[Buckskin86]

Class of 2007 St. Joseph High School Star Evan Turner Is Off The Board! Head Coach Thad Matta And The Ohio State Buckeyes Score Yet Another Recruiting Coup


Brian Stinnette
June 29, 2006

Email Questions/Comments To brian@chicagohoops.com


Today, Class of 2007 St. Joseph High School star Evan Turner gave a verbal commitment to play his college basketball for head coach Thad Matta, and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Turner, who plays on the summer basketball circuit with the Illinois Wolves, has emerged as one of the top 2007 basketball prospects in the United States.

Turner, who stands 6-6, currently ranks among the Top 25 Class of 2007 prospects in the country. He is a dazzling combination of both size and versatility. Last season, at St. Joseph High School, Turner teamed with Jon Peoples (Notre Dame) and fellow 2007 star Demetri McCamey to form the top trio in the state of Illinois.

Turner's biggest strength is his versatility on the basketball court. A "Scottie Pippen" type of player, Turner routinely shifts between the 1, 2 and 3 slots on the basketball court.

Turner's selection of Ohio State ends a recruiting frenzy that saw Turner field scholarship offers from better than 15 other high-major programs including DePaul, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Wake Forest and Indiana to name a few. He spent a good portion of today calling the head coaches of the other programs involved in his recruitment.

Turner becomes the third member of the Illinois Wolves program to make a verbal commitment. 6-8 post Carlton Fay (Putnam County) is verballed to Chris Lowery and Southern Illinois University, and 6-0 point guard Sam Maniscalco is verballed to Jim Les and Bradley University.

Matta, and Ohio State are sizzling on the recruiting trail. The Ohio State Class of 2006 includes a trio of McDonald's All-American's in Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Daequan Cook, and highly regarded David Lighty, 6-9 Othello Hunter and 6-10 Kyle Madsen.

In addition to Turner, Ohio State's Class of 2007 includes 7-1 Kosta Koufos, 6-9 Dallas Lauderdale and 6-6 Jon Diebler. The Buckeye's also have Class of 2008 verbals from 7-0 B.J. Mullens from Columbus Ohio, and 6-3 Walter Offut from Indianapolis.

http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles...ercommits.html