New bloods Gonzaga, Villanova still thriving amid pandemic

College basketball's bluebloods earned elite status through multiple championships, sustained traditions of winning and revolving doors of star players through their programs.

A new group of teams has inched closer to basketball royalty and has remained relatively steady even as the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the sport.

Top-ranked Gonzaga, No. 5 Villanova and a handful of other programs may not have the historical resumes to compare to the bluebloods, but consistent success over the past decade — in some cases, more — puts them in a new category of dominating teams.

"What's happened is, you have emerging new bloods," ESPN college basketball analyst and former coach Seth Greenberg said. "It's kind of semantics, kind of word play, but what they are is model programs for winning in the culture of college basketball today."

Any list of college basketball bluebloods starts with Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and Kansas. UCLA, the all-time leader with 11 national championships, and Indiana usually get the nod, too, though deep

March runs have evaded them in recent years.

Michigan State has pushed toward blueblood status under coach Tom Izzo, winning a national championship in 2000 and reaching the Final Four eight times.

The new bloods have the recent consistency, just not over the long haul like the bluebloods.

Virginia won the 2019 national championship, has reached the NCAA Tournament seven of the past eight seasons and has six combined ACC regular-season and tournament titles since 2014.

Baylor is undefeated this season and has reached the Sweet 16 four times under coach Scott Drew.

UConn won two national titles in a decade but has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2016. Louisville appears to be on the rise after a couple of down years.

Villanova and Gonzaga have been the new blood flag bearers.

The Wildcats have won three national championships, including two in a three-year span under coach Jay Wright. Villanova reached the NCAA Tournament in 14 of the past 15 years — excluding the pandemic-halted 2020 season — and in 2019 became the first team to win three consecutive Big East titles.