FORT MYERS — It didn’t make national waves, but there was probably more local panic at the thought of losing Florida Gulf Coast University rising senior forward Marc-Eddy Norelia than there was during those times when we figured third-year (until Friday) coach Joe Dooley might leave.
After all, Dooley didn’t average team-highs of 17.1 points and 9.3 rebounds and the offense didn’t absolutely run through him.
FGCU sent out a release on Tuesday stating that the 6-foot-8, 218-pound super-athletic Norelia, an All-Atlantic Sun first-teamer, will declare for the upcoming NBA Draft.
He’s not going anywhere.
Norelia is not signing with an agent. He’s just able to start attending the workouts of NBA teams. He’s also eligible to
compete in the NBA Draft Combine next month … if he gets invited.
He has until May 25 to pull himself out of the draft, and there’s no doubt here that he’ll do just that.
A studious fellow from Haiti, Norelia is just looking for feedback from NBAers on what he needs to work on — like going to his
right stronger, softening the hands, learning when to and not to turn on the jets, defensive positioning. Stuff like that.
Thanks to a new rule in January, collegiate players now have lots more time to mull their professional futures before making very
important calls.
That’s not in play here, but it is a great idea.
There’s no way Norelia is not going to return to FGCU, where Dooley loves to feed him and use him in the high-low. Barring
injury or some other mishap, his stock is only going to continue to rise for a team that returns all but one starter from last season’s 21-14 conference tournament championship bunch that will be expected to torch the Atlantic Sun.
Ditto, apparently, for Dooley.
Dooley interviewed for the Wright State job and there were more than a few reports that he interviewed for the Saint Louis job as well as for an assistant position — likely associate head coach — on Mark Gottfried’s North Carolina State staff.
Supposedly, Dooley was to take the latter late last week.
When we talked to him during that period, it seemed obvious to us that job was out of play and that Dooley really is looking forward to next season.
Me, too.
Dana Caldwell is the NDN beat writer for Florida Gulf Coast University athletics and can be followed on Twitter at
@NDN_DCaldwell