3/9/2009 football Edit

Turner named 1st team all-Big Ten

Kevin Noon

Managing Editor

The Big Ten season is over and done with and Monday evening was a chance to hand out some hardware and the Buckeyes were well represented despite Evan Turner being edged out by Michigan State's Kalin Lucas on both the coaches and media ballots as the player of the year.

Turner however was named to the first team of the all-conference team by both the coaches and the media and joins Manny Harris from Michigan, Talor Battle from Penn State, JaJuan Johnson from Purdue and Lucas.

Evan was the straw that stirred the drink for the Buckeyes, especially when David Lighty went down with a broken foot. Turner led Buckeyes in scoring with 16.8 points per game, rebounding with 6.9 per game, assists with 112, steals with 50, minutes with 36 per game, O-boards with 48 and defensive rebounds with 153 among several categories.

"Evan obviously is very important to our team," Matta said. "He does a lot of different things for us on both ends of the floor. Evan had a tremendous offseason and I thought we saw signs last year of his ability to do a lot of different things. I think he did it with more confidence and much more poise this year throughout the course of a Big Ten race and really throughout the course of a season for us."

Newcomer William Buford racked up Big Ten freshman of the year from both the media and coaches while fellow freshman B.J. Mullens was named sixth man of the year by the league coaches.

"I was really surprised, but I really wasn't because my coaches have been working me out really hard," Buford said. "I owe it all to my teammates and coaches. It is a big honor to even be in this category to be mentioned in the Big Ten (freshman) player of the year."

Matta however was not surprised by Buford being as highly regarded after watching the Toledo (Ohio) product develop throughout the season.

"I think William has made tremendous strides throughout the course of the season," Matta said. "I think he is a very talented young man and just watching the progress he has made from really where he started to where he is today, as his coach I am very excited about the progress that he is making."

No other Buckeyes made it on any of the three league teams but both Buford and Jon Diebler were mentioned as honorable mentions by either the coaches or the media.

Turner is the 5th All-Big Ten player under Thad Matta (and the 47th Buckeye all-time) joining Terence Dials, Mike Conley Jr., Greg Oden and Jamar Butler.

The complete list of the All-Big Ten teams and awards follows.

MEDIA SELECTIONS

First Team

Talor Battle (Penn State)

Kalin Lucas (Michigan State)

Evan Turner (Ohio State)

JaJuan Johnson (Purdue)

Manny Harris (Michigan)

Second Team

Goran Suton (Michigan State)

Kevin Coble (Northwestern)

E'Twaun Moore (Purdue)

DeShawn Sims (Michigan)

Jamelle Cornley (Penn State)

Third Team

Demetri McCamey (Illinois)

Craig Moore (Northwestern)

Robbie Hummel (Purdue)

Mike Davis (Illinois)

Marcus Landry (Wisconsin)

Player of the Year – Kalin Lucas (Michigan State)

Freshman of the Year – William Buford (Ohio State)

Coach of the Year – Ed DeChellis (Penn State)

COACHES SELECTIONS