INDIANAPOLIS — It is the most storied program in the history of college basketball, its blue hue died deep into the fabric of the sport. UCLA has won 11 NCAA men’s basketball titles, most of any college by a distance. Some of the most fabled names in the history of the sport have graced the floor at Pauley Pavilion: Alcindor, Walton and Wicks.
Throughout UCLA’s frenetic, charmed and adrenaline-fueled run during this NCAA tournament, it’s been difficult to adjust your eyes and see the No. 11 Bruins through the prism of a double-digit seed. They’d needed overtime in the First Four just to get in the conventional bracket.