The race is over; it’s a no-brainer who the Player of the Year is

Bob on 02 25, 2010

I said it at the beginning of the season and I’ll say it again; Evan Turner will boast the John R. Wooden Award at season’s end, only now I won’t hear as many chuckles.

This year’s Wooden Award, better known as the Player of the Year award, has come down to a two man race between Ohio State’s Evan Turner and freshman Kentucky star John Wall. Although most people were ready to hand Wall the award prior to the season, Ohio State’s do-it-all guard has emerged as the front-runner. In terms of NBA potential, John Wall certainly takes the cake. UK’s extra-terrestrially athletic PG has lived up to the hype and is exhilarating to watch, but don’t get it twisted; the title of best player in the country and the POY award belong to Evan “The Villain” Turner.

After stuffing the stat sheet and posting 2 triple-doubles through his first 5 games, Evan Turner quickly inserted his name into POY talks. Subsequent to fracturing his back against Eastern Michigan, Turner’s chances to win the highly coveted Player of the Year award were slim to none. Determined to make a speedy recovery and save his team’s season, Turner dedicated himself to rehabbing his back and returned to the court just one month after fracturing his second and third lumbar vertebra, one month sooner than expected. During his absence, Ohio State went 3-3 and struggled miserably.

Expected to slowly ease back into the swing of things both physically and mentally, The Villain picked up right where he left off. In his first full game back, Turner dropped 19, 8 and 7, albeit in a loss. Following this, the Buckeyes went on the road to Purdue. Despite Robbie Hummel’s 8 first-half 3s and a 41-29 deficit at half in a hostile environment, Turner came out motivated in the 2nd half and dropped 23 of his 32 points to lead his squad to an awfully impressive comeback win. It was one of those games where you watched him and thought, “this kid is not going to let his team lose tonight.” If you’ve ever watched LeBron James or Kobe Bryant get in the “failure is not an option” mode where they single-handedly take over the game, you should know what type of look I am referring to.

But it wasn’t just that night against Purdue where the junior point guard had that look. Turner’s will to win is rivaled by few at the college level. He works on his game, both physical and mental, almost around the clock. I mean, he dribbles a ball around campus on his way to class! I wouldn’t be surprised if he pops in a tape of John Wooden quotes before he goes to sleep with his mouth guard in and cuddles up with a basketball in one hand and a pair of Jordans in the other. Hell, he probably dribbles in his sleep!

Viewed as a first rounder had he declared after his sophomore season, ET decided to return for his junior season because he didn’t feel his game was ready for the next level. Well, I believe it’s fair to assume he is indeed ready for the big league. Turner has drastically improved his game and has escalated himself to a level of his own at the college rank.

With a lack of depth at Ohio State’s PG position and a desire to put his 5 best players on the floor, head coach Thad Matta considered moving his junior superstar to the PG position. At 6’7”, making the transition to PG is no easy task; however, Turner jumped at the opportunity and has never looked back.

Having dropped out of the rankings and practically off the map following his injury, the St. Joes product currently has his team ranked 9th in the country and a half-game back of first place Purdue. The versatile PG leads the Big Ten in scoring (19.5) and rebounding (9.3) and is second in steals (1.9) and assists (5.8).

Don’t get me wrong, John Wall is an excellent player, I’m not taking anything away from him. As a true freshman, Wall is averaging 16.8 PPG, 6.3 APG and 4.1 RPG and has his Wildcat team sitting at 2nd in the nation behind Kansas. In his impressive freshman season, Wall has made a number of clutch plays in crunch time. There is no ceiling on his potential and he appears to be destined for multiple NBA All-Star appearances. However, not only does Turner have significantly better all-around numbers; if you took John Wall off the Wildcats team, they would still be competitive. With a roster that includes another freshman superstar and future lottery pick in DeMarcus Cousins, coupled with Patrick Patterson, another future first rounder, as well as freshmen Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton (most likely future first rounders as well), there is no doubt in my mind that they would continue to compete and win games.

Now take Evan Turner off of OSU’s roster. If lucky, a Turner-less Buckeyes team might make it to the NIT, and at the very worst, might have a slightly better record than UNC (I have to get a jab in while I can). We saw how much Turner’s absence crippled his team when he missed 6 games with an injury. He essentially creates everything offensively for the Bucks and is the engine that makes OSU run.

There’s no arguing that Evan Turner, who has drawn comparisons to Portland Trail Blazers All-Star guard Brandon Roy, is the most versatile and complete player in the nation. Furthermore, it’s difficult to argue that he isn’t the most important player to his team’s success.

In case you’re not convinced that OSU’s do-it-all guard is the Player of the Year, think about this; Turner is on the verge of averaging 20, 10 and 5. Let me say that again; 20 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists; numbers that virtually only show up on the box score after a game of 2K10 . According to SI.com, the only players who may have averaged these numbers (these are their best guesses) are Larry Bird at Indiana State and Bill Walton at UCLA. I’d say the kid they call The Villain is in pretty good company.

With Evan Turner at the helm, Ohio State will go as far as he wants to take them. When you consider his versatile skill set, leadership, high basketball IQ and determination to win, he is an absolute nightmare for the opposition and has the potential to single-handedly take over a game on any given night (ask Purdue).

Taking all of these things into account, if Evan Turner somehow doesn’t win the John R. Wooden Award this season, it will be borderline criminal.