Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Johnny All-Star drops hints during the season that he’s thinking seriously about returning to State U for another year only to seize the first available opportunity to jump to the professional ranks.
It happens all the time at almost every school. Jim Jackson, Chris Gamble, Mike Conley Jr. and Beanie Wells are just a handful of the Ohio State examples of former players who decided million-dollar pro contracts trumped another season of college life.
As with every rule, however, there are exceptions. Mike Doss, A.J. Hawk and James Laurinaitis are OSU football players who decided to forgo NFL riches in lieu of one more year of college ball. When it comes to basketball Buckeyes, though, the ones who chose staying over leaving are few and far between.
Evan Turner may be different. When the junior star indicated Feb. 26 that he was open to returning to Ohio State for his senior season, I got the impression that it wasn’t merely a throwaway line for the media as the Buckeyes tried to focus on a third Big Ten championship in five seasons.
It seemed Turner was genuinely interested in returning to OSU next season.
Read the rest by clicking on this link: Rea's Day Blog: March 4.