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The Athletic College Basketball Tier List
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:14 pm
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:14 pm
SIAP but I just now saw this from a few weeks ago. Ranking the historical success of all major programs (each tier grouping appears to be alphabetical)
Tier 1 (#1 - #6)
Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UNC, UCLA, UConn
Tier 2A (#7 - #11)
Arizona, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan State, Villanova
Tier 2B (#12)
Gonzaga
Tier 3 (#13 - #27)
Arkansas, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Illinois, Maryland, Marquette, Memphis, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Purdue, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia
Tier 4 (#28 - #47)
Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Creighton, Dayton, Florida, Houston, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Providence, San Diego State, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Xavier, VCU, Wichita State
Tier 5 (#48 - #75)
Arizona State, Butler, BYU, Clemson, Colorado, Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Mississippi State, NC State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Pitt, Rutgers, Saint Mary's, Seton Hall, St. John's, Stanford, TCU, Texas A&M, UNLV, USC, Utah, Utah State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest Washington
Tier 6 (#76 - #90)
Boston College, Cal, Georgia, DePaul, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Penn State, South Carolina, Temple, UCF, Vanderbilt, Washington State
At first glance, it looks fairly accurate. I think in terms of the SEC, Florida, LSU, and Oklahoma look far too low.
Tier 1 (#1 - #6)
Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UNC, UCLA, UConn
Tier 2A (#7 - #11)
Arizona, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan State, Villanova
Tier 2B (#12)
Gonzaga
Tier 3 (#13 - #27)
Arkansas, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Illinois, Maryland, Marquette, Memphis, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Purdue, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia
Tier 4 (#28 - #47)
Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Creighton, Dayton, Florida, Houston, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Providence, San Diego State, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Xavier, VCU, Wichita State
Tier 5 (#48 - #75)
Arizona State, Butler, BYU, Clemson, Colorado, Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Mississippi State, NC State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Pitt, Rutgers, Saint Mary's, Seton Hall, St. John's, Stanford, TCU, Texas A&M, UNLV, USC, Utah, Utah State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest Washington
Tier 6 (#76 - #90)
Boston College, Cal, Georgia, DePaul, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ole Miss, Oregon State, Penn State, South Carolina, Temple, UCF, Vanderbilt, Washington State
At first glance, it looks fairly accurate. I think in terms of the SEC, Florida, LSU, and Oklahoma look far too low.
This post was edited on 2/22/24 at 12:16 pm
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:17 pm to AUTiger789
quote:
I think in terms of the SEC, Florida, LSU, and Oklahoma look far too low.
I know UF is kind of tricky to rank historically, but seems we should be no lower than that tier 3 group.
And how is Gonzaga possibly ranked that high? If all of UF's success is recent, how does that not work against them too? Not to mention they've been to whopping 2 Final Fours. UF has 2 national titles!
This post was edited on 2/22/24 at 12:22 pm
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:18 pm to AUTiger789
Don't see Zaga ranked ahead of the Hogs.
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:21 pm to AUTiger789
I don't know what metrics they're using. Florida has two national championships and is in Tier 4 below Arkansas and UT? LSU has been to four Final Fours and is behind Alabama, UT and Missouri? Seems to be some recency bias involved.
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:23 pm to AUTiger789
I’m confused what separates Bama and Tennessee
Tourney Appearances
UT: 25
Bama: 24
Sweet 16s
Bama: 10
UT: 9
Elite 8s
1 each (both programs are hilariously cursed in the Sweet 16)
Regular Season Championships
Bama: 12
UT: 11
Conference Tournament Championships
Bama: 9
UT: 5
Tourney Appearances
UT: 25
Bama: 24
Sweet 16s
Bama: 10
UT: 9
Elite 8s
1 each (both programs are hilariously cursed in the Sweet 16)
Regular Season Championships
Bama: 12
UT: 11
Conference Tournament Championships
Bama: 9
UT: 5
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:25 pm to AUTiger789
quote:
Auburn,
History only goes back 6 years?
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:26 pm to AUTiger789
Putting Oklahoma State in a tier below Auburn in a basketball historical success ranking is 

Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:27 pm to AUTiger789
Must be going a ways back historically for some of these teams. Or else maybe they’re just going off of all time wins
I wouldn’t place Texas and Tennessee ahead of Baylor, Florida or Houston just to name a few
I wouldn’t place Texas and Tennessee ahead of Baylor, Florida or Houston just to name a few
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:29 pm to Glorious
quote:
Elite 8s
1 each (both programs are hilariously cursed in the Sweet 16)
And yet that is enough to rank over a school with:
9 Elite 8s
5 Final 4s
1 national runner up
2 national championships
Makes no sense
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:31 pm to TideCPA
quote:
Putting Oklahoma State in a tier below Auburn in a basketball historical success ranking is
Or Bama ahead of LSU?
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:35 pm to AUTiger789
quote:Bama has more conference titles and wins. LSU has more tournament success. Depends on what you're looking at.
Or Bama ahead of LSU?
That's not nearly as egregious as having Auburn ranked ahead of a school with 2 national titles, 1 runner-up, 6 FFs, and 11 E8s (not to mention the disparity in conference titles).
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:39 pm to Glorious
quote:
I’m confused what separates Bama and Tennessee
Tourney Appearances
UT: 25
Bama: 24
Sweet 16s
Bama: 10
UT: 9
Elite 8s
1 each (both programs are hilariously cursed in the Sweet 16)
Regular Season Championships
Bama: 12
UT: 11
Conference Tournament Championships
Bama: 9
UT: 5
Bama also leads head to head 81-72. No objective reason to have Tennessee a tier better than Alabama.
ETA: Alabama and Tennessee are also almost dead even when looking at historical AP poll numbers.
The two programs are basically mirror images except Alabama has had more conference tournament success and a little more head to head success.
This post was edited on 2/22/24 at 12:45 pm
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:50 pm to bgator85
quote:
And how is Gonzaga possibly ranked that high? If all of UF's success is recent, how does that not work against them too? Not to mention they've been to whopping 2 Final Fours. UF has 2 national titles!
There are a ton of inconsistencies in that list. There are so many variables (even objective ones) in ranking programs historically probably no matter what criteria you use it will produce some outlier results, but this list seems to have some result that could not be produced if just using objective criteria. Probably some subjective decisions made.
Wonder if OP could post the source material to see if it provides their ranking criteria.
Posted on 2/22/24 at 12:59 pm to elposter
quote:
There are a ton of inconsistencies in that list. There are so many variables (even objective ones) in ranking programs historically probably no matter what criteria you use it will produce some outlier results, but this list seems to have some result that could not be produced if just using objective criteria. Probably some subjective decisions made.
The Gonzaga ranking is particularly strange as a Gator because their "coming out party" was during a run where one of the big games was buzzer beater win in the 1999 S16... against UF

The criteria would be interesting to see, something just seems very off. Too many outliers for this to make sense.
Posted on 2/22/24 at 1:05 pm to AUTiger789
Historically, Oklahoma is easily a top five program all time without a national title, and has five Final Four appearances with two title appearances. There is no way they are below some of those in Tier 3.
Posted on 2/22/24 at 1:14 pm to AUTiger789
Florida should be in tier 3. No way TN belongs in Tier 3. One elite 8 all time. The women had more people at games until Pearl got to TN
Posted on 2/22/24 at 1:16 pm to Golfer1
Florida is tier 3 this is stupid
Posted on 2/22/24 at 1:19 pm to Wallacewade04
the more I look at this the more I get annoyed
Posted on 2/22/24 at 1:29 pm to AUTiger789
National titles:
UT - 0
UF - 2
National title runner up:
UT - 0
UF - 1
Final Four:
UT - 0
UF - 5
Elite Eight:
UT - 1
UF - 9
Tier ranking:
UT - 3
UF - 4
List is shite.
UT - 0
UF - 2
National title runner up:
UT - 0
UF - 1
Final Four:
UT - 0
UF - 5
Elite Eight:
UT - 1
UF - 9
Tier ranking:

UT - 3
UF - 4
List is shite.
This post was edited on 2/22/24 at 1:31 pm
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