There was one blue blood left in this NCAA Tournament to begin the Sweet 16, and it was the UCLA Bruins of 19 Final Fours and 11 national championships.

They gone.

UCLA collapsed in the second half against Gonzaga on Thursday night, rallied late and then walked off the court in disbelief after Zags shooter Julian Strawther drilled a game-winning 3-pointer from Steph Curry range for the win. The swashbuckling shot by Strawther was an all-timer for the NCAA Tournament, and put the Zags in the Elite 8 against Connecticut.

The UConn Huskies are one of the last traditional college basketball powerhouses still alive in the NCAA Tournament, and the only remaining team in the field to win it all. The other Thursday Sweet 16 winners were three-seed Kansas State (defeated Michigan State) and nine-seed Florida Atlantic (shocked Tennessee).

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Fun fact: This is only the second all-time trip to the NCAA Tournament for the FAU Owls of Boca Raton, Florida. Winners of Conference USA, FAU earned its automatic bid to March Madness with a victory against UAB in the CUSA tournament championship game.

If this NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 feels different than previous years, that’s because it represents a new trend. The traditional powers of college basketball are few, and parity reigns. Last year, North Carolina, Duke, Villanova and Kansas made the Final Four. It doesn’t get much bluer – and blue blood — than that. All those teams are watching from home this time, and wondering if the transfer portal and NIL money has reshaped college basketball for good. In 2022, the Sweet 16 only featured two teams never to reach a Final Four (Miami and St. Peter’s). This year’s Sweet 16 started out with seven squads that had never made the national semifinals. Including Alabama, they were Xavier, Tennessee, Creighton, San Diego State, Miami and FAU.

The Friday battles:

No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 5 San Diego State, 5:30 p.m. (TBS)

No. 1 Houston vs. No. 5 Miami, 6:15 p.m. (CBS)

No. 6 Creighton vs. No. 15 Princeton, after Alabama-SDSU (TBS)

No. 2 Texas vs. No. 3 Xavier, after Houston-Miami (CBS)

Among the teams left in the tournament, Xavier has the most all-time appearances without making a Final Four (29). Tennessee was next with 25 appearances followed by Alabama (23), Creighton (24), San Diego State (15) and Miami (12). Teams remaining with Final Four appearances: Houston (six), UConn (five), Kansas State (four), Texas (three), Gonzaga (two) and Princeton (one).

It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Some will bemoan a tournament now devoid of blue bloods, but not me. The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams in 2024, but let’s just admit right now that 16 would be better. It invites more chaos and a feeling that anything can happen. That’s the sense vibrating through the rickety brackets of this NCAA Tournament.

The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds represent one of the best weekends of the sports calendar every year. This is where the unpredictability of the first weekend of the tournament meets up with the traditional powerhouses of college basketball and creates a spinning compass of sports magic at four different regional tournaments around the country. In the South Region alone, three teams have a chance to make their first Final Four (Alabama, San Diego State and Creighton).

“San Diego State is a winning culture but to make the Final four, that would add us to a whole different ball game,” said SDSU veteran forward Keshad Johnson of Oakland. “This would be the best San Diego State basketball team ever if we make it to the Final Four. We’re a mid-major team, but we’ve proven we belong just by being here in the Sweet 16. But if we make it to the Final Four, then we’ll be stamped.”

But the same goes for Alabama, and Creighton, too. And should 15-seed Princeton somehow make its first appearance in the Final Four since 1965, that would be the biggest story of all.

If Alabama (31-5) takes care of the Aztecs (29-6), then the Crimson Tide will play the winner of Creighton (23-12) vs. Princeton (23-8) on Sunday for a shot at a trip to Houston for the national semifinals. All things considered, this Sweet 16 is set up perfectly for the Crimson Tide to advance.

At the center of the South bracket in more ways than one is Alabama reserve forward Noah Gurley. That a player of Gurley’s ability comes off the bench for Alabama is a good anecdote for the depth of talent on Alabama’s roster. Had Gurley made some different decisions throughout his career, this tournament might be completely different. Gurley transferred to Alabama from Furman, which lost to San Diego State in the second round. When Gurley left Furman, his two finalists were San Diego State and Alabama.

Unbelievable but true, Gurley was rooting for his old team to knock off San Diego State, the school he almost attended instead of Alabama. Gurley agrees that the changing landscape of college basketball is a trend made possible by the new mechanism of empowerment available to players, the transfer portal and the ability of players to make money off of their name, image or likeness (NIL).

“I think it has to do a lot with the portal and just a change of mindset,” Gurley said. “Growing up, you see the same teams in the Final Four. So in recruiting, me personally, I know I wanted to try to do something different. So, I think that’s what a lot of players have been thinking, too. But I think mainly it’s the portal. Such good talent is able to transfer and they don’t have to sit out no more, so it’s like an instant effect.”

And NIL? Well, it’s a buyer’s market these days.

“I guess it depends from school to school, what their whole philosophy is to be honest,” Gurley said. “But if it’s a bigger school, it’s a better chance they’re going to get the better player, I’d say.”

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.