The combination of these two factors makes it less painful seeing UConn win again. I think the stakes were fairly obvious when JB stayed too long, and those who managed to separate their emotions as fans knew. So the current situation is less frustrating to me than the situation of knowing we were headed for this.
Meanwhile, I don't think it's a coincidence that our drop off was followed by two titles for Nova and three for UConn. There's always going to be basketball talent in the Northeast, so one program's decline is a rival's opportunity. There's been a Northeast team in the title game in 17 of the last 35, so having one in five of the last 10 is about right.
There's so much luck involved in all this too. It's not that hard to imagine a world where we have four titles: Smart misses, Arinze doesn't get hurt, Fab doesn't get busted on that paper.
Maybe then we don't drop off because it helps recruiting, or maybe Boeheim retires earlier after winning another title, who knows?
Unfortunately it didn't play out that way and we've got a long climb to get back there, with UConn poised to dominate the region until we do.