Remember, Chicago, when we used to be a college basketball capital?

Remember the Big Ten tournament being here every March? It left for Indianapolis two seasons ago and ain't coming back.

Remember the Great Eight every December? It left for the scrap heap almost 10 years ago - replaced by superior moneymakers like the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Remember when the NCAA Tournament kingpins used to pick the United Center as a subregional site? I suppose that might happen again someday - maybe.

Heck, judging by the worse than mediocre crowds at the Sears Centre, I'm guessing no one remembers when the third Chicago Invitational Challenge was held there - last weekend!

That's not good. We need to find a way to regain our status as a college hoops destination.

Maybe we can slap a "Chicago 2016" logo on the side of the United Center and get Mayor Daley to promise big bucks to lure some big teams.

Maybe Sen. Dick Durbin, when he's not busy advocating for convicted politicians, can work with President Obama on a basketball bailout for our town.

Or, just maybe, we ought to start pulling ourselves up by our hoopstraps and patronize today's amazing local schedule.

If you hustle a little bit, you can witness a triple-header that features five Illinois schools with a combined record of 23-9.

• Rising and surprising Illinois plays Georgia at 11 a.m. at the United Center. Good seats still available.

• Northwestern, off to its best start since 2001, hosts DePaul, off to its best start since 2003, at 2:30 p.m. at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Good seats still available.

• Loyola opens Horizon League play at UIC at 7 p.m. in a game that history guarantees will go into overtime. Need to mention good seats aren't in short supply?

• If you're west of the city, head to DeKalb to see Chicago State, which features the nation's No. 2 scorer in 5-foot-8 mighty mite David Holston, take on Northern Illinois at 2 p.m. Good sections still available.

Or, if you're like many current college fans and care at least as much about recruiting as the players actually in college, make it a college/prep doubleheader.

Wheel a few blocks west of the United Center to Tim Grover's gleaming Attack Athletics facility at 2641 West Harrison Street.

The Public League Shootout, which runs from 1:30-9 p.m., features Curie's Wayne Blackshear, Mt. Carmel's Tracy Abrams, Seton's Tony Nixon, New Trier's Alex Rossi and Marshall's Darius Smith, among others.

If you need any more incentive, allow Northwestern senior guard Craig Moore to explain why these games just might matter.

"Illinois, DePaul, UIC, Loyola," Moore said. "All those teams, when we play them, it's a battle for Illinois.

"And you see (their players) all the time, so it's bragging rights. Last year, (the Blue Demons) beat us, so they've been talking a little smack every time we see them."

Emboldened by that anecdote (Moore fingered DePaul's Mac Koshwal as one of the talkers), I figured UIC senior guard Josh Mayo had something similar to say about facing Loyola senior guard J.R. Blount for the ninth time in 36 months.

"We do have a little rivalry, an under-the-table rivalry no one knows about," Mayo said.

Ooh, this sounds promising. Do go on.

"It's so under-the-table, I don't know that we know about it," Mayo added with a laugh.

That's our problem, Chicago. We need to climb out from under the table, crawl through the turnstile and see what we're missing.

Or, apparently, not missing.

lwillhite@dailyherald.com