Walking into Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus, all it takes is one look toward the rafters to understand that something special took place long ago.
There, in sequential order, hang 10 NCAA championship banners, their dates spread out over a dozen years, signifying a time when a dynasty was in the making, and the landscape of college basketball allowed for such spectacular runs.
Thirty years later, such a run likely won't happen.
As the college game has evolved, the domination that UCLA established in the John Wooden era has become unheard of. Parity reigns, and as quickly as a team rises to the top, it can find itself clawing its way up from the bottom.
"Even with the elite programs, there will be years where there is a down cycle," said former UCLA coach Steve Lavin, who now works as an analyst. "College basketball is cyclical in its nature. It's like the economy."
At the time it was a remarkable accomplishment: the 1991-92 Duke Blue Devils celebrating consecutive championships.
Fifteen years later it's more impressive.
Since then, no team has successfully defended its championship, and there have been nine different national champions in the past 10 years. Only Connecticut won two titles in that span, and those were five years apart.
"You have more parity, so it's much more difficult to make it to the Final Four ever year," said Jerry Norman, a former UCLA player and assistant coach. "The fans don't understand that structural change that has happened in the past 15 to 20 years.
"They look back at the past and say 'We were great. Why aren't we great now?"'
Bill Frieder, who coached at Michigan and Arizona State, said people generally don't understand how tough it is "to stay in the top five or 10 for 10 years."
With more players leaving school early for the NBA, coaches say, maintaining a program at a consistently high level has become a rare feat. A player that in past eras would carry a program for several years can be gone in one season.
"It all starts and ends with really good players," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "Building it, winning it and sustaining it is all about players."
Even Duke, perhaps the top program of the past 20 years, fell from the ranks of the elite this season. Despite its rich tradition, top-notch support and national exposure, the Blue Devils dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time in 11 years, ending a stretch of 200 straight weeks in the AP poll — second only to Wooden's Bruins.
"Some years there will be a drop off, and you have to expect that," said Jim Harrick, who coached UCLA to its most recent national championship, in 1995. "The years of John Wooden are over."
Howland admits he has a built-in recruiting advantage. All he has to do is walk outside to see it.
With the sun beaming down on the pristine campus, hundreds of high schools within driving distance and an illustrious history, the Bruins have an edge over most schools when it comes to vying for top players.
Top West Coast recruits can stay close to home while still playing for a marquee program. The Bruins can pitch the California lifestyle to out-of-state recruits, which some coaches call an almost unfair advantage.
"I always said if UCLA got the right guy, they will always be there," said Jerry Tarkanian, who led UNLV to the 1990 championship. "How the (heck) can you not win there? Look around. It's like playing a baseball game and starting every inning with a guy on third base."
It seems at the start of every season, the UCLA faithful start clamoring about how this could be the year the Bruins win the school's 12th national title.
UCLA consistently reached the Sweet 16 during the Lavin era from 1996 to 2003, but that wasn't enough for many fans, who have a sense of entitlement and lofty expectations.
"It's not going to be like when I was there, where you are expected to win the championship," said Lynn Shackelford, who played for three championship teams in the late '60s. "But it's not unreasonable to expect this team to be in the Final Four 25 percent of the time. I think that is what UCLA fans want."
Last season's Final Four was UCLA's first since '95, and making the title game was unexpected. This season fans have talked of how UCLA can win it all, thanks to a combination of experience and talent.
That pressure is felt keenly at UCLA. Those who have been there suggest that while it may not be fair, those expectations are part of the atmosphere of Westwood, no matter how unrealistic they can be.
Fans "haven't grasped the subtleties," said former UCLA All-American Jamaal Wilkes. "They don't want to understand it. They just want to make the Final Four every year."
Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service