COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Evan Turner, who missed six games with broken bones in his lower back, returned early for Ohio State and started in a 79-54 victory over Indiana on Wednesday night.

Team doctors originally said Turner would be out 8 weeks after he fell hard to the court while trying to dunk in the Buckeyes' victory over Eastern Michigan on Dec. 5. He returned in 4½ weeks.

"I was fortunate enough to go up and dunk -- you know, land on my feet this time," Turner joked after finishing with eight points, four rebounds and five assists in 20 minutes.

Ohio State (11-4, 1-2 Big Ten), ranked all season, has dropped out of the Top 25 since Turner's injury. The Buckeyes lost their first two Big Ten games and had gone 3-3 -- losing all three road games -- without their leader in scoring (18.5), rebounding (11.4) and assists (6.0).

Turner said he thought of his injury at one point in the game.

"I'm not going to lie. In the second half I was running down the middle and I was thinking, 'Man, this happened like a month ago!' So I just kicked it out [to the corner]," Turner said. "Other than that, I'm not worried about dunking. If I had to redo that same play over again, I'd do it. It was just a freak accident."

Turner was wearing a protective, padded girdle similar to what his teammates wear.

The Buckeyes had a rough practice on Tuesday night, with Turner in the middle of the scrums. Coach Thad Matta said it was then he knew that Turner would be able to play.

"I was pretty pleased," Matta said. "He appeared to be pretty comfortable and confident. I was glad to see him get knocked down and pick himself up, which was huge. And also see him dunk."

Hope we get him in the draft

Flash wrote:
No kidding!
He'll be a star. If only we can trade up and get two top-ten players this year. Hopefully Wall at 1, then a SG (Turner, Johnson, or Henry) or Cole Aldrich at 7,8, or 9...

SlimPickens wrote:
Yeah, Wall and Turner would be awesome but we need to get the 1 pick for that and what can we do to move up. I would be happy even with only Turner.

Flash wrote:
Well let's say on lottery night we finally hit the jackpot and receive the #1 pick, we then have Charlotte's 1st round pick (via Denver-Ty Lawson trade) around 15-16. So we could potentially trade that pick with a later pick (we've 2 second rounders I believe), or with either Rubio/Flynn/Sessions/Jefferson/anyone...

Another thought is that we get the 2nd pick behind the Nets. Swap 2 for 1 with them with the idea that their team could be built around Lopez, Harris, and Derrick Favors. Say Rubio and pick 2 (Favors) for pick 1 (Wall) and Yi Jianlin or CDR, IDK.

That may be far fetched as Wall is a lock and nobody wants to be the team that passed on him...but, Favors could be a dominating force for years to come as well. So I think it's feasible.

Also, all those that think Rubio doesn't want to play in MN, then there ya go, he'd be goin to NY (Brooklyn), which in turn could be another lure for bronny-bron. Yet so would Wall....

ramblings.

At any rate, I think we should FIND a way to select two top-ten players this year. It is a strong draft!

PS Flash;
I would be happy with only Turner as well...(I'm just bein greedy)

SlimPickens wrote:
Maybe we could get three top ten picks, as long Kahn is here everything is possible

SlimPickens wrote:
I agree. One of these days Kahn is going to have to cash in our assets, and the draft looks like the best way to turn this around. We aren't going to cash in like the Celtics did and trade for two HOFers. Plus the draft is probably the easiest/best way to build a winning team.

If we can get Wall + another Top 10 player our team could really go somewhere...

Flash wrote:
That's the spirit!

College Wolf wrote:
Wall + A bag of Doritos at 15 + A Diet Coke with lime at 24 = Awesome day for the Wolves.

pants wrote:
Works for me!