Butler-Northwestern postmortem

John Shurna so wanted to be able to send the postgame text message.

Northwestern’s sophomore forward and Butler sophomore forward Gordon Hayward roomed together this summer when they (and Butler sophomore guard Shelvin Mack) played for USA Basketball’s gold medal-winning U-19 world championship team.

Before and during No. 11 Butler’s 67-54 win over Northwestern, Shurna and Hayward exchanged verbal jabs and inside jokes. Hayward, apparently, picked up somewhat of a fan club during their stay in New Zealand, so Shurna told him he’d import that fan club to Evanston tonight. When Butler came out to warm up at halftime and didn’t see any available basketballs, Hayward ripped into Shurna for the weak hospitality. And so on and so forth.

“We had a little trash talk,” Hayward said before he boarded Butler’s happy team bus. “It was real fun to get to play John. He’s a good friend of mine now. We’ll keep in touch…and I’ll probably text him a little bit after the game.”

Not only did Hayward get the last word, he got most of the words during the game. While their stat lines weren’t dissimilar (Hayward had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists to Shurna’s 14 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists), Hayward did his thing early and often and more efficiently.

For those who haven't seen the Bulldogs play (it's the same starting five as last year's group that lost in overtime in the NCAA's second round), I was talking to Butler’s veteran beat writer, the Indianapolis Star’s David Woods, and he gave me the perfect comparison player for Hayward: Ohio State’s Evan Turner. They do whatever it takes to help their team win -- and they can pretty much do everything. Hayward, who’s almost 6-foot-9, can get wherever he wants to go with his dribble, he finds open teammates and he definitely can fill it up and rebound.

As for Shurna? He’s still figuring out how to fill Kevin Coble’s role without filling Coble’s role, if you get what I mean. He doesn’t want to force shots or feel like he needs to be the man, but he understands he needs to do things to fill the void.

“I just want to do whatever the team needs,” Shurna said. “If it’s taking more shots, then I’ll do it.”

The hardest part of learning to be Coble-like? Knowing you’ve got to bring it from the jump. Shurna didn’t get his first points until 4:11 remained in the first half. On a night when Butler clamped down on Juice Thompson after 3 early 3-pointers…and freshman Drew Crawford didn’t get into any offensive flow…and Jeremy Nash went from Friday night’s 20-point effort to 2 points tonight…Shurna needed to be the guy.

Or, as NU coach Bill Carmody so bluntly put it, “I thought Shurna had a pretty decent second half, but the game was over. Have a good first half...It seemed like he came to life, but we were down by 12 or 14. It’s a little easier to do that. Guys have got to be ready to go right from the start.”

OTHER STUFF:
--Northwestern announced Wednesday that 6-foot-4 shooting guard JerShon Cobb signed his letter of intent. Cobb, who attends Columbia High School in Atlanta, ranks as the nation’s No. 90 prospect according to Rivals.com. He put up 17.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists last year. He’ll be an important player from the moment he arrives.

--With Cobb the only incoming freshmen, there are still two open scholarships for 2010-11. That means both Kevin Coble and Jeff Ryan could come back…or at least there’s still that option. In other words, just because Northwestern’s official statement about Ryan’s season-ending knee injury didn’t mention anything about a possible redshirt doesn’t mean it’s a done deal that he won’t return. That’s a decision to be made down the road.

--Freshman guard Alex Marcotullio (I keep wanting to type Amontillado as if I’m the sort of dude who reads Edgar Allan Poe) looked like he belonged on the court. While he played many of his 15 minutes after the game became a little more helter-skelter, Marcotullio hit 2 of his 5 3-point tries (as billed). The lefty had 8 points, 1 assist and 1 steal. For those wondering why he didn’t play until junk time on Friday against NIU, Carmody said Marco was recovering from a groin strain that kept him out of practice for awhile. Unless I’m reading the tea leaves incorrectly, look for him to be in the rotation on Sunday against Tennessee State.

--Fellow freshman Drew Crawford, on the other hand, looked as jumpy as Marcotullio was calm. While he had 2 nice blocks defensively, he shot 2 bricks on his pair of 3-point tries. Surely he’s trying to find the sweet spot where he’s playing quickly, but not hurrying. That’s a hard place to get when you’re not experiencing success.

--Junior forward Mike Capocci was the third guy off the bench and played 11 minutes _ his highest total since last year’s opening-day blowout against Central Arkansas. The Glenbard East product had 4 points (including a nice backdoor cut), 1 rebound and 1 assist (a nice backdoor pass). He looked more relaxed than I’ve seen him play. Maybe he, along with Marcotullio, will be the guys who benefit from Coble’s and Ryan’s injuries.

--Juice Thompson played all 40 minutes. That means he has gone79 of a possible 80 minutes so far…and that’s in games that have been decided by 22 and 13 points. He better get his rest and his fluids, because he’s going to lead the Big Ten (if not the nation) in minutes this year.

LW