{"id":727459,"date":"2026-05-06T20:21:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727459\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T20:21:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:21:23","slug":"insider-says-college-basketball-only-has-two-true-blue-bloods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/727459\/","title":{"rendered":"Insider says college basketball only has two true blue bloods"},"content":{"rendered":"

The college basketball landscape is dominated by name, image and likeness licensing money and the transfer portal<\/a>. As a result, traditional powers get richer, while the rest scramble to field competitive rosters.<\/p>\n

Before the NIL\/transfer portal era, there were the traditional blue bloods. North Carolina<\/a> consistently competed for national championships as did Kansas and Kentucky<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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UNC is a shadow of the program it once was, as are the Jayhawks and Wildcats. In a recent episode of his “Inside College Basketball Now” podcast, Jon Rothstein said the blue blood brand is dying.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two programs in college basketball that are still operating as traditional Blue Bloods,” Rothstein said. “It\u2019s UConn and Duke. It\u2019s Duke and UConn. And that is re-iterated when you really dissect the rosters of the other Blue Blood programs in college basketball. So I want to take a close look right now at three of them: Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina. As of today in the Rothstein 45, which I update every single day based on if there\u2019s any roster changes in college basketball. Kentucky\u2019s ranked 40th, Kansas is ranked 30th and North Carolina is ranked 26th. Of those three rosters right now, Carolina has the best roster.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tar Heels’ made the national championship game in 2022. Their previous trip past the Sweet 16 was in 2017 when they won it all.<\/p>\n

Kentucky has no Elite Eight appearances since 2019. Kansas last won a national championship in 2022.<\/p>\n

UConn won two of the past four national championships and finished as the national runner-up to Michigan<\/a> this year. Duke<\/a> has at least an Elite Eight appearance in each of its past three seasons.<\/p>\n

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Michael Malone has a tall task<\/a> in his first year as North Carolina’s coach: Lead a storied program back to college basketball glory. With Terrence Brown and Jarin Stevenson<\/a> leading the charge, there’s plenty of reason to believe UNC will be back.<\/p>\n

Follow us\u00a0@TarHeelsWire<\/a>\u00a0on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC not traditional blue blood according to CBB Insider Jon Rothstein<\/a><\/p>\n