Conference Parity: Does a lack of an Elite team with 4 or 5 contenders for a title help or hurt a conference?

[DefenseBB]

In watching the PAC12 last night, I crystalized my view that Stanford, Oregon and OSU are clearly the best of that conference and deserving of top 8 ranking (or higher). It also got me thinking about where to rank UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State against the ACC and Big Ten. The SEC is South Carolina's to lose and they have distanced themselves from Texas A&M and Kentucky.
So that begs the question what to do about the ACC and Big Ten?
The ACC is up for grabs this year as ND is dreadful (yippee) and Louisville, despite a big win against Oregon does not look dominant. FSU while good, is not great as a loss to VPI (damn you @triaddukefan for planting that in my head) dampened their run to a title. NC State has had too many squeakers against middling teams to be elite. Add in Miami, Syracuse, VPI, NC and that leaves us with parity.
The Big10 was supposed to have Maryland as it's national elite team but something happened to that coronation as they were dismantled at home against SC and have 2 other losses. Indiana has taken a nice step forward but they are not elite. Add in Northwestern, Michigan, tOSU, Michigan State, Purdue, Minnesota and even Rutgers into the mix and another toss-up for a title exists.

 

[eebmg]

The poll question only has 2 extremes so is hard to answer but I think it is a pretty common opinion on the boneyard that true parity is the same as a poorer overall level of play with no real mechanism or motivation to improve.

You need a hierarchy of teams and talent just like in most healthy natural systems governed by some form of bell (gaussian) distribution which may lead to some rough percentages in how team skill is distributed

10% A
20% B
40% C
20% D
10% F

You need the penthouse teams so that others can strive to that level etc.

 

[Plebe]

I agree with our friend @eebmg . Neither extreme is healthy or interesting IMO. A scenario of perfect parity where, let's say, every team finishes with a .500 record would be very unsatisfying. But so would a scenario of extreme polarization between the haves and have-nots, or a rigid hierarchy where outcomes are highly predictable. The ACC in previous years has been very much like this, with very few upsets and a rigid hierarchy of teams.

The exception, of course, is UConn, in which case I want regular 60-point woodshed beatings and tweets from publicity hounds about how we're ruining WBB

 

[DefenseBB]

As my wife so often tells me, I am black/white type of guy! So 2 choices is all this poll offers and as we are UConn fans, isn’t option 2 the only option?

 

[Plebe]

As my wife so often tells me, I am black/white type of guy! So 2 choices is all this poll offers and as we are UConn fans, isn’t option 2 the only option?

Then it would depend on *which* conference we're talking about:
Whichever conference UConn is in: complete dominance.
All other conferences: parity