Turner to enter NBA draft

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

After collecting almost every national player of the year honor, Ohio State’s Evan Turner is skipping his senior season to test himself in the NBA.

The 6-foot-7 point guard is expected to be a top-three pick in the June 24 draft. Yet he said his decision wasn’t an easy one.

“This is the toughest thing I had to do,” he said, his voice breaking. “But I was blessed with this decision and I have a great opportunity. I’m going to turn a leaf over and go on to the next stage of my life.”

The Chicago native averaged 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 6 assists while shooting 52 percent from the field, 36.4 percent behind the arc and 76 percent at the line.

Turner was moved to point guard before the season, a decision by coach Thad Matta that raised some eyebrows because Turner had never played the position and had been prone to making mistakes with the ball.

But with Turner leading the way the Buckeyes went a surprising 29-8 (second-most wins in school history); won a share of the Big Ten title; took the conference tournament championship; and advanced to the NCAA tournament round of 16 before falling to Tennessee.

Even Matta said he knew it was time for Turner to make the leap to the next level.

“I told him … I’m OK if you go,” he said. “I said, ‘Coach Matta wants you back, but Thad Matta is OK if you go.’”

Turner said it wasn’t until late in the season that his mind wandered to his decision.

“February hit and I kind of started thinking a little bit about it,” he said. “I was in a win-win situation. I felt like if I would have come back we could have done big things, and also moving on and going to the NBA I could do good things. I had to look at what was going to make me happy.”