Northwestern star says his career?s ?a failure? without NCAA bid

For a guy who plays for a star-crossed program that famously has never made the NCAA tournament and until recently had seldom even come close, Northwestern star John Shurna isn't lacking for bravado.

Shurna told the Chicago Tribune his goals for his upcoming senior season recently, and to say the least he's not leaving himself or his teammates much wiggle room.

"It's tournament or bust," he said. "If we don't make it, I'll feel like my career here would be a failure."

Few Northwestern players have made proclamations in such strong words in the past, but Shurna has more reason to be confident than most. In addition to making the NIT in each of Shurna's first three seasons in Evanston, the Wildcats return four starters next season including Shurna, wing Drew Crawford and center Luka Mirkovic.

The biggest question facing Northwestern is how they will replace point guard Michael "Juice" Thompson, the Wildcats' second-leading scorer and the maestro of their Princeton offense. Veteran 3-point marksman Alex Marcotullio is the most likely choice, but promising sophomore JerShon Cobb could see some playing time at point guard, as could incoming freshmen David Sobolewski and Tre Demps.

Shurna bypassed the chance to be a second-round pick in last month's draft to return to Northwestern and take one final shot at being part of the team that ended the school's NCAA tournament drought.

The ankle injury that hampered him much of last season is gone. The Big Ten appears a bit weaker behind Ohio State than it did a year ago at this time. And Shurna is focused on becoming more aggressive than he's been his first three years.

Will that be enough? Early mock brackets have the Wildcats among the field of 68, but we'll have to wait until March to see if they can make that goal a reality.

Tricia Vessey Aki Ross Ashley Tappin Carmen Electra Amanda Marcum

Maryland guard delivers one of the summer?s best highlights

In a renowned Washington, D.C., summer league that routinely features the likes of Kevin Durant, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, it's Maryland guard Pe'Shon Howard who has produced likely the most memorable highlight so far.

The mixtape masters at TheMarsReel.com captured this clip of Howard going between the legs of an opposing defender off the dribble, then feeding a teammate for a transition layup with a sweet behind-the-back pass. It's probably not a sequence new Maryland coach Mark Turgeon wants his sophomore point guard recreating during ACC play next winter, but it's ideal summer league fodder.

That Howard was the Maryland player who pulled off that move will come as no surprise to Terps fans who've grown accustomed to the California native's court vision and swagger. He averaged 3.2 assists per game last season compared to 1.7 turnovers, not bad for a freshman receiving inconsistent playing time.

Howard is one of the jewels of a young Maryland backcourt that will have to carry the Terps in what instantly became a likely rebuilding season when big man Jordan Williams turned pro and coach Gary Williams abruptly retired. The duo of Howard and Terrell Stoglin provides something for Turgeon to build around in the backcourt, but the new coach bluntly admitted to the Baltimore Sun last month that the frontcourt he inherited is mighty thin.

Said Turgeon, "I've taken over programs where the personnel was not where it needed to be, but never at this level."

Samantha Mathis Samantha Morton Grace Park Jill Wagner Susie Castillo

Running Drills With Brian MacKenzie: Part 3

In this series on improving your running performance, join Brian MacKenzie and Doug Katona of CrossFit Endurance as they demonstrate drills utilizing the Pose Method of running.

In Part 2, MacKenzie identified a drill to help train you to move your legs more with your hamstrings than your hip flexors. In Part 3, he provides two more drills to reinforce the concept.

Standing with his back to a wall, Katona practices raising his leg into Pose posture without letting his foot hit the wall. Next Katona turns around and runs in place with his hands against the wall.

MacKenzie also targets the problem of vertical bouncing during Pose running.

“The more vertical oscillation we have, the more up and down we have, and we’re giving away to forward motion,” MacKenzie says. He demonstrates how to correct bouncing by using a tight midline, box jumps, running drills and an overhead cue.

10min 45sec

Video by Again Faster.

Additional reading: The Basics of Pose Running Techniques by Brian MacKenzie, published Dec. 1, 2007.

Jessica White Anna Friel Monica Bellucci Minki van der Westhuizen Katharine Towne

Winning the Open: Part 2

Dan Bailey finished first overall in the Reebok CrossFit Games Open, edging out Josh Bridges by just one point. Watch the story of his success and how he confronted Workout 11.6 three times in just two days in hopes of securing the win.

In Part 1 of the series, Bailey attempted 11.6 for the first time on Saturday and ended up with a score of 139 reps. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to earn him first place in the Open, so he was forced to retry the workout on Sunday.

In Part 2, Bailey gives 11.6 another go.

No stranger to hard work, the former collegiate track star knows being an elite CrossFitter demands commitment.

“I knew how much work it was going to take,” he says. “I knew how much work it took for me to be good at track to get a scholarship, and it’s like it’s not going to take anything less than that to be good here in CrossFit.”

After another grueling attempt at workout 11.6, Bailey earns 144 reps. But that still isn’t enough to top the leaderboard. With only hours remaining before the deadline, he prepares himself for a final Sunday-evening attempt to claim the top spot.

18min 50sec

HD file size: 689 MB
SD wmv file size: 234 MB
SD mov file size: 204 MB

Please note: These files are larger than normal Journal videos. For smoother viewing, please download the entire file to your hard drive before watching it (right-click and choose Save Link As...).

Additional reading: Catching Up With Dan Bailey.

Carmen Electra Amanda Marcum Leila Arcieri Kate Mara Izabella Scorupco

The Stance

Before a lift, you have all the time in the world to put your athlete in the correct stance. Once the athlete squeezes the bar off the ground, you’re out of the picture and the athlete has to find the receiving position on his or her own.

Ideally, the receiving position is the same every time, which will produce consistent mechanics required for successful lifts. In reality, athletes have trouble landing where they should, which changes the lift and often results in a miss.

The cure is in practice—perfect practice.

In this session, Coach Mike Burgener drills his athletes on footwork mechanics, dealing with donkey kicks, wide landings and all the other faults that can get in the way of a perfect Olympic lift. Once the proper landing position is ingrained in each athlete, he or she has a great foundation from which to receive the snatch, clean or push jerk, or to perform the back squat, front squat or overhead squat.

“Jump! Check your feet! Squat!”

11min 36sec

Additional reading: Burg’s Eye View No. 2 by Mike Burgener, published Dec. 8, 2010.

Melissa Sagemiller Roselyn Sanchez Soft Cell Beyoncé Nelly Furtado

UCLA?s hire of Korey McCray makes a quick recruiting impact

UCLA's gamble to pluck an assistant coach from Georgia's top AAU program appears to be paying off so far.

Small forward Jordan Adams, Rivals.com's No. 69 prospect in the Class of 2012, announced Monday evening that he will follow former Atlanta Celtics coach and CEO Korey McCray to Westwood. The Georgia native chose the Bruins over Memphis, Georgia and Miami in part because of McCray's presence.

"It was a big factor," Adams told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. "I've been playing for Coach McCray since I was 12 or 13 years old. I used to always work out with him. He helped me get to where I am now as a basketball player. If it wasn't for [McCray], I wouldn't be this good and none of these college coaches would be recruiting me."

UCLA hopes Adams isn't the last prospect with ties to Georgia or the Atlanta Celtics to decide to come West. The Bruins are also recruiting power forward Shaquille Goodwin, another Celtic who is Georgia's top high school player and Rivals.com's No. 13 prospect in the Class of 2012.

That the Bruins are making inroads with national prospects is a departure from the past few years when coach Ben Howland's recruiting has tailed off.

In particular, UCLA has struggled to find its heir apparent at point guard, failing to secure elite prospects such as Quinn Cook (Duke), Jahii Carson (Arizona State), Josiah Turner (Arizona) and Ray McCallum (Detroit). As a result of that and a flurry of early departures at other positions, the Bruins have had to comb the recruiting scrap heap the past few springs and have even resorted to signing a pair of junior college prospects.

The hiring of McCray this spring represents Howland acknowledging his staff has lacked an assistant who was a strong out-of-state recruiter since Kerry Keating left to become Santa Clara's head coach after the second of UCLA's three straight Final Fours. McCray's ties to the high school and AAU scene in the Southeast promise to be invaluable, though it often causes outsiders to overlook that he brings more to the table.

A former starting point guard at Mercer College, McCray coached at his alma mater and at a Florida junior college and served as a graduate assistant at Florida State. He also helped train former No. 1 overall picks Dwight Howard and John Wall prior to the NBA draft.

Ultimately, however, the hire of McCray will be judged on his ability to influence players to come to UCLA. So far he's off to a quick start.

Magdalena Wróbel Connie Nielsen Melissa George Cameron Richardson Chandra West

Jordan Hamilton blames Rick Barnes for his NBA stock slipping

Frustrated by his slide from the late lottery to one of the final picks in the first round on Thursday night, former Texas guard Jordan Hamilton offered an unlikely theory for why so many teams passed on him.

Hamilton told Denver-based NBA writer Chris Tomasson that Longhorns coach Rick Barnes was partially to blame for him still being on the board when the Nuggets plucked him with the 26th pick.

"[Barnes] called some teams and said that I probably wasn't coachable and things like that. But I feel like I can be coachable," Hamilton said. He added that he "got some feedback" when asked how he knew Barnes had been critical of him, though he wouldn't name those who shared that information with him.

It's impossible to know for sure whether Barnes indeed bad-mouthed Hamilton to NBA teams, but it seems unlikely for several reasons.

Once Hamilton declared for the draft and signed with an agent two months ago, Barnes had nothing to gain by seeing one of his former players' stock fall. Plus, all an NBA scout would need is game film to find evidence that Hamilton was sometimes difficult to coach.

It's certainly no secret that Hamilton has a reputation as a volume shooter sometimes prone to taking ill-advised shots rather than looking for his teammates. In fact, one reason those close to Arizona star Derrick Williams believe he went under-the-radar until college was because he played on Hamilton's AAU team in high school and rarely got the ball.

Later in the same interview with Tomasson, Hamilton was more complimentary of Barnes, referring to him as "a great coach" and insisting he still loved Texas. And in a draft night release issued by Texas, Barnes praised Hamilton for the maturity he showed staying in school after his freshman year.

"I will always respect Jordan for the way he honestly sat down and evaluated himself following his freshman season here," Barnes said. "He realized there was a lot that he needed to learn. Jordan worked so hard at the game but more importantly, he grew as a person. When we think about Jordan as a person from the time he arrived on campus as a freshman, he has really grown."

Adrianne Curry Jennifer Gimenez Katie Cassidy Estella Warren Cinthia Moura