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closeShula seizes opportunity to continue hoops career
Rogers basketball stalwart continuing his basketball career at the college level
Shaun Scott
CJ Shula wasn’t going to let a left knee injury prevent him from pursuing his dreams on the hardwood.
After undergoing knee surgery at the conclusion of his junior season for the Rogers Rams basketball team, Shula returned to the court for his senior season as the undisputed leader and face of the Rams basketball program. A mere three months after his high school career came to a close, Shula inked a letter of intent with the Northwest Nazarene University Crusaders basketball program. The Crusaders are a division 2 school located in Nampa, Idaho. Shula will compete for playing time at the shooting guard position for the Crusaders.
“Before I made my decision I narrowed it down between Western (Washington) Seattle Pacific University and Northwest Nazarene,” Shula said. “After my visit to Idaho in April, I knew Northwest Nazarene is where I wanted to be. I liked their coach and the guys on the team are great. They finished 23rd in the nation last year. I’m excited to be part of an amazing program.”
Shula doesn’t think past problems with his knee will have an adverse effect on him during his collegiate career.
“Right now my knee is feeling good. My doctor told me it takes about a year or two to get back to full strength after the kind of surgery I got,” Shula said. “The doctor who performed surgery on my knee is the Seattle Sonics team doctor. He did the same kind of operation on Detlef Schrempf.”
Shula said surgery was done to correct a condition titled, “bi-partite patella.”
“I basically had a condition where It was like I had two kneecaps,” Shula said. “The small one wasn’t fused together and my doctor just took it out.”
Longtime Rogers Rams boys basketball head coach Rod Iverson said Shula piled up a multitude of milestones and records along the way during his three years on the Rams varsity roster. Shula finished his Rams’ career as the seventh leading scorer in team history, set a school record in free throws made, was team captain and experienced the thrill of being awarded MVP of the Rams basketball squad at the conclusion of the 2007-08 season.
“CJ is one of my all time favorite athletes since I’ve been at Rogers High School,” Iverson said. “He’s a pretty special kid on and off the court. CJ has a tremendous work ethic. All of the players on the team respected him so much. He was a three-year starter for us and made first team all-league his junior and senior year. He’ll also graduate with a grade point average of 3.96.”
Iverson hopes Shula’s knee will hold up when he suits up for the Crusaders in the next four seasons.
“During his junior and senior year he played with a lot of pain and never complained. His knee limited him but he never used it as an excuse,” Iverson said. “If his knee holds up, he will be a very sound college player. He works so hard and doesn’t know any other way. That will help him succeed.”
Iverson said Shula’s aggressiveness and ability to attack the basket is what sets him apart from his opponents.
“CJ has a knack for drawing fouls,” Iverson said. “He’s more of a scorer than a shooter. He can score on the run, off the dribble and when he comes off screens. He shot 77-percent from the foul-line. When you look at how many free throws he took, that’s a pretty amazing number.”
Shula credits Iverson for fine tuning every aspect of his game since arriving as a starter in the fall of 2005 as a sophomore.
“I got thrown to the wolves early, so to speak, and I think that benefitted me,” Shula said. “When I first got here I was more of a flashy kind of player but Rod helped me polish my game and I became a complete player. My defensive and rebounding improved immensely. Rod taught me how to simplify the game.”
Shula admitted the transition from high school basketball to college basketball at the division 2 level will be a quantum leap in terms of the players he will be going up against.
“Because of the size and speed of the game, I won’t be able to overpower and muscle players out of the way like I did in high school so I will have to get stronger. I’m the second shortest guy on the team,” Shula said. “This summer I plan on working on my agility and lateral quickness so I will be able to catch up to the speed of the game. I’ll be playing the 2 (shooting guard) so I also want to improve my range quite a bit.”