Turner Selected Big Ten’s Best Male Athlete for 2010 – Ohio State Buckeyes
6/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Evan Turner, the 2010 Ohio State Male Athlete of the Year and winner of six national collegiate player of the year awards, was named the 2010 Big Ten Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year, the conference office announced Wednesday.
Turner swept the 2010 college basketball season player of the year awards after claiming the Naismith Trophy and John R. Wooden Award, as well as the Sporting News, USBWA, Associated Press and NABC POY awards. The junior guard also was the Big Ten Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player at the annual Big Ten tournament, which the Buckeyes captured with a win over Minnesota.
Turner averaged 20.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in 2010 as his Buckeye team reached the Sweet 16 of the 2010 NCAA Tournament and won the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles. A 6-7 junior from Chicago, he was the conference’s top scorer and rebounder and ranked No. 2 in assists (6.0, 6th in the nation) and steals (1.7).
Turner declared for the NBA draft and will forego his senior season at Ohio State. He is projected to be a Top 3 pick in the annual draft, which will be held Thursday in New York (7 p.m., ESPN).
In men’s basketball, Ohio State has had three finalists for the Jesse Owens Big Ten Athlete of the Year award. Jim Jackson was a finalist in 1991 and 1992 while Scoonie Penn was up for the honor in 1999.
Big Ten Directors of Athletics approved a recommendation of the league’s sports information directors to establish a Big Ten Athlete of the Year named for Ohio State track legend Jesse Owens. The Big Ten Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year Award began in 1982. A panel of media voters selects the Jesse Owens Award winners each year from among the athletes of the year at each conference school.
Ohio State’s last Jesse Owens Award winner was men’s gymnast Blaine Wilson in 1997. Wilson’s was Ohio State’s second-consecutive and only previous winners of the award prior to Turner. Running Back Eddie George earned the award as a representative of Ohio State’s football team in 1996.
The last men’s basketball player to win the Jesse Owens Award was Purdue’s Glenn Robinson in 1994. The other men’s basketball players to claim the annual league honor are Steve Alford (Indiana, 1987) and Glenn Rice (Michigan, 1989).
For a complete list of past Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year winners, click HERE.
