MLive is following the top 2021 boys basketball recruits in Michigan. Each weekday, we’ll feature a new athlete and get updates on their recruitment, goals and more. Today, Sturgis guard Thomas Kurowski is featured.
RELATED: MLive’s top baskeball recruits in Michigan for class of 2021: May update
Bio
Height: 6-foot-4
Primary position: Point guard
Secondary position: Shooting guard
Graduation year: 2021
Recruit ranking: No. 11 on MLive's list of top 2021 recruits
Scholarship offers: None
Schools showing most interest: Princeton, Bucknell, Columbia, Lehigh, University of Chicago
2019-20 accolades: Division 1 second team all-state
2019-20 stats: 27.6 points, 3.4 assists, 3.2 steals per game
2018-19 stats: 15.5 points and 6.0 assists per game
Getting the edge over his old man
Keith Kurowski was an All-American and 1,500-point scorer in high school who had offers from more than 20 schools coming out of high school.
He also had 13 dunks during his senior year at Christian Brothers Academy in New Jersey, and that's a number his son, Thomas, doesn't let him forget.
That's because the younger Kurowski threw down 22 dunks during his 2019-20 junior season at Sturgis, and he's not afraid to let pops know about it.
"I'm not a real rub-it-in-your-face kind of guy, but every now and then I'll joke with him, Thomas said. "If we're shooting around and I get frustrated, I'll bring that up, and well go back and forth."
Keith Kurowski went on to have a successful career as a point guard at Notre Dame during the mid-1990s, but injuries kept him from pursuing professional ball overseas.
Thomas battled his own injury troubles as a sophomore in 2018-19, but bounced back from a knee sprain to have a breakout campaign last year and put himself squarely on the radar of Division-I college coaches.
For a youngster seeing his recruitment take off, it's been helpful to have someone like his father who has been through it all before.
"It's great because he knows what the process is like and that there will be ups and downs, and you won't always get offer after offer, but you have to be patient and get at it every day," Thomas said. "You just really have to work hard for it to have it ultimately pay off, then let your play show all the work you've put in."
Despite his strong hoops pedigree and relatively young age (46), Keith Kurowski refuses to play his son 1-on-1 any more because by the time Thomas was a sophomore, the games stopped being close.
“I stopped playing him last year, but he beat me pretty consistently; he passed me by,” Keith said. “He’s bigger than me, taller than me, and I don’t profess to be better than him anymore.”
Not only is Thomas better than his father in the present day, Keith said he's a more complete player at the same stage of development.
"The players overall are a little bit better today, but Thomas is a better compete player than I was," Keith said. "I got by on a lot of raw athletic ability, but he's a more complete player. Notre Dame has seen him play, and they're keeping an eye on him, but they have a lot of guards. They're talking about taking a longer look at him if he goes to prep school for a year after Sturgis, and some other schools have said the same thing, but he's certainly a legit Division-I player, and we're going to have to wait and see where that takes him.
Sturgis' Thomas Kurowski looks to pass to a teammate during the game at Otsego High School on Tuesday, Feb. 6.Kalamazoo Gazette
Finding the right college fit
Kurowski has visited Ivy League schools Princeton and Columbia, and with a GPA hovering around 4.0, it's not hard to see why colleges of that caliber are showing interest. He was hoping to get more visits in over the spring and summer, but the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench into those plans, and his AAU team, Indiana-based Hayward Hoops, has yet to start it season, so coaches haven't been able to see him in person.
Still, there are several that have kept in close contact and are requesting game film, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see Kurowski's offer sheet start to grow over the summer.
He doesn't have a timetable for a decision, but knows what he's looking for when the right offer comes around.
"I'm looking for a good team and good coaches, but also a good school so I can better myself on and off the court," Kurowski said. "I'm looking at not just four years but a 40-year journey."
Making the college leap
At 6-foot-4, Kurowski has the size of a prototypical college point guard, but he knows size alone won't be enough at the Division-I college level, so he's put in countless hours working on his agility and explosion, and that's part of the reason why he was able to dunk almost two dozen times as a junior.
He said he learned the importance of being a well-rounded player from his father, and takes pride in his ability to impact a game even when the ball isn't in his hands or his shot isn't falling.
"He doesn't want me to just be a typical shooter, to set up and knock down shots," Thomas said. "I really take pride in my passing and defense, and I can turn that into offense. I'm a very unselfish player, and I like to make the extra pass and find the open guy."
Keith said that work his son has put in has not gone unnoticed.
"I played college ball, so I worked hard, but he's worked harder than me," Keith said. "When he's not getting his few hundred shots in, he's studying the game on his iPad and watching other players. It's paying big dividends on the court and will hopefully pay off with a D-I scholarship."
Sturgis' Thomas Kurowski leaps to shoot over Otsego's Jayden Dentler during the game at Otsego High School on Tuesday, Feb. 6.Kalamazoo Gazette
‘Next-possession’ mentality
Leadership has been an area of emphasis for Kurowski as he has advanced in his Sturgis career, and while he used to let a string of missed shots affect his game, he has learned to stop thinking about the past and start thinking about the next possession.
"I'm trying to focus on the main goal of winning, and maintain that next-possession mentality because it's a long game, and you can't get worried about missing a shot," he said. "I think it's important to just play a whole game and staying positive.
"When I'm on the court, I'm definitely thinking that I'm the best one out there and I want it more than the guy across from me, so I'm going to score on him or lock him down."
Senior season goals
Kurowski said a successful senior season would involve winning 14 or 15 games and capturing a Wolverine Conference title, followed by a long playoff run.
The individual goal: to establish himself as one of the best seniors in the state of Michigan.
"I'd like to be up there for Mr. Basketball, make first team all-state and have the top 3-point percentage in Michigan," he said.
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