Ohio State junior guard Evan Turner delivered an ominous warning to the rest of college basketball Sunday afternoon.
After leading the Buckeyes to a 72-53 victory at Illinois, Turner said, “We feel like we’re getting back to the form Coach (Thad) Matta was dreaming about before I got hurt.”
For those with short memories, Ohio State was 7-1 before Turner suffered fractures to his lumbar vertebrae after hitting the floor following a dunk in a 111-60 win over Eastern Michigan on Dec. 5.
Expected to be out at least eight weeks, Turner returned in four. Only 3-3 in his absence, the Buckeyes have gone 10-2 since, including a current nine-game winning streak within the Big Ten.
One example to explain Turner’s worth to the nation’s No. 9 team: He scored 32 points, pulled down nine rebounds and handed out three assists in a road victory at Purdue in just his third game back.
But his absence also may have been a big dividend for a Buckeyes team hoping to reach its second Final Four in four years.
“Obviously, we would have loved having Evan in all our games this year, but it forced guys to elevate their games in ways they weren’t used to doing,” said fellow guard Jon Diebler, who hits 44 percent of his 3-point tries. “Evan is the best player in the country, and having him back really makes us click. When we’re all on the same page, we feel like the sky’s the limit for us.”
If this team still possessed everyone Matta has signed the last four years, the NBA sky would be its limit. The fab freshmen of that NCAA runner-up team in 2007 — Mike Conley, Greg Oden and Daequan Cook (who won the NBA 3-point contest last season) — all left for the pros immediately after falling to Florida in the title game.
Forced to reload with newcomers such as Turner and Diebler, Ohio State failed to make the NCAA field the following season, then lost to Siena in last spring’s opening round.
“We have a pretty old group that’s been through some troubles,” Turner said a couple of weeks ago. “But we’re blessed with versatility. I think we can go all the way.”
They are certainly blessed with a talented starting five, beginning with Turner.
As Illinois coach Bruce Weber said on a Champaign, Ill., radio show Monday morning, “It’s nice to have a 6-7 guy who can handle the ball, shoot and pass it. I think they have the best starting five in the league.”
They also have a spectacular coach in Matta, who has won at least one NCAA tournament game with three schools: Butler, Xavier and OSU.
“One of the very best in terms of the whole package — recruiting, preparation, adjusting during the game,” Dick Vitale said of Matta earlier this season. “It’s just a matter of time until he wins it all, baby.”
And Matta certainly can all but lock up the Big Ten if the Buckeyes can handle Purdue at home Wednesday, then win at Michigan State on Sunday.
“If they get through that, they’re in the driver’s seat,” Weber said.
But despite four starters averaging double-figure scoring, there is some question about the Buckeyes’ depth. What if another starter is injured for an extended period of time, as Turner was? What if they get in foul trouble? Their lone loss in their last 10 outings came at West Virginia a couple of weeks ago when they blew a 12-point halftime lead.
“We didn’t have the defensive intensity we needed,” Matta said after that one.
But every game since has been a win, culminating in Sunday’s road rout of the Illini.
“They know what they want to do,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said after falling to the Buckeyes. “It isn’t anything out of the ordinary, but they execute it well.”
As Turner has regained his ordinary habit of leading the team in points (19.0), rebounds (9.4), assists (5.8) and steals (1.9), teammate Mike Titus has taken to calling him the “Villain” on Titus’s blog “Club Trillion.”
If Turner and the rest of the Buckeyes stay healthy and out of foul trouble the rest of the way, the team easily could play the villain to one or more NCAA title dreams.