As an exercise, this is how the top two NLAC tiers would appear if groups were based on schools’ overall scores in U.S. News, divided as if in a grading system and listed within tiers alphabetically (note that no school currently has a score of 90):
Overall Score 91 to 100, Ranked 1 through 9 of 223 Schools
Amherst
Bowdoin
Carleton
Claremont McKenna
Hamilton
Middlebury
Pomona
Swarthmore
U.S. Naval Academy
Washington and Lee
Wellesley
Williams
Overall Score 80 to 89, Ranked 13 through 33 of 223 Schools
Barnard
Bates
Berea
Bryn Mawr
Colby
Colgate
Colorado College
Davidson
Grinnell
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Kenyon
Macalester
Scripps
Smith
Soka
U Richmond
U.S. Air Force Academy
U.S. Military Academy
Vassar
Wesleyan
As a system, this would remove information without any apparent benefit, in my opinion.