By: Michael Rothstein (AnnArbor.com) -

COLUMBUS - Evan Turner sat in his hospital bed, his back fractured, his season bleak. Everything had gone so well for the Ohio State junior forward. He was averaging 20.6 points and 12.9 rebounds a game. His team was 7-1.
And in an instant, with a hard, awkward landing after a dunk against Eastern Michigan on Dec. 5, it looked like it was over. So he apologized to teammates for being injured and started working on his return.

Why the apology? Well, at Ohio State, Turner is more than the best player on a Top Ten team. He is the reason the Buckeyes are so good, the reason they are in second place in the Big Ten, a half game back of Purdue.

“What doesn’t he do?” Ohio State guard Jon Diebler said. “He means a lot, obviously. He just does so many things that don’t show up in the stat book. Obviously, he fills up the stat book, but the things that don’t show up are really what make us go.

“He just draws so much attention offensively, and it gets a lot of shots for us, and defensively with his length and his ability to read the floor and read people’s eyes really makes him tough.”

Basketball coaches - those that coach him and have to face him - gush about the 6-foot-7 forward’s ability. And no one picks the same attribute to describe the Chicago native’s game.

There is Turner’s shooting. His passing ability. His rebounding. His defense. That’s just the on-court stuff.

“The best part of Turner is all the parts,” said Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, who coached Turner in the World University Games this summer. “He just really doesn’t have a weakness.”

Turner is a leader. Ohio State coach Thad Matta said Turner has remained levelheaded despite being considered the front-runner for national player of the year awards.

This position, though, Online Generic pills is a place he one day hoped he’d reach when he was playing high school basketball with Illinois guard Demetri McCamey and Notre Dame guard Jonathan Peoples at legendary St. Joseph’s in Chicago. He never boasted, but thought about it even though he was ranked as the 13th-best small forward in his class by Rivals.com.

Now he’s vying to be the top player overall in college.

“I always had in the back of my head visions of trying to do something like that,” Turner said. “I felt like something like this could come about if I worked hard enough, but it’s just crazy that now it’s actually coming. It’s really coming.”

What perhaps is most impressive isn’t the entire package, but when it comes in the handiest. Turner has lifted Ohio State (21-7, 12-4 Big Ten) since his return Jan. 6 from his fractured back. When he team needs a score at the……

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE DIRECTLY FROM THE SOURCE PAGE AT ANNARBOR.COM BY CLICKING HERE.

No related posts.