Northwestern news and notes

After a week off here’s an entry to catch up on what went on

at Northwestern last week:

Wildcats junior forward John Shurna declared for the NBA

draft, but did not hire an agent. Shurna has until May 8 to change his mind and

go back to school for his senior season.

Shurna struggled in the second half of the season with a

sprained left ankle and then a concussion. He averaged 16.6 points per game,

but had averaged 23 points in the season’s first 10 games before suffering the

ankle sprain Dec. 23.

Also on the men’s basketball beat, assistant Mitch Henderson

took the Princeton head coaching job. Henderson had been at NU for 11 seasons

and graduated from Princeton in 1998.

In football news, coach Pat Fitzgerald released his

preseason depth chart with some notable moves on the offensive side.

There was no real surprise at tailback with Mike Trumpy

tabbed atop the chart with Jacob Schmidt and Adonis Smith listed as an OR,

seemingly solving the running game issues the Wildcats had at this time last

year. But at quarterback, Dan Persa sits atop the chart with the backups listed

as Kain Colter or Trevor Siemian or Evan Watkins. Persa has said he will be

cleared to work out at full strength by late May or early June.

The first game time for the 2011 season was announced. The

NU-Army game in West Point, N.Y. on Sept. 17 will start at 2:30 central time

and will be televised on CBS Sports Network. It will be the first time since

1988 that the two teams have met.

And athletic director Jim Phillips pulled off another scheduling

coup, landing Stanford for a four-game series starting Sept. 14, 2019 in

Evanston. Two weeks ago Phillips inked a two-game series with Notre Dame

starting in 2014.

The two schools haven’t met since 1994 when they played to a

41-41 tie.