John Shurna off to a great start this season -- and Valley scoring stats, and more...

Last night Northwestern's John Shurna had another tremendous game...going 10-11 from the floor - despite a horrible (for him, relatively) night at the FT line, going only 4-10!
Shurna had 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists..
He has only scored fewer than 20 points once this season (17 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff when he was rested the final 10 minutes)
he is hitting 64.3% of all his shots, including 64.5% on his 3-pt attempts (20-31)

So just how did so many other schools miss on this guy??

He was rated only 1-2 Stars coming out of Glenbard West in Class of 2008...
Many of the major recruiting services never mentioned the guy's name until he verballed to Northwestern...and some didn't even have Shurna in the top 20 players in Illinois.
Here- he's ranked #24 in Illinois behind kids who never even made it to D-I basketball...(Chris Parrish, Supo Sanni, Byron Woods..)
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=27285&postcount=1

Also -- one other experts who always gets every other prediction right on......
...didn't have Shurna in his Top 20...and said he was maybe "Top 50"....I guess Shurna posted this one on his bulletin board!

Here's the quote:
"Shurna is a bit overrated to me. I think he fit the Illinois Wolves system very well which helped him with the offer from Northwestern. He'll do solid in their system but will be an average player at their school. He's undersized for a 4-man but is skilled. I'd give him top 50"

So, Top 50 in Illinois, huh??? Maybe time to rethink this........

In spring of 2008, Shurna verballed to Northwestern the exact same day as long time friend and AAU (Illinois Wolves) teammate Nic Fruendt also verballed to Northwestern...and Fruendt was ranked #8 in Illinois.
And his only other offers came from Army, Davidson, Loyola, and Washington State...meaning that current BU assistant Jim Platt knew what he was doing!!

Here's an old article about the Illinois Wolves from April of 2007, just before Shurna's senior season at Glenbard West...
http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=664159

..and Shurna gets a fairly brief mention noting only that he's got interest but still no offers at that time!

But clearly there's one guy who knew about John Shurna and who was 100% convinced he not only had the talent to play at top levels of D-I but also to excel and be a star...
Check these quotes out......

"As soon as Ohio State junior Evan Turner began to dominate college basketball, Illinois Wolves club coach Mike Mullins knew it was just a matter of time before Northwestern sophomore John Shurna would do the same.

Mullins coached both players in high school and has noticed an eerie similarity between the two. Both are quiet and polite. Both are nearly the same height (Turner 6-foot-7, Shurna 6-. Both can shoot, dribble and drive. Both gradually improved in high school and blew up as seniors. Both ended up in the Big Ten. Both showed glimpses of their abilities as freshmen and stepped up as sophomores when a star teammate was injured (David Lighty for Turner, Kevin Coble for Shurna). Now with Shurna's emergence this season, both have become premier college players."

"Both of them are extremely nice-looking kids and well-mannered, but they have an assassin's heart when it comes to the game," Mullins said. "They're very versatile and multiskilled. They can beat you in all the different areas of the court offensively and defensively. You look at them as sophomores, and people are surprised when you challenge them, and they bite back real hard."

Shurna's game has evolved, and Mullins expects that development to continue like Turner's.

"John is capable of carrying a team on his back," Mullins said. "He did it in high school. He did with us. He's capable of putting up double-doubles every night, big scoring games, big rebounding games.
"I think John has a chance to play professionally for a long time."

These are AAU coach Mike Mullins' words some time before Shurna burst onto the scene as a clear-cut star...so obviously Mullins knew something a lot of other people did not figure out 'til lately!
http://is.gd/iKbKk

Before he ever had an offer...Mike Mullins was singing Shurna's praises saying he'd be able to play at a high D-I level, and even be a pro!

Discuss further right here --
http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=17125



Did you know ---
there hasn't been a 20 ppg scorer in the Valley or even anyone close since Tarise Bryson averaged 22 ppg in 2000-2001.
(although Danny Granger was averaging 19.s ppg after 14 games into the 2002-2003 season, when he left Bradley (and the Valley) thus voiding his stats and making them ineligible for the league's official numbers.

Even Kyle Korver's best year was 17.7 ppg!

Here are the Valley leaders every year this past decade--

2009-2010 Osiris Eldridge 15.5 ppg
2008-2010 Shy Ely 18.9 ppg
2007-2008 Josh Young 15.9
2006-2007 Nate Funk 17.7
2005-2006 Blake Ahearn 16.2
2004-2005 Ben Jacobson 17.9
2003-2004 Darren Brooks 16.5
2002-2003 Phillip Gilbert 18.9
2001-2002 Luke McDonald 17.9


Here are the country's current top scorers-
http://is.gd/iKd3k

NIU's Xavier Silas is #2
Most of the top scorers are from small schools in low-major conferences
Shurna is #11 with 23 ppg
Note Michael Glover at #16- maybe he is good!
Note Damien Lillard at #20- he is a kid Bradley recruited.
E'Tuawn Moore is the #2 player in the Big Ten at 20.6 ppg
Will Clyburn of Utah is #43, tied with Noah Dahlman of Wofford
Andrew Warren is on page 2- #80 in the country and #1 in the MVC with 17.7 ppg.



Most people anywhere close to Peoria know or know of Pete Vonachen, and Pete is a great Bradley fan -- having season tix for 40 years going back to the 60's..and the past 28 years at Carver Arena..

Pete is the subject of a Phil Luciano column this morning...Pete has been very good for Peoria and sports in Peoria...he is a very nice man, a tireless worker, and a friendly guy..
Pete is in the hospital..
http://is.gd/iKdPZ


Did you see what liberal film maker Michael Moore did...
He gave his money for the purpose of bailing this crook, rapist, and enemy of the United States, and international traitor, Julian Assange, out of jail!
http://is.gd/iKdoq



Did you see the news about what Michelle Obama is saying in the
LATEST NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT??
http://is.gd/iKcgt

"childhood obesity isn’t just a public health threat, it’s not just an economic threat, it’s a national security threat as well."

She spoke yesterday at a news conference and said that childhood obesity is a "national security threat"!!
Ahem.......most intelligent commentators are saying this is a little bit of a reach at best, and a flat out delusion at worst!