Kansas joins Baylor, Duke and Purdue atop Katz's Tiers
By Andy Katz
FOX Sports College Basketball Analyst
The postponements remain plentiful, but there was enough data in the past week to tweak the tiers.
There are no hard and fast rules here at Tier Central, so it's time to add a few teams to the top groups featuring Final Four contenders. Meanwhile, the absence of some key players makes it harder to slice off a few teams at the back end of our tiers.
Andy Katz's College Basketball Tiers | CBB on Fox
Tier 1: Final Four favorites
Baylor: The Bears are the No. 1 team in the country for a reason.
Duke: The Blue Devils are on pause but haven’t dipped.
Purdue: The Boilermakers are back to being a force.
Gonzaga: The Zags are suddenly cruising under the radar.
Kansas: The Jayhawks deserve to be in the conversation as title favorites.
Tier 2: On the cusp
UCLA: The pause could end up being a month by the time the Bruins get back on the court.
Kentucky: The Wildcats have completely flipped the script on their season and are on a mission.
Ohio State: The Buckeyes can’t be out of sight, out of mind. They are still legit.
Auburn: It's time to mention the Tigers as a dark horse.
Iowa State: There's a showdown looming with Baylor in the Big 12.
Tier 3: Can't ignore these teams
USC: The Trojans are on pause but are in the Pac-12 title chase.
Michigan State: It's hard to believe a Tom Izzo team needs more attention.
Providence: It' time to consider the Friars Big East title contenders.
Friars down Pirates in Big East thriller
Arizona: One loss. That’s it. One loss at Tennessee.
Villanova: The Wildcats will be in the chase by season’s end.
Tier 4: Sleepers
Illinois/Seton Hall/Alabama/Tennessee: Four for one. Is that a cop-out? Nope. The Illini have a dominant center in Kofi Cockburn. The Pirates aren’t healthy. And the Tide got a huge win over the Vols, who nearly stole a game in Tuscaloosa without their two best players.
Andy Katz is a longtime college basketball writer, analyst and host. He can be seen on FOX Sports and Big Ten Network platforms, as well as March Madness and NCAA.com, and he hosts the podcast "March Madness 365." Katz worked at ESPN for nearly two decades and, prior to that, in newspapers for nine years.
