A collegiate triple-double is an Ark of the Covenant kind of thing; you don't really know what power could be lurking when it shows up, and there's a pretty good chance that it'll melt your face right off should you stare directly at one. What JaQuan Lyle was able to accomplish against Rutgers wasn't just pretty awesome, it was a rare glimpse into the secret world of Buckeye triple-doubles, a club which membership has traditionally signified being a really, really damn good basketball player.
Dennis Hopson, Evan Turner (twice!), and D'Angelo Russell are the only other Ohio State players to accomplish this feat, and all three went on to have incredible seasons and careers in the Buckeye uniform. I'm no statistician, but given that the ratio of triple-doubles to kickass basketball players seems to be 1:1, I have a good feeling about what Lyle might be capable of for the rest of the season. It's also a good boost for a player that had been wildly inconsistent on the court so far this year; he's followed up an 18 point game by scoring three points or less in the next contest twice this year already, but in the past four games he's averaging 16.5 points, 6.5 assists, and 7.25 rebounds per contest.
It's hard to extrapolate what this means for the rest of Lyle's season. As a freshman, he's especially vulnerable to the kind of ups and downs that comes with adjusting to the college game, and these difficulties will become magnified as the Big Ten season wears on and the lumps he takes racks up. This means that it's entirely possible that the past four games are a spicy aberration and not particularly sustainable. But what if it is? People don't just pull triple-doubles out of nowhere, and as we're about to see, at Ohio State they've often come about through a combination of some very real talent and some very bad opponents.
DENNIS HOPSON- 1986
Dennis Hopson is one of the most underrated Ohio State athletes of all time. His assault on the Buckeye record books is legendary, and was the type of all around player that Thad Matta would use to great effectiveness with guys like Evan Turner or Jared Sullinger.
On December 4th, 1986, Hopson helped Ohio State take the Ohio Bobcats to the woodshed, 96-75, by adding 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. This was the first of three Ohio teams that the Buckeyes would play in the 1986-87 season; they would go on to beat Bowling Green soundly but then lose to Dayton. That'd be a theme, as Ohio State in 1986-87 was all about three steps forward, two steps back. Though Hopson would eventually win Big Ten Player of the Year and become second team All-America, their 19-13 season came to an end in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Georgetown.
EVAN TURNER- 2009
Turner's two triple doubles in 2009 came within just a few weeks of each other, and they were both accomplished under similar circumstances. In the first game of the season against Alcorn State (a school so inconsequential that they misspelled "Acorn" and just said the hell with it), The Villain had 14 points, 17 rebounds, and 10 assists, and afterwards said probably the most self-effacing thing he's ever uttered in his entire life:
"That's cool. It's real cool to get a triple-double and to be in the same company as a great player like Dennis Hopson," Turner said after going 6 of 12 from the field and adding two blocked shots and two steals in 30 minutes.
"HOPSON IS GARBAGE," thought Turner, probably, while he gave the above rote reply to a question about the historical nature of his performance. But really, the best thing about Evan Turner, supremely self-assured human being, is that from time to time is that he also had the incredible ability to back up his swagger. So his second triple-double, which came against Lipscomb (also probably just a made up name) on November 25th, wasn't too much of a shock. In that game, Turner scored 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists as the Buckeyes rolled, and for the season he'd go on to average over 20 points per game, win National Player of the Year, and take Ohio State to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament.
D'ANGELO RUSSELL- 2015
Against Rutgers last season, Russell dropped in 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, as the Buckeyes went on to crush the Scarlet Knights 79-60. It was a fairly uneventful game in general, but in a beautiful bit of symmetry, Jake Lorbach ascended into heaven to take his place among the angels by recording a Trillion. Look upon this box score! Truly glorious.
Russell, for his part, averaged over 19 points on the season and is now making a living watching the desiccated corpse of Kobe Bryant shamble around a basketball court.
Time will tell if JaQuan Lyle's triple-double is predictive of an excellent season in the same vein of what we saw from Hopson, Turner, and Russell. All three are Buckeye legends, and it's going to be extremely difficult to step into their shoes. Still, given the makeup, age, and overall experience of the team in the 2015-16 season, Lyle should have plenty of opportunities to add to the record books.
