You’ll almost certainly hear it Friday evening on the CBS broadcast when UCLA and North Carolina square off in the NCAA East Regional semifinal in Philadelphia: “Bluebloods vs. bluebloods.”

It oversimplifies things, perhaps, when it comes to the 2022 men’s basketball versions of the Bruins and Tar Heels. “The No. 4 and No. 8 seeds? Would John Wooden or Dean Smith have been satisfied with this?”

That’s part of the issue. A fan of a certain age, be it in SoCal or on Tobacco Road, remembers when those banners in Pauley Pavilion and the Dean Dome were first hung and wonders where the good old days went. A recruit of a certain age sees them on his campus tour, is maybe impressed for a moment, and then his thoughts turn to the questions that matter most: How much will he play, what kind of NIL deal can he get, and how soon can he get to The League?

When the Bruins and Tar Heels meet – a matchup, as Mick Cronin reminds us, that was supposed to take place in Las Vegas in December before COVID-19 got in the way – the fans can alternately talk trash and rhapsodize about legacies that include a combined 17 NCAA titles (11 for UCLA), 17 Hall of Famers (nine for Carolina plus Larry Brown, who played for the Tar Heels and coached the Bruins) and eight members of the NBA’s all-time Top 75 (four apiece).

But the bottom line is that each has as good a chance as anyone right now, in what has become a wide-open tournament.

The No. 1 seed in the East is gone, defending champ Baylor eliminated by Carolina (though not before making up a 25-point second-half deficit in their second-round game Saturday). No. 2 seed Kentucky was a speed bump under the wheels of the Saint Peter’s Express. No. 3 Purdue gets the No. 15 Peacocks next, right before the Bruins and Tar Heels.

Beyond that? Gonzaga, the overall No. 1 seed, was severely tested by Memphis in the second round. Arizona, the South’s No. 1 seed, had to go to overtime to beat TCU even with the bulk of the crowd behind the Wildcats in San Diego. Kansas, No. 1 in the Midwest, struggled to subdue Creighton.

Unpredictable? Nine Big Ten teams made the field and two – Purdue and Michigan – made it to the Sweet 16, same as the Pac-12, which had three in the original 68. Six were selected from the SEC and only Arkansas is left, which means the SEC has as many survivors as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, home of Saint Peter’s. The Big 12 has three left out of five: Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech.

The point: The idea of blueblood programs gives older alumni something to talk about, but maybe we need to look at the concept differently. In today’s college hoops, you’d have to say Villanova is a blueblood, with two national championships in the past six years and led by Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright. What Mark Few has built in Spokane makes Gonzaga as blueblood as anyone, even if the Zags still await that first banner. West Coast Conference rival Saint Mary’s may not quite be of that echelon, but what Randy Bennett has done over two decades in Moraga has demonstrated as much staying power as any of the big names.

So while the Carolinas, Dukes, Kentuckys and UCLAs have the reputations, plenty of other programs can hang with them. And if anyone still wants to argue that this is somehow inferior to the closed shop that is the College Football Playoff … well, just watch the games this week, OK?

The history is a powerful hook for the casual observer. In reality, though, the only way history decides a game is if that’s the subject your star player flunks.

“It’s fun on the outside to think about that,” Bruins guard Jules Bernard told the local media Tuesday before his team left for LAX and a flight to Philly. “But just as players, we’re just looking at it as we’re a great team, they’re a great team and there’s other great teams. That standard of basketball is what fans want to see and what we want to play. That type of environment is what we want to play in.

“Obviously, you know, with all the blueblood talk, that’s fun and all. But we’re just looking forward to playing a great team and having a great game.”

Some perspective: When North Carolina last won a national title, beating Gonzaga in the championship game in 2017, current Tar Heels Grady Manek and Ryan McAdoo were finishing their senior years in high school, and the freshmen on the current roster were still in high school. (McAdoo, by the way, is the son of NBA legend Bob McAdoo. You feel old yet?)

Related Articles

And when UCLA won its last title in 1995, no player on the current roster would be born for another four or five years. The star of that team, Ed O’Bannon, has since become the patron saint of college athletes not for being the Most Outstanding Player of that tournament but for his role in putting a little more money in current players’ pockets.

All that said, you can expect CBS to hit the blueblood angle hard (and without even having to mention the similarly named show on their normal Friday primetime schedule). Consider: One of the prop bets listed by sportsbetting.ag involves whose photo or video clip will be shown first on the broadcast, Wooden or Smith.

Wooden is favored, and that shouldn’t be surprising. His teams did hang more banners, after all.

[email protected]

@Jim_Alexander on Twitter