The ugly fall Evan Turner took December 5th at home against Western Michigan had, well, everything ugly written all over it.
Watching the star guard writhe in pain below the basket added to the nastiness and Turner being unable to walk himself off the court to the locker room didn’t look good. The arena was silent the whole time and there was concern everywhere.
Obviously fans were concerned for the team’s success this season, but there was also plenty of concern for Turner’s future because he had injured his back. And over the past 18 months, Turner’s career has begun to look bright enough to include being some team’s star in the NBA.
Breaking vertebrae just sounds ugly and nothing good can come of that, right?
Wrong.
At “90 percent” health, as Turner thinks he is now, all that ugliness is ancient history. See last night’s 20 point, 13 rebound, 8 assist stat sheet against Northwestern, which is 100% output compared to his averages before the injury.
Seeing Turner overcome his fall and return to the lineup in such impressive fashion is a huge boon to the Buckeye’s outlook for rest of the Big Ten season and NCAA Tournament and has some Buckeye fans even thinking that a darkhorse run to the Final Four is not out of the question.
I know that sounds ridiculous, but just watching the Chicago native’s fall and seeing a sad season ending injury to IU’s Maurice Creek, it is a great relief just to see him back on the court again. The fall itself is some distant place behind, let’s say, Lawrence Taylor’s bone breaking sack on Joe Theisman’s leg. But Evan Turner’s fall was still horrific and freaky.
He was supposed to be out at least 8 weeks and suddenly we saw him start and play 20 minutes just four weeks later. And then we saw vintage Turner last night. He became the only the second Ohio State player to reach 1000 points, 500 rebounds, and 300 assists in his career, Jimmy Jackson being the first.
In the middle of a three game win streak, the future still looks bright for Turner’s basketball career and the team’s success this season. Kendall Gill of the Big Ten Network was discussing how the Buckeyes can be discussed as the best team in the Big Ten now.
Thank God I don’t have to spend the rest of the 2010 college basketball season watching video of Ohio State’s high school recruits to be psyched. To gain any sense of hope from that would be downright pathetic and depressing. (Jerod (IU fan), please avoid Rival’s high school recruiting videos for the reasons above. Thanks.)
A “future being bright” comes with plenty of jokes and some terrible puns. So here’s another one: while wearing sunglasses at night, someone said to me, “KVB the sun does not set on cool.”
I laughed.
You might hate it, but you cannot disagree it wasn’t cool watching the Buckeyes look like a top 25 team again, especially with Evan Turner carrying the team on his rehabilitated back.
Somebody get that man a pair of sweet shades. He deserves them.
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* – Evan Turner photo credit: NowPublic.com
