigan State (2), Florida State (8), Louisville (12), Boise State (16), Ohio State (17), Utah (21) and West Virginia (25). 

Much like the conference's offensive output, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants has statistically the worst defenses of the draft. Traveling Pants Ds are giving up over 380 yards a game, and the conference claims four defenses that rank 100+ in total defense -- Colorado (100), Texas Tech (102), Indiana (112) and Kansas (120, DFL).

It's worth noting that The Cult of Les Miles has the best offenses of the draft and the second best defenses. As HoS pointed out, clearly Red Cup Rebellion knew what they were doing, assembling the SEC of the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft ... at least in the short term.

Finally, let's take a look at average per-game home attendance figures so far this season.

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The SB Nation Georgia Bulldogs blog -- and proud member of the Twelve Pack -- Dawg Sports recently previewed this weekend's slate of games, including the big BC vs. NU game on Saturday. Here's what T Kyle King had to say about Eagles vs. 'Cats:

"This game matters because it will set the tone early for the division race in the 12 Pack North. Wait, whoa, that was make-believe, wasn't it? Sorry; for a minute there, I lost track of which league realignments we invented, and which ones were really happening. Las Vegas has listed the Eagles as three-point favorites at Chestnut Hill, which is pretty close to calling it a toss-up. I'm going with Northwestern to pull out the victory in a close contest."

Now while I don't care much for Kyle's prediction, Dawg Sports does remind me that there will be actual Twelve Pack college football league games this season (is it bad that I kinda like the Twelve Pack more than the ACC?).

Here is your fall Twelve Pack lineup:

Sept. 3: Boston College vs. Northwestern
Sept. 17: Boston College vs. Duke
Sept. 17: UCLA vs. Texas
Oct. 8: Clemson vs. Boston College
Oct. 8: Purdue vs. Minnesota
Nov. 5: Wisconsin vs. Purdue
Nov. 12: Virginia vs. Duke
Nov. 12: Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Nov. 19: Northwestern vs. Minnesota

Georgia and Washington are the only two Twelve Pack members that won't face another Twelve Pack program this season. I suppose there's always bowl season. By virtue of having eight teams in either the ACC or the Big Ten, there are seven ACC / Big Ten conference games that are de facto Twelve Pack games.

Quick Twelve Pack predictions: Wisconsin and BC are the only teams to win multiple Twelve Pack games, but the Eagles fall to Clemson to finish 2-1. Wisconsin, Texas, Clemson and Virginia all finish undefeated in Twelve Pack games. Russell Wilson goes beast mode on whichever hapless opponent* the Badgers play in the inaugural Twelve Pack Championship Game (Texas? Georgia? Clemson?).

* Divisions and Championship Game location yet to be finalized.

The only nice things I'll say about the Twelve Pack's SB Nation Conference Re-Draft twelfth round pick all week...

School: Northwestern University
Nickname: Wildcats
Colors: Purple and white
Mascot: Willie the Wildcat
Location: Evanston, Il.
Enrollment: 10,759
Varsity Sports: 19
Football Stadium: Ryan Field (cap. 47,130)
Basketball Arena: Welsh-Ryan Arena (cap.8,117)

SBN Blog: Sippin' On Purple

On to the vitals:

TV Revenue Potential. Let's be clear. We have no preconceived notions that Northwestern by itself opens up the Chicago TV market. But combined with Wisconsin, Minnesota and Purdue, Chicago becomes a significant market for the Twelve Pack. That's a lot of alums among those four schools alumni bases, and football games in nearby Evanston will make the conference very relevant in the third largest TV market in the nation. 

Academics. According to U.S. News and World Report, Northwestern was ranked 12th in the country this year (and 11th overall by Forbes), making the 'Cats the highest ranked academic school left on the board.

Co-eds. Nope. Not really. Northwestern is affectionately referred to as Nerdwestern for a reason.

Weather/Desirability of Destination. The weather sucks, but Chicago is one of the coolest cities in the country. We'll party in Chicago during the week and then hit up the Purple line to Evanston on game day.

Historic Success. This is probably the reason why NU fell to the Twelve Pack with the last pick of the 12th round. Northwestern football ranks 110th among all Division I-A teams with an overall winning percentage of just .438 (483 up, 625 down, 44 ties). Only Kansas State (12th round, 69th overall), Indiana (10th round, 59th overall) and Wake Forest (undrafted) from BCS AQ conferences have a worse winning percentage all-time. In basketball, NU is infamous for being the only major conference program never to make the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Despite all the historical futility on the gridiron and the hardwood, this was very much a forward-looking pick.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald seems to have the 'Cats on the upswing and he's locked into a long-term deal to stay at his alma mater. 

Finally, to get readers a bit more familiar with the pick, we caught up with Rodger Sherman of the NU blog Sippin' On Purple.

Commissioner: Tell us more about your football and basketball program, in 300 words or less (grad school essay style).

Sippin' On Purple: Lots of bad things happened for long periods of time. As you may know, NU is the losingest FBS football team and the only power conference school never to make the NCAA Tournament in basketball. But the football team has been relevant - three Big Ten Championships since 1995, bowl appearances each of the last three years - and under Pat Fitzgerald, isn't showing signs of slowing. A losing season would be kind of disappointing for NU at this point. And while the basketball team has had trouble breaking through, its inching closer and closer every season, with NIT appearances in each of the last three years after only having been to the consolation tourney three times in the history of the school. We have nothing to be proud of, but we've been an above-average athletic program for the past few years and that doesn't look like it's going to change.

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Doubling back to profile each of our picks in the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft ...

School: University of Washington
Nickname: Huskies
Colors: Purple and gold
Mascot: Harry the Husky (stuffed), Dubs (live), who has his very own blog
Location: Seattle, Wa.
Enrollment: 42,907
Varsity Sports: 19
Football Stadium: Husky Stadium (cap. 72,500)
Basketball Arena: Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, or simply "Hec Ed" (cap. 10,000)

SBN Blog: UW Dawg Pound

On to the vitals:

TV Revenue Potential. It's somewhat difficult to explain the value of Washington to someone that lives outside of the PNW, but UDub puts the Pacific Northwest on lock in a way that Oregon never will. Seattle is the 14th largest TV market in the country and the Huskies own Seattle when it comes to college sports. And even though the Huskies play in a pro market, the school has thrived in the area. Here's Maisel on the unique relationship that the school and its sports programs have with the region:

"Even among that small cohort of older, public schools that includes a Minnesota or a Georgia Tech, the campus in the Montlake area near downtown Seattle stands apart.

The insular nature of the Pacific Northwest has proved to be one of the Huskies' greatest assets. According to Washington senior associate athletic director O.D. Vincent, nearly 70 percent of the university's 300,000 alumni live within a 100-mile radius of the campus.

"You know what the guy who has my job at Northwestern told me?" asked Vincent, who is in charge of marketing. "I met him at the [Big City Marketing] Summit. He told me of the 12 Big Ten schools, Northwestern has the 10th-largest alumni base in Chicago. In their own town, they are 10th in their conference. That's amazing. It is unique here."

Not exactly sure what it means that the Twelve Pack is home to both Washington and Northwestern, but take that as you will.

Academics. According to U.S. News and World Report, Washington is ranked 41st nationally and ranks as one of the top public schools in the country, continuing the Twelve Pack's reign on quality academics.

Co-eds. Oh, hi!

Weather/Desirability of Destination. I'm told you're pretty much guaranteed to get rainy and cold unless you come during the months of July and August (even then, it's still likely you'll end up with rainy and cold). Still, there are few cities in the country cooler than Seattle. 

Historic Success. Despite its very recent football futility, Washington has the 20th best winning percentage in Division I-A college football history and the 22nd most all-time wins. It's one of the top 2-3 most accomplished football programs on the Left coast. Nevermind that 0-12 rough patch a few years ago. Nothing to see here.

Finally, to get readers a bit more familiar with the pick, we chatted with jazzaholic17, a UW student who has taken a keen interest in the Re-draft.

Commissioner: Tell us more about your football and basketball program, in 300 words or less (grad school essay style).

jazzaholic17: Barbara Hedges and Todd Turner SUCKS (that would be our two previous athletic directors).

Football: Don't let recent history fool you; we're a football school. Second most winning program on the West Coast (to $uC). Our awfulness culminated in an 0-12 season in '08 (although we still sold 41,000 non-student season tickets). Steve Sarkesian (aka Coach Sark) is currently beginning his third season our as head coach. We went 7-6 last year and our QB (Jake Locker) was drafted 8th overall. This year, RB Chris Polk looking is for his 3rd consecutive 1000 yard season. By 2013, we're expecting to be back to our early ‘90s dominance. P.S. We looove Matt Hasselbeck; he's an honorary Husky because he played in Seattle for ten years and now is mentoring Jake.

M Basketball: Washington isn't a basketball school and never will be, however... In 2002, Washington alum Lorenzo Romar was hired as (our 4th choice) coach. He stands as the only good decision Barbara Hedges ever made. Romar is known as a players coach, fatherly figure, and the coach opposing players would most like to play for. We've consistently made the NCAA tournament, and won the Pac-10 multiple times during his tenure. Our student section (The DawgPack) is pretty darn good; they get opposing players phone numbers, hold up classy but creative signs, and their chants are all either PG or go way above an 8-year-old's head. We'll give the Cameron Crazies a run for their money.

W Basketball: In 2008 we fired June Daugherty (even though she made the NCAA tourney) because our athletic director was not intelligent. Tia Jackson came in and was terrible and all we did was lose. Now we just hired Kevin McGuff, so hopefully we'll get back to our usually above average but not fantastic ways.

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We've now completed twelve rounds of the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft. Here are your round 12 results.

Round 12

-- Red Cup Rebellion: Central Florida
-- House of a Thousand Sanctions: Georgetown
-- Big East Coast Bias: Kansas State
-- The Empire: Fresno State
-- Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Villanova
-- Twelve Pack: Northwestern

The Twelve Pack was thrilled to nab Northwestern with the 72nd pick in the draft. Northwestern gives us another school with strong academics in one of the largest TV markets in the country. Between Minnesota, Wisconsin, Purdue and now Northwestern, the Twelve Pack has the Chicago market on lock. The 'Cats also give the Twelve Pack a solid up-and-coming football program under coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Though the Wildcats are famous for being the only major conference basketball program to never make the NCAA men's basketball Tournament, we're working on it (though we aren't doing the 'Cats any favors by adding them to a conference that includes Duke, U.C.L.A., Texas, Purdue, Wisconsin and Washington).

Northwestern makes 12 for the Twelve Pack and at the risk of opening ourselves up for jokes about our conference name, we're stopping at 12 programs. The Twelve Pack finishes with four Big Ten programs, four ACC programs, two Pac-12 programs, Georgia from the SEC and Texas from the Big 12. 

SB Nation Conference Re-Draft results below:

Comissioners and Conference names: BCI: Twelve Pack;  BHGP: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; TSK: The Empire (working title); BECB: Conference TMZ; HoS: House of a Thousand Sanctions; RCR: The Cult Of Les Miles.

We'll have a 1-2 more posts for this project in the next week or so to wrap this up before the season begins. We'll have profiles of Washington and (hopefully) Northwestern as well as a post announcing the divisions, Championship Game location and the schedule.

In the meantime, head on over to Sippin' On Purple to welcome the newest member of the Twelve Pack.

What do you think of the Twelve Pack? How would you break up the conference into divisions? Where we hosting the Championship Game?

Eleven rounds of the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft are in the books. Here's a look at the six conferences through round 11.

Round 11

-- Twelve Pack: Purdue
-- Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: Texas Tech
-- The Empire: Hawaii
-- Big East Coast Bias: Mississippi State
-- House of a Thousand Sanctions: Air Force
-- Red Cup Rebellion: Florida Atlantic

There was really no rhyme or reason to the programs selected in round 11. We saw one program selected from each of these conferences: the Big Ten, Big 12, WAC, SEC, Mountain West and Sun Belt.

The most curious selection of the round was Florida Atlantic, where the Cult of Les Miles could not resist the charm of the second best mustache in college football. FAU is also home to the best goatee in the college basketball, courtesy of Mike Jarvis. Perhaps Red Cup Rebellion just has a thing for awesome facial hair? Either that, or they just wanted to host the annual conference spring meetings in Boca Raton. Par-tay! 

SB Nation Conference Re-Draft table format is go:

Comissioners and Conference names: BCI: Twelve Pack;  BHGP: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; TSK: The Empire (working title); BECB: Conference TMZ; HoS: House of a Thousand Sanctions; RCR: The Cult Of Les Miles.

With just one round of the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft left, here are the programs left on the board:

ACC (1) -- Wake Forest
Big 12 (3) -- Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State
Big East (1) -- Rutgers
Big Ten (1) -- Northwestern
Conference USA (12) -- East Carolina, Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss, UAB, Central Florida, Houston, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, UTEP
MAC (13) -- Akron, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Ohio, Temple, Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan
Mountain West (5) -- Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, UNLV, Wyoming
Independents (2) -- Army, Navy
Pac-12 (1) -- Washington State
Sun Belt (8) -- Arkansas State, Florida International, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Troy, Western Kentucky
WAC (7) -- Fresno State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State

Who ya got? Who completes the Twelve Pack? Draft strategy. Go.

Profiling each of our picks in the SB Nation Conference Re-Draft ...

School: Purdue University
Nickname: Boilermakers
Colors: Old Gold and Black 
Mascot: Boilermaker Special and Purdue Pete
Location: West Lafayette, In.
Enrollment: 39,697
Varsity Sports: 18
Football Stadium: Ross-Ade Stadium (cap. 62,500)
Basketball Arena: Mackey Arena (cap. 14,123)

SBN Blog: Hammer & Rails

On to the vitals:

TV Revenue Potential. Purdue gives the Twelve Pack a presence in a new state -- Indiana -- and strengthens our foothold in the Chicago area. In addition to the 20,000 Wisconsin alumni living in Chicagoland, Purdue adds another 21,000 alumni living in the greater Chicago area. Nearby Indianapolis is the 26th largest TV market in the country. 

With an enrollment of 39,697, Purdue is one of the largest universities in the country and recently ranked in the top 10 in undergrad enrollment just a few years ago. Captive audience.

Academics. According to U.S. News and World Report, Purdue is ranked 18th among U.S. public universities, and 56th among all U.S. universities (tied with fellow Twelve Pack conference member The University of Georgia).

Co-eds. Not too shabby.

Weather/Desirability of Destination. Eagles fans are fairly well versed in all there is to do in Northwest Indiana ... ... so we'll move the Twelve Pack game day parties to nearby Chicago or Indianapolis.

Historic Success. Purdue's 579 wins rank them just 42nd on the all-time Division I wins list. The football has been just OK, but it's on the hardwood that the Boilermakers have excelled. Purdue's men and women's basketball teams have won more Big Ten Championships than any other program in the Big Ten and despite those five dusty banners down the road in Bloomington, the Boilers have been the best hoops program in the state for quite some time (with apologies to Butler).

Finally, to get readers a bit more familiar with the pick, we asked BoilerTMill of Hammer & Rails six questions on the Purdue Boilermakers:

Commissioner: Tell us more about your football and basketball program, in 300 words or less (grad school essay style).

Hammer & Rails: Our football program is in a downturn right now. After going to 10 bowls in 12 years under Joe Tiller we haven't made a postseason game in the last three years. The biggest thing you need to know about our program is that only Alabama and us have three Super Bowl winning quarterbacks (Len Dawson, Bob Griese, and Drew Brees for us) and we're the only school with four quarterbacks that have at least 100 NFL starts (Dawson, Griese, Brees, and Jim Everett).

In basketball we have a massive in-state inferiority complex with IU. We own the all-time series with them, but all we hear about is their five titles when they haven't won in 25 years. It does not help that our last Final Four was in 1980 and we have had probably four national title teams derailed due to injuries. The most recent is, of course, Robbie Hummel, who went down with a torn ACL at the moment we looked poised to take the 2010 title.

We despise Indiana in basketball and despise Notre Dame in football. It is that hatred of notre Dame in football that will cause us to get along well.

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