Football had it much tougher. With basketball, you can recruit one or two great players surround them with 4-5 decent players and you have a great team. Basketball also always had a pathway to the national championship due to the tournament.
To be good in football, you need to recruit ten times as many great players and surround them with ten times as many decent players who can also contribute. That's tough to do when you don't have a pathway to a national championship.