Steve Shurina

we are sju

Active member
Why am I posting about a guy from 30 years ago that barely played? Well when I was a kid we used to go to the games early so we could watch warmups. Naturally I would pay particular attention to whatever Berry, Jackson, Glass and Shelton Jones were doing. So one time my dad asks me" who is number 40?" I had to look it up in the program and saw it was Steve Shurina. I asked why? Well my dad said he noticed the kid had not missed one jumper during the entire warmup. That then became a thing with me and my dad. We would watch to see if Shurina would ever miss a shot in warmups. He rarely did, His career did not amount to much, Louie would put him in, he would play scared, miss a shot and get taken out.

Why am I bringing up Shurina? I went to my first game this year yesterday. I made my dad go and told him the seats were really good and beer was on me. Yes you have to bribe people to go ST John's games this year. Well as was our tradition we got there early and watched warmups. At one point my dad says wow, not one Shurina on the court today. I was watching the same thing. You know no one made more than a jumper or two in a row the whole warmup. You can go to a HS game and see better wide open shooting. Obviously not breaking news that this team is not good and can't shoot but it is now amazing to me that they actually won 8 games. Maybe Mullin should get some BE coach of the year votes.

Btw, I know everyone thinks that by making him the worlds smallest shooting guard all of Mussini's problems will go away. Besides his physical limitations, I do believe that his shooting was overated to begin with. I do not think he will have a big role next year.
 
Shurina has a Sophomore daughter playing at East Meadow HS here on LI. Best player on the team this year and the next two. Officiated her first game this past season. Delightful young lady.
 
Shurina has a Sophomore daughter playing at East Meadow HS here on LI. Best player on the team this year and the next two. Officiated her first game this past season. Delightful young lady.

Her father was the best warmup shooter in the history of basketball.
 
Nice post. I also enjoy watching warm-ups. For what it's worth, I do think guys can improve shooting.

Anyone who watched warm-ups last year witnessed Phil Greene setting-up in the corner and sinking 3s with impressive consistency. He was not as good as a freshman.
 
I like getting to games early to watch warm ups too. However, it is pretty close to useless in terms of evaluating talent, especially in game shooting talent.. It's like watching a boxer pound the heavy bag. Then he gets in the ring and someone is hitting back. A lot different.
 
very tough getting to an msg weekend early afternoon game early when they won't open the beer sales till 12pm :)
 
Agree that warmups are pretty useless to rate players at this level. Hitting wide open unguarded shots has very little correlation to game situations. To that extent watching videos of hs players knocking down shot after shot when they have a second or more to square up doesn't mean they can do that in college when you often have considerably less time.

I met Shurina at an SJU event a few years back. I believe he was coach at Western Carolina State or something like that, where his teams had a pretty horrendous record. At the time I met him he had relocated to the Orlando area of Fla where he had some business success getting in early on short sales real estate there. Not sure if he has relocated to LI (I think he had gone to St. Francis Prep) or just that his kid is here.

Wish him well - he seemed like nice enough of a guy. I'm sure one of our resident statisticians can check, but I believe he was given a shot during his time here to get some serious playing time. All in all I thought he was one of those local Catholic HS guys that SJU gave scholarships to curry favor with HS coaches when a top recruit came along - kind of an Eddie Kennedy type.
 
I like getting to games early to watch warm ups too. However, it is pretty close to useless in terms of evaluating talent, especially in game shooting talent.. It's like watching a boxer pound the heavy bag. Then he gets in the ring and someone is hitting back. A lot different.

Understood which was the point about Shurina. The problem with this team is those guys were missing uncontested jumpers pretty regularly. I think the guy they pulled out of the stands that kept shooting airball free throws had a better make %
 
I like getting to games early to watch warm ups too. However, it is pretty close to useless in terms of evaluating talent, especially in game shooting talent.. It's like watching a boxer pound the heavy bag. Then he gets in the ring and someone is hitting back. A lot different.

Understood which was the point about Shurina. The problem with this team is those guys were missing uncontested jumpers pretty regularly. I think the guy they pulled out of the stands that kept shooting airball free throws had a better make %

While good shooting in practice is pretty meaningless, the inability to even make even 50% of open shots in practice probably says something.

On the Mussini front, I was one of the first posters (and got reemed for it) to suggest his height and lack of speed was going to cause problems for him once opponents catch on. However he does have a very quick release, and I am going to say that right now problem is as much between his ears as anything. His confidence is shot, and there's no reason to elieve he cannot knock down open shots and over a zone the way he did earlier in the season - especially when surrounded by a better supporting cast.
 
Nice post. I also enjoy watching warm-ups. For what it's worth, I do think guys can improve shooting.

Anyone who watched warm-ups last year witnessed Phil Greene setting-up in the corner and sinking 3s with impressive consistency. He was not as good as a freshman.

You could actually tell if Phil Greene was going to have a good game by his warmups. There were a few times where he was off during warmups and then did nothing during the game. It was obvious he worked hard on his shot during his time here. He turned into a very good stand still shooter. Was not nearly as effective when trying to shoot off the dribble.
 
We have always been a warm-up shooting challenged team which as translated into a poor outside shooting, 3 point shooting, and free throw shooting team. I have been going to SJU games for over 40 years and the opposing team always out shoots in warm-ups.
 
SJU's success has always seemed to be built on athletic players who were scorers rather than pure shooters. Tony Jackson and Mullin are two exceptions to this rule.
The three point shot rule has hurt SJU considerably because we rarely make them and at least for the past five can't seem to defend them.
 
I saw the title of this post and just had to respond. I played in grade school and high school against Steve. He played at St Sebastien and then St Francis Prep. When I got to St Johns as a freshman student Steve was in some of my classes and we hung out a bit. He was and I am sure still is a good dude. He never played much at SJU but I he certainly had the best seats in the house for some prime time SJU games. Sounds like he actually lives pretty close and I am glad to here it sounds like he is doing pretty well.
 
Shurina has a Sophomore daughter playing at East Meadow HS here on LI. Best player on the team this year and the next two. Officiated her first game this past season. Delightful young lady.


Thanks Delaware
Nice discussion...
Good for the daughter and good for Steve Shurina who had his share of disparaging remarks thrown at him out of the stands.

all the best to father and daughter...
:)
 
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