One thing to note that in the past it was more difficult to "peruse" sports history. Nowadays I can go to Wikipedia and get the entire history of UCLA Basketball in a few seconds, plus links to the players and coaches history, links to news articles, etc.
I think many people here are a little out of touch. How can you tell me a talented high school basketball player, who is presumably a fan of the sport as well, would have no idea who John Wooden or Kareem is? Doesn't take much parsing to know the winningest program in NCAA basketball history was UCLA. I'm sure like many fans these kids are involved in discussions comparing the athletes and teams of today, to those of the past.
As an example I am a fan of cross country and track, and am constantly involved in discussions comparing High Schoolers, Collegiates, and Pros to figures as far back as Steve Prefontaine and Craig Virgin (both rose to fame in the early 1970s). Heck sometimes guys like Emil Zatopek or the Flying Finns sometimes enter discussions.