By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) -

Ohio State star Evan Turner officially announced this afternoon that he is leaving Ohio State with one year of eligibility remaining and will enter the NBA Draft. The news was not a surprise for the college basketball’s national player of the year, who is expected to be a top three pick in the NBA Draft.

“It was honestly just a personal choice,” Turner said at a news conference in Columbus. “It was a win-win situation regardless. I had great times here, but I leave the program in great hands. We have a lot of great players coming in.”

Turner said he made his final decision just before he went to sleep on Tuesday night. He needed to make his decision by Monday so he could withdraw from spring classes and not negatively affect Ohio State’s academic performance rating, an NCAA gauge that can result in lost scholarships if a school falls below a certain threshold. Players that withdraw from class in mid-year can burn a school, and Ohio State has lost a scholarship in the past because of the early departures of Greg Oden and Kosta Koufos.

Turner said previously that he planned to think about his decision over the weekend, when he was in Indianapolis with family while picking up four different national player of the year awards.

Turner averaged 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 6 assists this season, while earning Big Ten player of the year and numerous first-team All-American honors, in addition to his player of the year awards. Turner came back from missing six games in December and January after breaking two vertebrae in his back when falling off the rim on a dunk attempt against Eastern Michigan.

But he returned to full health and led the Buckeyes to a share of the Big Ten regular season title, the Big Ten Tournament title (while saving Ohio State with a buzzer-beating 37-foot shot against Michigan) and to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

When the Buckeyes were upset in the Sweet 16 by No. 6 seed Tennessee, Turner’s almost certain future turned a little more cloud. Emotional after the loss, Turner said he didn’t want to go out that way, and when in Indianapolis over the weekend, he talked again about how much he enjoyed college and his teammates.

In the end, this decision just made too much sense. Turner wanted to leave a legacy at Ohio State, and with this season individually, for the Buckeyes as a team, he has done that. And now he’ll move on.

Ohio State will still return a team that should be ranked in the top 10 in the preseason, with starters David Lighty, William Buford, Jon Diebler and Dallas Lauderdale all back. Ohio State also adds a top three recruiting class featuring McDonald’s All-Americans Jared Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas. That group should form a formidable starting lineup, while the rest of the incoming freshmen should give the Buckeyes more depth than they had this season.

But the Buckeyes do need to find a player to run the offense, as Turner served as the point guard and the leading scorer this year. Lighty and Buford as the most likely candidates, though incoming freshman Aaron Craft is a pure point guard.

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