Reviving this thread as I noticed something about the way the blue bloods can be separated out by NCAA tournament bids:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_D...bids_by_school
The top 7 schools by NCAA bids are:
1.
Kentucky (56)
2.
North Carolina (48)
T-3.
Kansas (46)
T-3.
UCLA (46)
5.
Louisville (42)
6.
Duke (41)
7.
Indiana (39)
Next closest are Villanova and Notre Dame with 36.
All of the top 7 programs listed above have at least 3 national championships and 8 Final Four appearances.
UConn is the only program not in the top 7 with 3 or more championships (4), but they are far behind in Final Four appearances (5) and NCAA tournament bids (32).
Michigan State has 9 Final Four appearances, but only 2 national championships and 31 NCAA tournament bids.
Ohio State has 10 Final Four appearances, but only 1 national championship and 27 NCAA tournament bids.
Villanova, Cincinnati, Florida, North Carolina State, Syracuse, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgetown, Wisconsin, UNLV, Houston, etc... all programs with great history, but they meet none of the 3 criteria above (top 7 in NCAA bids, 3 championships, 8 Final Four appearances).
You could maybe disqualify
Louisville on lack of All-Americans -- the other blue bloods are all double digits vs. 6 for
Louisville -- but they've been to the Final Four in 5 decades with 3 different coaches. That trumps the lack of big-name players for me.
So I'm going to go with those 7 as my blue bloods.