John Shurna was arguably the best player in Northwestern history.

He's the Wildcats' all-time leading scorer. He's been a third-team, second-team and first-team All Big Ten player. He's led the conference in scoring. He holds a host of individual game scoring, shooting and rebounding records.

In short, John Shurna was Northwestern's best hope to break into the NCAA Tournament for the first time. And as he leaves, so goes the hope of ending that streak for the foreseeable future.

A fantastic high school career was barely noticed. Shurna set school records at Glenbard West with averages of 22.9 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game. He was twice named special mention All State by the Chicago Tribune. Still, neither RIvals nor Scout had Shurna in their rankings at all. ESPN listed him as the 53rd best power forward in the country.

But it became clear early that the Wildcats had more than what was advertised.

Shurna dropped 17 while grabbing nine rebounds and blocking three shots against Texas A&M Corpus Christi in November of his freshman year. By the time the season was over he would score 16 or more four more times. In February, the baby-faced assassin endeared himself to all Northwestern fans forever when he hit a 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds left to beat Ohio State.

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Northwestern and its fans have been through all kinds of agony this season with regards to close losses that were almost victories that almost led to the school's first ever NCAA bid. Finally on Tuesday night, the Wildcats were on the winning side of a very important basketball game. John Shurna's clutch three-pointer with 1:34 to go proved to be the difference as Northwestern survived Alex Abreu's last second jump shot attempt to win 76-74.

Yesterday I wrote about how Bill Carmody gets flak for, among other things, not pushing the right buttons at the end of games. However, in this one, he acted very smartly by having his team foul Akron's Quincy Diggs with the 'Cats up by three and just under four seconds on the clock.

Diggs was forced to miss the second free throw after he made the first. Sure, Northwestern failed to get the rebound and ended up giving Akron one more chance, but the point is Carmody orchestrated the strategy correctly and should be commended for that. It doesn't matter if you agree that fouling there is the right thing to do. The point is that he instructed his team to do it, and it was executed properly so that Akron did not have enough time to go down the floor one more time.

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Over in Iowa City, the NIT bid the Hawkeyes received is seen as a stepping stone on the path to greater things. It is a fun way to end Fran McCaffery's second season as head coach and a special encore for departing senior Matt Gatens.

In Evanston, things are more than a little different. Northwestern has now qualified for the NIT and not the NCAA Tournament for four years in a row and it's beginning to look like this is the ceiling for teams coached by Bill Carmody. This season was especially disappointing because of how talented the frontcourt pair of John Shurna and Drew Crawford are. Should Northwestern supporters be glad that Carmody has been able to field competent teams consistently or upset that he hasn't been able to get into the dance?

Northwestern blogger Lake the Posts brings up both sides of the Carmody debate while mulling over the classic stay-or-go question that every troubled fanbase has to go through. At first, Carmody loses points because he has failed to draw up winning plays in the close games that Northwestern has lost this season.

You can almost throw a dart at any of the close losses this season and really put the coaching tactics under the microscope. It’s more than a philosophical should you call a TO vs letting the team take the last shot in flow type of thing. Bill Carmody for years has been known as a lethal coach coming out of timeouts when he can design an out of bounds play. That went by the wayside in close games this year.

It's really tough to pin the blame of a tough loss on the coach. I usually blame the coach when my team appears to fall asleep against a lesser opponent or gets wiped out in a big game, but close games can come down to any number of things. A bounce of the basketball, a controversial block/charge call, or one missed free throw are all things that can change a one possession game. I'd be quicker to praise Carmody for getting to overtime with Michigan twice than to blame him for his less talented team not pulling through.

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If you missed the Ohio State vs. Northwestern game last night, you missed some real life epicness. Desperately needing a win over the Buckeyes to secure an NCAA Tournament bid, Northwestern refused to give up even when it trailed by 12 points with just 5:39 remaining in the second half.

With 2:42 to go, JerShon Cobb found freshman Dave Sobolewski wide open in the corner for a three-pointer that made the score 73-68 Ohio State. Two possessions later, with Northwestern down just 73-70 and 21 seconds left, Reggie Hearn missed a hook shot in the lane that was rebounded by Deshaun Thomas. Just when it looked like the 'Cats were done, Cobb swooped in and ripped the ball from Thomas to give the Purple and Black another chance.

After a timeout, Northwestern of course tried to get the ball to John Shurna, who would finish the game with 22 points, but Ohio State denied him the ball. Instead, it was Alex Marcotullio who ended up with the ball in his hands with time winding down. Despite only having 3 points on 1 of 4 shooting up until that point, Marcotullio showed some serious guts and launched a 28-footer in an attempt to tie the score.

Amazingly, the shot went in. If Bill Raftry was announcing the game, he would perhaps have asked for a double order of ONIONS! Poor us, all we got was Gus...

Unfortunately for Northwestern, Marcotullio's incredible shot went through the hoop with plenty of time left for Ohio State to respond (7.3 seconds to be exact). Thad Matta drew up a brilliant play and Aaron Craft threw a perfect lob to Jared Sullinger for the go-ahead layup with 3 seconds left. John Shurna was able to get a last attempt from just past midcourt, but the ball hit the front of the rim, and Northwestern once again fell short.

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Northwestern beat Seton Hall Sunday night to win the Charleston Classic, and bring their record to 4-0. The season is still young, but there is reason to be optimistic in Evanston. After a home win over lowly Texas - Pan American, the Wildcats took care of LSU and Tulsa before reaching the finals. What have we learned about NU in their first few games?

They have looked good so far, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
It is still very early in the season. Forgive us for not writing the "This could be their year to finally make the tournament" posts until conference play is underway. The Cats have looked pretty good against some respectable teams, but they have done this before. Last year NU won their first eight games, with the highlights being wins over Creighton and Georgia Tech. They couldn't sustain that momentum when conference play started and the season ended in the NIT.

That being said, Northwestern's performance in the CC was pretty impressive. The teams they beat in the tournament aren't likely to crack the Top 25 anytime soon, but winning at a neutral site against teams from mostly-solid conferences is nothing to sneeze at. It is a good start, but I don't think there are too many NU fans who are taking an NCAA berth for granted after a few games.

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Coach Bill Carmody has led Northwestern to the postseason the last three years, which is the first such streak in their history. There are different levels of postseason though, and the Wildcat faithful are looking for something more than an NIT bid this year. Northwestern has the distinction of being the only school from a major conference that has never been to the dance. Sippin' on Purple had a few posts last year about this if you're interested in seeing the list.

Northwestern had a losing record in conference play last year, but a couple of very close losses against powerhouse Ohio State showed that this team could hang with anyone. If the Cats are going to make some noise this year, it will be without last year's point guard and floor leader Juice Thompson. Thompson averaged over 37 minutes and 16 points per game and his shoes will be hard to fill.

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Northwestern fans are probably sick of being reminded of it, but the fact remains that the Wildcats have never been to the NCAA tournament. Point guard and team leader Juice Thompson graduated last year, but there is a lot of talent returning from last year's 20-14 team. Senior sharpshooter John Shurna, hand-gesturing center Luka Mirkovic and guards JerShon Cobb and Alex Marcotullio look to lead the Cats to a postseason that doesn't involve the NIT.

Northwestern will first have to make it through a reasonably difficult non-conference schedule and the always-tough conference games. In the early going, they will face LSU on a neutral site, as well as Georgia Tech in Atlanta. There are also a fair amount of what should be easy wins, but Baylor has had some good teams recently. Facing Creighton in Omaha should give the Cats a pretty good road test before the conference games start.

Northwestern only has to play Michigan State and Wisconsin once in the conference, which should boost their chances for a respectable record. The downside of that is that the Cats only play Indiana and Nebraska once as well. It looks like the conference schedule is fairly well-balanced. The toughest stretch looks to be in January with games against Illinois, Michigan State and Purdue at home, and road trips to Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.

Click on to see Northwestern's full schedule.

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The quality of basketball player recruited by Northwestern has increased dramatically in recent years. Still, the Wildcats have yet to see their first NCAA tournament bid.  

In 11 years under Carmody, NU has gone from perennial cellar-dwellers to back-to-back 20-win campaigns. As Jay Sharman of Lake the Posts describes it, fans are left in two distinct groups when assessing Carmody's performance.

"The two camps are the half-full folks who point to an unprecedented three straight NIT appearances and first ever 20-win seasons that he's now accomplished in back-to-back years," he said. "The more jaded folks like myself are pointing to a joke of a non-conference schedule philosophy that inflates the win total. And, more importantly, 11 seasons in and we really have only moved the needle from cellar dwellar to slightly below average in conference. We're competitive, but most of us question Carmody's ability to get us to break through to the big dance for the first time ever."

Current assistant coach and former player Tavaras Hardy is largely responsible for raising the bar.

"NU didn't recruit anybody resembling a Big Ten athlete in the time before Hardy came back to recruit for his former coach," Sippin' on Purple's Rodger Sherman said. "Since we've been able to land some genuinely talented players such as John Shurna, Hardy's former AAU player Drew Crawford and JerShon Cobb - all of whom, you know, are, like, good at basketball."

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