After winning one title since John Wooden, how much blue is left in UCLA’s blood?

Grainy game footage and yellowed newspaper clippings confer UCLA’s standing as college basketball royalty, the team’s status as a blue blood rooted in the success of a coach who retired nearly 50 years ago. “That’s something,” Johnson said, “that will never ever be duplicated by any school in history for a number of reasons, as we know — NIL and one-and-dones and all that.” Even though Duke has won all of its titles since 1991, Johnson said the Blue Devils qualify as a blue blood based on their having been a top team long before that, having reached eight Final Fours before their breakthrough. “I can’t define it,” Bilas said, “but I know it when I see it.” A blue blood, as far as Bilas is concerned, combines sustained high-level success with a tradition of championships. “Oddly enough,” Bilas said, “Izzo would say no and I used to argue with him and say, ‘No, you’re a blue blood’ and he’d be like, ‘Nah, I’m not sure we’ve achieved that.’” UCLA remains firmly entrenched as a blue blood despite its recent lack of titles, Bilas said, because of its three consecutive Final Fours under coach Ben Howland from 2006-08 and another appearance under coach Mick Cronin in 2021. “To me,” Bilas said, “blue blood is more of a feeling than a recognized moniker that we hand out like, ‘OK, here are our blue bloods’ and ‘Hey, you’re almost a blue blood, another few years and you’ll get in.’ There’s no arbiter for that, but it’s an interesting barroom question.” Cronin said he considered a blue blood to be defined by the public’s perception of who’s supposed to be good, listing the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Dodgers based on their success when most adults were growing up.