Quick Question: Who is the biggest name in college basketball today?

With the tournament into its Sweet 16 round, you may answer Purdue center Zach Edey, who has had two of the most dominating statistical seasons in NCAA history.

But can you rattle off roughly 10 to 20 names like we used to when we were younger? One fellow scribe told me it was Iowa women’s star Caitlin Clark - and he may be right. The men’s game certainly has an identity crisis.

In this week’s version of my Yesterday column - reminiscing about sports and pop culture from the 1950, 60s, 70s, 80s and sometimes before and beyond - I’ll take a look at some of the iconic NCAA players in our lifetimes as well as some related items.

Do you know who is the only former play-by-play announcer and player who is in the College Basketball Hall of Fame? What former college superstar from the 60s has the first name Ferdinand? And what area basketball player is believed to have scored more points in college than any other local player in the last half century?

Fabulous Fifties ... I am too young to remember watching anyone from the 1950s, but the decade had a plethora of future NBA stars on the college hardwoods.

Wilt Chamberlain was the teen-man out of Philadelphia who found a home in Kansas. There also was West Virginia’s Jerry West, who was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers in 1960; future Sixer Hal Greer from Marshall; San Francisco’s Bill Russell; and West Virginia’s Hot Rod Hundley - the only college Hall of Famer who was a play-by-play announcer.

If you remember, Hundley worked for CBS-TV and ABC radio as well as being the inaugural caller for the New Orleans (the Utah) Jazz.

Locally, there was Palmerton and Temple’s Bill Mlkvy, Villanova’s Paul Arizin, and LaSalle’s Tom Gola. Furman’s Frank Slevy scored 100 points in a 1954 game.

Probably the most highlighted game of the decade was the 1957 Kansas-North Carolina championship game. Chamberlain was the tournament MVP, and he scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the game. There are clips of the game on YouTube, and it can make you appreciate how good Chamberlain was. His dominance is often forgotten.

Swinging Sixties ... The Sixties brought a slew of stars that we all remember from the NBA like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (did you know his birth name is Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor?), John Havlicek, Pete Maravich (also early 70s), Elvin Hayes, and Oscar Robertson among others.

Yet, there were enough pros who were outstanding college players such as Bill Bradley (Princeton), Cazzie Russell (Michigan), Calvin Murphy (Niagara), Jerry Lucas (Ohio State), Walt Hazzard, Gail Goodrich (UCLA), Larry Miller (Catasauqua and North Carolina) and Terry Dischinger (Purdue).

Russell, Lucas, Hazzard and Dischinger didn’t have equivalent careers in the pros, but instead they were role players. It can be easily argued that Maravich was the greatest college player of all time.

It was hard to believe that the first nationally televised NCAA game (on NBC) g was Jan. 20, 1968 when UCLA faced Houston. Hayes led Houston to a 71-69 win, and outscored Jabbar 39-15 in what was billed as “The Game of the Century” before nearly 53,000 fans in the Astrodome. Can’t say that I remember the game, but it was the beginning of the game being a staple in the sports world.

The 1960s also began UCLA’s run of 10 championships from 1964 through 1975.

Super Seventies ... This is the decade when the game found its wings. NBC was the prime network from 1969-81. It aired Sunday doubleheaders from 1977-81. That set the stage for Sunday national games.

Catasauqua head boys’ basketball coach Eric Snyder - a good friend - and I rambled through a cavalcade of names that were easily recognizable.

Bill Walton, Sydney Wicks, Ervin “Magic” Johnson, Larry Bird, David Thompson, Phil Ford, Artis Gilmore, Richard Washington, Keith (Jamaal) Wilkes, Bob Lanier and Austin Carr should be some of the ones that are in your first recollection.

In 1970, Carr scored 61 points in an NCAA tournament game - still the tournament record - and he averaged 52.1 points in his two tourney games that season. Meanwhile, Gilmore averaged 18.6 rebounds that season.

One of my fondest memories was the 7-2 Gilmore from the 1970 Final Four that included his Jacksonville team - along with UCLA, New Mexico State, and St. Bonaventure.

St. Bonaventure’s Lanier was injured in the semifinal loss to Jacksonville, which in turn lost to UCLA. New Mexico State was a traditional power back then and was led by Jimmy Collins and Charlie Criss, the latter who played in the Eastern League and local tournament teams in the Lehigh Valley.

Some names you may have forgotten from their college days are Providence’s Ernie DiGregorio and Marvin Barnes, North Carolina’s Bob McAdoo, Mitch Kupchak, and Charlies Scott, UCLA’s David Myers, Marquette’s Butch Lee, Columbia’s Jim McMillan, Villanova’s Howard Porter, and Notre Dame’s Adrian Dantley, and Tennessee’s Bernard King.

Digging even deeper, think back to Austin Peay’s James “Fly” Williams, Michigan’s Ricky Green, Memphis’ Larry Finch and Larry Kenon, Southern Louisiana’s Dwight “Bo”Lamar, Kentucky’s Kevin Grevey and Jack Givins, Pepperdine’s William “Bird” Averitt, Portland State’s Freeman Williams, and Texas Rio-Grande Valley’s Marshall Reyes.

Elite Eighties ... Like the 70s, the 80s also saw an influx of star power, especially with the development of the big man.

Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajawon, David Robinson, Ralph Sampson, Ed Pinckney, Danny Ferry, Danny Manning, Brad Daugherty and Joe Barry Carroll were some of the bigger names.

Among forwards, Grant Hill, Mark Aguirre, Wayman Tisdale, Walter Berry, James Worthy, and J.R. Reid, Darrell Griffith quickly come to mind.

In the backcourt, Michael Jordan burst onto the scene as well as Pearl Washington, Chris Mullin, Johnny Dawkins, Isaiah Thomas, Hersey Hawkins, Kenny Smith, Steve Alford and Steve Kerr.

Wilt Tunes ... In 1960, Chamberlain recorded two songs, “That’s Easy to Say,” and “By The River.” He did it during his rookie year. You can check out the songs on YouTube.

Speaking of basketball-related songs, we all know the song, “Sweet Georgia Brown” that was played for the Harlem Globetrotters, who also had a cartoon show on CBS from 1970-71.

Phillies’ Phodder ... Each week, I’ll offer a Phillies’ trivia question to test your knowledge. Please don’t look up the answer, but give it your best shot. Here you go.

What former Phillie was a basketball and baseball Hall of Famer from Duke University?

Another Classic Game ... In keeping with the basketball theme, did anyone have the “Sports Illustrated Basketball Strategy Game?”

The game originated in 1974 and was produced by Avalon Games.

Each player had an identical generic team to coach through a game. Included were a set of campaign game counters that allowed players to draft unique teams. Player counters had five performance ratings which are used to determine shooting and passing outcomes.

You made play-by-play decisions that were resolved by cross-referencing offensive and defensive choices on a matrix. As a coach, you made decisions about your lineup, defensive match-ups, and timeouts among other facets of the game.

Trivia II ... What former area basketball star is believed to have scored more points in college than any other local player in the last 50 years? Answer below.

Phillies’ Trivia Answer ... Dick Groat was a basketball and baseball standout at Duke from the early 1950s. Groat ranks second in Blue Devil history with a 23.0 career scoring average and is 17th on the all-time Duke list with 1,886 points. He also had his No. 10 retired - one of 13 numbers by the school.

In baseball, Groat hit .375 and led the team to the College World Series in 1952.

Groat spent the 1966 and 67 seasons with the Phillies and hit .254 overall - the final two years of his 14-year MLB career in which he hit .286. Groat was the league MVP in 1960 and won championships with the Pirates (1960) and with the Cardinals (1964).

He passed away at the age of 92 last year.

Trivia II Answer ... Palmerton and Moravian College star Kathy Beck is believed to be the area’s all-time highest scoring collegiate player with 1,936 points playing for the Division 3 Greyhounds. Pleasant Valley and Susquehanna grad Karyn Kern had 1,773, also playing at the Division 3 level. Palmerton and Xavier University standout Nicole Levandusky had 1,755 career points playing on the Division 1 level.

Did we miss anyone? Are there any for mer area men’s players who have scored over 1,000 points on the collegiate level in the last decade? Let’s us know if you come up with someone we missed.

Feedback …Your thoughts, ideas, and comments are always welcomed at tnsports@tnonline.com