By not hiring an agent, Shurna leaves open the possibility of returning to Northwestern. He has until May 8th to remove his name from draft consideration; otherwise he will forego his senior season.
"This is an exciting opportunity for John and I fully support his decision," Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody said in a statement. "It's a chance for him to pursue his dream and we look forward to helping him gather information throughout the process."
After a promising start to his junior season, Shurna suffered through a high ankle sprain, and his numbers declined. In January, he suffered a concussion in the Wildcats’ loss to Minnesota. Shurna averaged 16.6 points per game, down from his 18.2 points per game as a sophomore. However, Shurna did improve his three-point field goal percentage as a junior, hitting 43.4% of his shots from beyond the arc as a junior—a 7.9% jump from his sophomore season.
Shurna was named to the Midseason Wooden Award Top 30 and the Naismith Award Watch List. At the end of the season, he was named a Third-Team All-Big Ten selection.
Most importantly, Shurna has been a big part of the Wildcats’ resurgence over the past two seasons, which saw the team post a school-record 20 wins in each season. The 2010-11 season was capped off with a record run to the NIT quarterfinals.
Northwestern has had 23 players selected in the NBA Draft, but only two have been taken in the top-two rounds—the modern draft setup. Most recently, Evan Eschmeyer was selected by the New Jersey Nets in the second round of the 1999 draft.