Evan Turner of Ohio State wins 34th John R. Wooden Award
Buckeye junior caps successful season with college basketball’s top honor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, April 9, 2010

LOS ANGELES—Evan Turner of Ohio State is the 2010 John R. Wooden Award winner as the college basketball player of the year. The announcement was made at The Los Angeles Athletic Club this evening and streamed live on CBS College Sports Network. Blake Griffin, the 2009 Wooden Award winner who now plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, made the announcement and presented Turner with the Wooden Award trophy whose unique design was inspired by Coach Wooden’s idea of the “total basketball player.”

Turner averaged 20.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in 2010 as his Buckeye team reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and won the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles. A 6-7 junior from Chicago Ill., he was the Big Ten Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player in the Big Ten Tournament. 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).

Balloting by more than 1,000 members of the media and college basketball experts was conducted through the weekend of the Elite Eight. Voters selected 10 players for the John R. Wooden Award All American team from the 27 student-athletes listed on the ballot, and ranked them from 1 to 10. Voters were asked to take into account performance during the regular season and postseason, as well as a player’s character and academic record. All players on the ballot were certified as maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA at their current school, including the most recent semester.

Turner had 3,715 points, followed by John Wall of Kentucky with 3,331 and Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson with 1,871. Turner joins a distinguished group of Wooden Award winners, including Michael Jordan (North Carolina), Ralph Sampson (Virginia), Tim Duncan (Wake Forest), Kevin Durant (Texas) and Larry Bird (Indiana State). Turner is the first Ohio State player to win the Award; Greg Oden was a finalist in 2007.

In addition to the Player of the Year Award, The Los Angeles Athletic Club also presented Florida Men’s Basketball Coach Billy Donovan with the John R. Wooden Award Legends of Coaching honor. The John R. Wooden Award in the women’s category was announced as well, and it went to Connecticut’s Tina Charles. The Award announcement caps a full day for the Wooden Award All Americans: Turner and fellow finalists John Wall (16.6 points, 6.4 assists, set the school single season assist record with 241) and Wesley Johnson (the 2010 Big East Player of the Year, 16.5 ppg, 8.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists), coached in a Special Olympics basketball tournament on the Wooden Court at the LAAC during the morning.

About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the All-American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps in the Award’s name. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament.

John R. Wooden Award Winners
1977 Marques Johnson University of California, Los Angeles
1978 Phil Ford University of North Carolina
1979 Larry Bird Indiana State University
1980 Darrell Griffith University of Louisville
1981 Danny Ainge Brigham Young University
1982 Ralph Sampson University of Virginia
1983 Ralph Sampson University of Virginia
1984 Michael Jordan University of North Carolina
1985 Chris Mullin Saint John’s University
1986 Walter Berry Saint John’s University
1987 David Robinson United States Naval Academy
1988 Danny Manning University of Kansas
1989 Sean Elliott University of Arizona
1990 Lionel Simmons La Salle University
1991 Larry Johnson University of Nevada, Las Vegas
1992 Christian Laettner Duke University
1993 Calbert Cheaney Indiana University
1994 Glenn Robinson Purdue University
1995 Ed O’Bannon University of California, Los Angeles
1996 Marcus Camby University of Massachusetts
1997 Tim Duncan Wake Forest University
1998 Antawn Jamison University of North Carolina
1999 Elton Brand Duke University
2000 Kenyon Martin University of Cincinnati
2001 Shane Battier Duke University
2002 Jason Williams Duke University
2003 T.J. Ford University of Texas
2004 Jameer Nelson St. Joseph’s
2005 Andrew Bogut University of Utah
2006 J.J. Redick Duke University
2007 Kevin Durant University of Texas
2008 Tyler Hansbrough University of North Carolina
2009 Blake Griffin University of Oklahoma
2010 Evan Turner Ohio State University