Most of the UCLA fans/alums I know pay more attention to the football team. They just lean on the basketball program for moral support.
And unlike UNC, UK, etc., UCLA isn't competing against the entire SEC, ACC, Big East (when it was good), etc. for recruits. It's just us, really. Washington has had its spurts too, and Oregon has been good most of this decade, but other than SC, there's no 'permanent' Goliath out here sucking up all the recruits.
Again, same with our hoops team. I know we share a city with the school that has the most NC's in that sport, but they can't take every kid in SoCal, or even in LA. SC should've done way better bringing in talent over the years.
True. USC basketball has criminally underperformed, given the fact that we obstensibly have the same recruiting advantages as our crosstown rivals, who are the most historically successful NCAA hoops program. However, until the recently-built Galen Center, USC basketball played in the crumbling Sports Arena, where home attendance was so sparse that they hung these huge black curtains to hide the empty seats. It felt like playing inside a cave. Additionally, the team practiced in the old North Gym, which honest-to-God looked like the set of
Hoosiers, and I don't mean then they played in the great big stadium at the film's climax. Try selling that crap to recruits.
Throw in two longtime coaches who were known as strict disciplinarians (George Raveling and Henry Bibby), and it's easy to see why some high school hoops hotshot, even one from LA, who wanted to stay in LA, but wasn't offered by UCLA, might not be too enthused with the prospect of playing basketball for USC. Then of course, there was the whole dynamic with UCLA basketball, which has mostly been quite one-sided.
In a very real sense, playing hoops for USC was like playing for the Donald Sterling (pre-2008) Clippers.
UCLA football, conversely, has fairly regularly competed for conference titles and such. However, IMO, UCLA football has been hampered by the attitude infused in them by Terry Donahue that beating USC is the primary goal every season. A UCLA football team could win 10+ games, win a nice bowl game, but lose to USC, and Bruin fans would consider it a disappointment. Conversely, a Bruin team that was a 4-8 embarrassment, but upset USC to wreck a Rose Bowl bid would be celebrated. Don't believe me? Ask UCLA fans whether they liked the 2005 team or the 2006 team better.
Dont know any A&M or Auburn fans, by I wonder if they take almost all their football joy out of beating their rivals. I suspect no, as I think both those programs have wider horizons than simply beating Texas or Alabama.