McCamey has a fan, friend in Turner

INDIANAPOLIS -- Illinois guard Demetri McCamey and Ohio State forward Evan Turner were teammates in high school at St. Joseph in Westchester.

They also were close to playing at the same college until Turner selected the Buckeyes over the Illini during the summer of 2006.

"We were thinking about it, but when it boiled down to it, I just thought Ohio State was the place for me and Illinois was the place for him," the 6-foot-6 Turner said. "We had good times together, but everything comes to an end."

Turner is averaging 8.2 points and 4.2 rebounds. He had 6 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal in 32 minutes in the Buckeyes' 67-60 loss to Michigan State Friday.

"I talked to him (McCamey) yesterday after his win (against Penn State)," Turner said. "We talk three times a week. I've been following him a lot -- see how he's doing, hopefully he's playing to his potential. He's had a pretty good year for a freshman. He's had some big games, shows that he's good, shows a lot more potential and shows the stardom that I know he has in them."

Turner said that a couple hours before McCamey played that star role with 26 points in Illinois' 74-67 win over Purdue.

St. Joseph struggled this year without the two Big Ten players, losing to Wheaton St. Francis in the Class 3A regional finals.

"That was crazy," said Turner, who said he calls in after every St. Joe game and considers their Hall of Fame coach Gene Pingatore "a special guy, a real important guy in my life."

"Coach Pingatore said they were practicing like that and it was going to be their last game. When I get back home, I am going to talk them about how you can't take winning for granted."

Bubble burst? ESPN's Joe Lunardi had the Buckeyes one of the last four teams in the NCAA field Friday morning. That was before Ohio State's 67-60 loss to Michigan State.

Turner and his teammates will be sweating Sunday while they wait to find out if there's a spot for the 19-13 Buckeyes in the NCAA field.

"I still think that is a team worthy of playing in another game in the NCAA, and I hope they do," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

Great defense or miserable offense? Wisconsin set a tournament record by holding Michigan to 34 points Friday in the first quarterfinal. The Wolverines shot 20 percent from the field.

It also marked the first time the Badgers won as a No. 1 seed; they were upset the other two teams they entered the Big Ten Tournament as the top seed.