Is UConn now a college basketball blue blood after fifth national championship?

HOUSTON — As the UConn players exited the makeshift stage, national championship trophy properly awarded and commemorative T-shirts and hats perfectly adorned, a man stood at the bottom of the staircase, waiting to greet each and every one of them with a high five and a hug. Just 12 years ago, Kemba Walker stood on similar risers and enjoyed the view of a champion. Now Walker, wearing a Huskies baseball shirt, red kicks and Husky diamond pendant as big as a thumb, was happily welcoming the newest members to UConn’s title-winning fraternity.

It is becoming an incredibly crowded membership. Connecticut’s 76-59 win over San Diego State secured the Huskies’ fifth men’s national title since 1999, a run of success unmatched by any other team in the country. UConn’s five-title bounty is more than card-carrying aristocracy members North Carolina and Duke (three each), Kansas (two), Kentucky (one) and UCLA and Indiana (none) have in the same time period. All by themselves, the Huskies could qualify as a power conference, with more championships than the entire SEC and Big 12 (three apiece), Big Ten (one) and Pac-12 (zero).

All of which begs a very simple question: Should the exclusive blue blood basketball club welcome a new member? On the NRG Stadium court, tiptoeing and traipsing through the blue-and-white confetti, were a whole host of people happy to answer — starting with the one-time Final Four most outstanding player/millionaire ex-NBA player turned Husky Wal-Mart greeter. “No question. No question,’’ Walker told The Athletic. “No doubt about it. We’re top tier. I can’t really say no more about that. It is what it is. You can talk about Duke. You can talk about North Carolina, but you better be talking about UConn now, too.”

Added Ray Allen, who led the Huskies to three Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight in his time in Storrs: “We have entered the conversation. There is no question about it.’’

Chimed in Bobby Hurley, brother of Dan, but also a card-carrying blue-blooder as a former point guard at Duke: “I don’t know what the qualifications are, but I think so. What they did this year is overwhelming. Most teams during the tournament, they’re life and death. Not my brother’s team. They just rolled everybody.’’

They’re all admittedly biased; that doesn’t make them wrong.

“I mean, I think we have all the ingredients, right?” Dan Hurley told The Athletic. “NCAA championships, a ton of NBA players, and an absolutely crazy fan base. What else do you need?” He said this with a net draped around his neck (check), Walker, Allen, Emeka Okafor and Rudy Gay milling around the court (check), and eager fans who made the long-distance ride from Storrs to Houston to celebrate the Huskies and chant their coach’s name. (check).

The term blue blood is, in fact, nebulous and left to the eye of the beholder, the standards of neither admission nor eviction not exactly clear. Tradition and success seem to matter…