The Legend of Evan Turner

Not a lot of time to write anything to in depth, but if you follow Gopher Basketball you probably follow Big Ten Basketball and thus you are familiar with Evan Turner, who is basically the key to this game.

Sure, Ohio State has some other good players.  Jon Diebler would probably finish second to Blake in an all Big Ten Three-Point contest (actually, Chris Allen might win - if he didn't he'd finish last) and has put up some really nice games this year.  David Lighty is kind of a Turner-Lite and can do a little bit of everything and William Buford is kind of in-between the two of them.  Dallas Lauderdale is a defensive beast and P.J. Hill is still a douche (although he lit up Eastern Michigan - woo hoo!). 

All of that is very nice, but Evan Turner is what turns this group from a bubble team to a final four contender.  I said it earlier this year and I'm sticking by it - if he comes back all the way, this team could make a March run - he's that good.  He came back from his injury on Wednesday against Indiana and logged 20 minutes in the win, putting up 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists.  I didn't get to watch the game so I don't know how he is playing right now.

This is sort of like the Legend of Boggy Creek, where Turner is a killer Werewolf who might or might not exist.  The Gophers are basically going to the Creek (granted, this works better if the game were in Columbus) and they don't know if the Werewolf is going to be there to rip their collective head off and dine on their sweet, sweet, organs.  Of course, in this case even if the Werewolf doesn't show up there are all kinds of goblins and bugbears who can do some serious damage.

I just don't think the Gophers have quite enough Perseus in them to navigate the Fire Swamp.

Ohio State 75, Gophers 63.

At least Ohio State is fun to watch.