It takes talent to win in college basketball. Everyone loves to point to the statistical oddities that pop up every year in the NCAA Tournament (Hi Loyola-Chicago), but the reality is that power conference teams have won 49 of the past 50 national titles, and the one exception (UNLV) had all the money and support of traditional blue bloods.
When I wrote for Run the Floor I wrote several articles showing how the number of blue chips on a roster was directly correlated to how many conference games they would win. Unfortunately someone took that site out back and shot it, so there’s nothing to link.