THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502120197
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD. LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
Beneath close-cropped brown hair, crisply parted on the right, Bob Sura's nose follows a narrow, ski-slope path to a point. His lips are thick, but his cheeks are recessed and burrow upward toward a pair of deep-set eyes.
Those facial features, pronounced enough on a normal day, stood especially stark against Sura's pallid, pasty skin Saturday at the University of Maryland's Cole Field House.
Bob Sura, Florida State basketball star, was sick as a dog. A dog with intestinal flu.
``I feel real bad, real weak,'' Sura said after Maryland's 80-65 victory. ``I wasn't able to eat for the last two days and I really didn't get much sleep, so my body's real worn down.''
Sura was able enough to score 12 points and chip in seven rebounds and seven assists to Florida State's effort, and in so doing he became the 28th player in Atlantic Coast Conference history to surpass 2,000 points.
Florida State's first player to make the All-ACC team, which he did last year as a junior, Sura already is the school's all-time leading scorer. That may or not be a surprise to anybody who saw Sura score any of his record 2,468 points at G.A.R. High School in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Sura, it is fair to say, is not taken aback by his latest milestone, seeing as how he appears relaxed in the knowledge that he was born to basketball superlatives.
``Two thousand points isn't really important right now,'' said Sura, a 6-foot-5 senior. ``Five, 10 years down the line, it might be a little bit more important, but the awards, they come and go.''
What kind of NBA player Sura will have become by the time his college days spark warm memories is a question with an open end. He is a slashing, hard-driving scorer, a
deft passer, an uncanny rebounder for a man his size - and overall, just enough of a scattershot presence to keep fans and pro scouts excited and intrigued.
He spins out of control sometimes, but he is fun to watch. Sura - and everybody else - knows it. His jumpers are often launched from well behind the 3-point line, and his behind-the-neck pass is liable to wind up in the third row, but that's OK in Florida State's scheme.
When he plucked Sura out of Wilkes-Barre as an overlooked plum - Sura didn't sign until the spring of 1991, and had drawn the most interest from St. Joseph's and Duquesne - Seminoles' coach Pat Kennedy knew what he was getting. Sura was a skinny gym rat with a supposedly suspect jump shot. But he averaged 34 points as a senior, and once scored 68 in a game.
You better believe Kennedy knew. And he's never pulled in Sura's reins.
``He has the freedom to try and do things,'' Florida State assistant coach Tom Carlson said. ``Sometimes he does things that aren't on the great side. But often they are. When the ball is in his hands so much every game, something like three or four turnovers aren't that bad. It's not great, but as much as he's trying to create in traffic, it's not a horrendous stat.''
That's just what Sura averages, a little more than three turnovers a game. The former ACC rookie of the year also averages 19 points, seven rebounds and nearly five assists with an overall package of skills that could be the most complete of any player in the ACC.
Jerry Stackhouse of North Carolina perhaps has greater talent, and Maryland's Joe Smith will bring a bundle of brilliant things to a pro team someday. But Sura's wares fall under multiple categories, too, and are attractive to the men who pay the big money, despite his inconsistencies.
``I'd rather see a player like Sura, who's out of control at times, than somebody you have to motivate all the time,'' said Tony Fiorentino, scouting supervisor for the Miami Heat.
Fiorentino likes Sura's ``stickability,'' his ``high energy.'' ``He's always hustling, and that's a good trait to have with 82 (NBA) games, playoffs, exhibitions and everything else.''
However, talk that Sura will be a lottery pick could be premature. Fiorentino figures Sura's draft status probably depends on the number of underclassmen, such as Smith and Stackhouse and North Carolina's Rasheed Wallace, who declare for the draft.
And he probably falls in behind Michigan State's Shawn Respert and Wisconsin's Michael Finley among the country's top guards, Fiorentino said. But Sura could make some NBA team very happy.
``He's going to be a solid player,'' Fiorentino said.
Sura seconds that opinion. Of course he'll be a good one, Sura's unaffected gaze tells you. When hasn't he been?
``Off the court, I'm quiet,'' Sura once said in an interview. ``On the court, I want all the lights on me. I want everyone to wonder what I'm going to do next.''
Saturday, all he did was play out what guts he had left after the worst of his flu. It wasn't enough for the 11-9 Seminoles to pull an upset. But aside from some healing sleep, it was probably the most natural way for Sura to spend a couple of hours.
``I would say I play with a love for the game,'' Sura said. ``I love to play and play hard and have fun with it. I've always had that.
``I never had any idea about the money you can make or the things you could accomplish with basketball. I just played because I liked it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Florida State's Bob Sura slaps the ball away from Maryland's Duane
Simpkins in the Terrapins' 80-65 win over the Seminoles Saturday.
Sura had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
by CNB