NU's two best, John Shurna and Juice Thompson, get some recognition - only the second pair of Wildcats since 1965-66 to make an all-Big Ten squad. (Yeah.) The other was Kevin Coble and Craig Moore.
Really, really, really can't argue with either selection. It might be weird that the conference's eighth best team can claim has two of the 16 best (with six guys making the third team due to a tie), but looking at NU's depth - err, rather, the fact that these two guys are individually responsible for nearly everything good that happened to NU - you can't argue.
Juice was one of six point guards on conference teams, but that says less about Juice and more about how deep the conference is at point guard. He carried his squad through conference play, putting up 15 or more points in nine of his last 10 games, not to mention posting a career high 4.3 assists per game and turning into NU's late-game specialist whenever the Cats needed one. Thompson capped a great career with his best season - aside from dropoffs in 3-point percentage (he still shot 39.8 percent) he increased in virtually every statistical category can take credit for, like, four of NU's Big Ten wins. Oh, yeah, and he led the team in minutes, duh.
John Shurna was up near the top of conference scoring lists for a lot of the season, but faded in conference play after suffering ankle problems and a concussion. (That type of stuff will hurt you.) But he still finished the season shooting with alarming 47.4 accuracy from downtown and led the team in scoring. He didn't crack 20 after suffering his concussion, but his non-conference play and brutally good 3-point shooting with his notoriously screwy-looking jumper were enough to earn him the nod, even though the media left him off their third team.
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