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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2010 > March > 04
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Ohio State’s Turner or Kentucky’s Wall — Who’s the Best?
It’s one of the best debates to hit college basketball in a long, long time:
Who’s the best player in the country this season — Ohio State’s Evan Turner or Kentucky’s John Wall?
Early in the season, I gave the edge to Wall, but now I think it’s Turner. The way he’s returned from broken bones in his back, put his Buckeye team on his shoulders and lifted it to the Big Ten regular season crown and the No. 6 ranking in the country is amazing.
Not that Wall has swooned. With Wednesday night’s victory over Georgia — in which he led the way with 24 points — the Cats are assured of at least a share of the SEC title. And they have both a better record (28-2) and ranking (No. 3) than the Bucks.
But Wall has a far better supporting cast around him.
When the 6-foot-7, 210-pound Turner missed six games with his back injury, the Bucks went 3-3 and lost their first two Big Ten games. Since he’s back, they’re 14-3.
Of course, if not for Wall, Kentucky may well have lost to Charlie Coles’ Miami RedHawks, Stanford, UConn and Vanderbilt — all games where the 6-foot-4 guard made dynamic plays in the final minutes.
Wednesday Mike Rothstein of AnnArbor.com released the last of his four straw polls of several sportswriters around the country — all of whom cover college basketball — and Turner was the overwhelming choice for Player of the Year honors.
Of the 49 writers polled — each picking their top three players in the game this season — 41 gave their first place vote to Turner,. The other eight gave them to Wall.
By the way, rounding out the top five were Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson (3rd), Scottie Reynolds of Villanova (4th) and Duke guard Jon Scheyer (5th).
Interestingly in the first of the bi-weekly polls — released Jan. 20 — Wall has the overwhelming lead, taking 32 of 45 first place votes. Turner finished third in that poll and had just three first place votes.
As a junior, Turner has two years and a little maturity on the dynamic Kentucky freshman, whose only slight flaw is his 4.07 turnovers-per-game average this season.
Both players have impressive stats.
Turner is averaging 19.5 p.p.g., 9.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists. He’s shooting 53.8 percent from the floor
Wall is averaging 16.8 p.p.g., 4.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists. He’s shooting 45 percent from the floor.
Since the Naismith Award — given to college basketball’s best player — was first handed out in 1969, no player from Ohio State or Kentucky has won it.
That streak is about to end.
What I really hope for is that Ohio State and Kentucky end up meeting in the NCAA Tournament. Wall versus Turner would be a match-up for the ages. Something stirring reminders of Bird versus Magic.
If nothing else it would field the growing debate into overdrive.
And if you are a college hoops fan, you’ve got to love that kind of buzz.
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