COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Turner finds extended family as part of OSU recruiting class
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Bob Baptist
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Players talk about their team being a family. Coaches try to make them feel as if they have a home away from home. It?s a staple of the recruiting pitch.
Ohio State did not have to sell Evan Turner very hard.
Turner, a 6-foot-6 guard from Chicago and one of four high school seniors who signed yesterday to play basketball at OSU next season, has spent time in Columbus almost every summer since he was 10. His father, James Turner, lives here. So do other relatives.
One of James Turner?s cousins, Roger Ball, is a seat-license holder in Value City Arena and an investor in the Brownstone on Main, a Downtown restaurant and jazz club where Ohio State coaches often entertain recruits and their families.
"I didn?t want to go anywhere and be all by myself," Evan Turner said. "It will be nice to have the support."
Coach Thad Matta also received signed letters of intent yesterday from three Ohioans: 7-foot-1 forward Kosta Koufos of Canton GlenOak, 6-9 center Dallas Lauderdale of Solon and 6-6 guard Jon Diebler of Upper Sandusky.
A fifth prospect, 6-6 forward Eric Wallace of Kernersville, N.C., was weighing his options, his father said.
The class is ranked No. 7 nationally by Scout.com, a recruiting Web site. It is the second consecutive year Matta and his staff have signed a top-10 class; the "Thad Five" of 2006, headlined by two-time national player of the year Greg Oden, was ranked second.
"I think recruiting and success become contagious," Matta said. "I remember Coach K (Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski) telling me when I got here, he said it takes one class and then you?ve got to follow it up and follow it up and follow it up. Obviously, he?s done that at Duke."
Duke has won three national championships and reached the Final Four 10 times in the past 21 seasons. Matta aspires to such success.
"I didn?t leave Xavier to come here and not contend," he said. "That?s ultimately what we?re trying to get done."
Turner, valued for his athleticism and ability to run the floor on offense and pressure on defense, was scouted by Ohio State coaches last season at Westchester St. Joseph?s High School and was offered a scholarship in May after Matta watched him during an AAU tournament in Akron.
"Once Ohio State got in the picture, boom, I brought him down here and let him see the benefits he?d have down here," said James Turner, who lives in Canal Winchester.
"His mother and brother (in Chicago) really wanted him to go to Wisconsin, but that wasn?t his type of play. I?ve watched Ohio State and I like how Matta?s teams play. As long as (North) Carolina didn?t call, I was cool. (Evan?s) been in Carolina blue since he was little."
Turner played it cool with Ohio State coaches until late June, when he said Matta told him one scholarship remained for either him or forward Alex Tyus of St. Louis, and that Tyus was visiting campus the next day. Turner committed almost on the spot, and coaches canceled Tyus? visit; he later committed to Florida.
Turner said he was drawn to Ohio State after becoming friends with Diebler, Koufos and Lauderdale at an all-star camp in Virginia a week before he made his decision.
"Win or lose, those are people I wanted to be around," Turner said. "We?re going to have something special at Ohio State, and to win and make good friends and memories will be good."
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