This is the age of the anonymous college basketball star, at least as far as the sophomores, juniors, and seniors are concerned.

Sure, you know about John Wall and Xavier Henry, but what about the game’s elder statesmen? Those elite players who aren’t on the NBA’s one-and-done internship program.

How much do you really know about Quincy Pondexter? What about Keith Benson? Manny Harris sound familiar? Gordon Hayward? Charles Garcia?

Whether they play for perennial powerhouses or pipsqueak programs, the non-freshmen might as well be nameless.

Ever since the NBA instituted their “age minimum” rule, the star power of returnees was wiped away. The NCAA has high wattage players, but they are basically just visiting. Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Eric Gordon, and Kevin Love spent four years in school. Total. Derrick Rose and O.J. Mayo didn’t even “officially” win a college game because their two seasons have already been erased due to infractions directly related to them.

Freshman initiation has morphed into freshman sensationalization.

It won’t be long before we’ll tell our grandchildren about the legitimate college standouts who actually stayed for more than a semester or two. Oh, yes, we yearn for the days of Christian Laettner, Patrick Ewing, and Tim Duncan, but that time has passed. Even Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal enjoyed college life for three seasons. Now, convincing a stud to stick around for two years is almost unfathomable. When Blake Griffin gave Oklahoma a second year of his services, he was nearly granted sainthood.

An upper classman was, however, trumping the upstarts this season. With two triple-doubles in his first five games, Ohio State junior Evan Turner was the clear favorite for Player of the Year honors. Yet, remarkably, when Turner went down with a fractured back in the beginning of December, it was merely a whisper on the national megaphone. No one seemed to care. Far less newsworthy than a voicemail from Tiger Woods or a sniffle from Brett Favre.

But Turner’s injury was of extreme importance to those entrenched in college basketball. With an expected loss of Turner for eight weeks, Ohio State went from being a Final Four contender to a Big Ten bottom feeder. Turner’s hopes of becoming the P.O.Y. were D.O.A.

History only provides a few examples of anything like what happened to Turner. Cal’s Leon Powe was probably the last collegiate player of the star Buckeye’s stature to suffer a traumatic injury, but his knee problems in 2005 occurred prior to the season. Back in 1999-2000, Mateen Cleaves’ senior campaign at Michigan State was marred by injury, as was Kenyon Martin’s postseason run for Cincinnati, and yet both of their falls were treated as historic events.

So when Turner returned four weeks earlier than expected, it should have been celebrated. Instead, it was ignored. In his second game back, Turner scored 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dished off seven assists, stole the ball four times, and blocked two shots. In the process, he snatched about zero headlines on the major college basketball web sites.

So what could possibly have topped Turner’s inspirational return on this day?

Well, John Wall.

The Wildcat just happened to be playing in his first – and last – SEC opener at the very same time. And, as we all know, he won’t be around for very long.