Meanwhile, CSU coach Gary Waters is telling anyone who will listen that he has no doubt about Cole’s ability to play in that league as a point guard.
“Hear me on this: Norris will get drafted and he will stay in the league,” Waters told the Lake County News Herald, a suburban Cleveland newspaper. “He has all (the intangibles) of an NBA player.
“In the NBA, they take a guard who can score and teach him point guard skills. They don’t want a point guard who can’t score. Norris comes with the whole package.
“Every time I talk to NBA people they tell me, ‘He’s a point guard who already knows how to score.’ He’s better than most point guards coming into the NBA.”
Mock drafts suggest Cole, who recently hired Joel Bell to be his agent, will go high in the second round. Oklahoma City and Detroit showed interest during the season, but NBAdraft.net has Cole staying in Cleveland and joining the Cavaliers at No. 32 overall.
That same website has Dayton's Chris Wright (Trotwood-Madison) being Boston's choice 23 picks later.
Worthy watch
Operating on the theory that it’s never too early for NFL draft musings, many gurus already are ranking prospects for 2012.
Faring well in these exercises is Michigan State defensive tackle Jerel Worthy (Wayne), who seems poised to go in the top 10 if he stays healthy.
Worthy will play the 2011 season as a fourth-year junior after passing up the chance to enter this year’s draft mainly because his mom wanted him to continue making progress toward a degree.
Here’s a sampling of opinion on Worthy’s worth if there is a draft next April:
• Pete Fiutak, College Football News, ranks him No. 3 overall regardless of position.
• Peter Schrager, Fox Sports, puts him No. 5.
• Pete Prisco, CBS Sports, and Todd McShay, ESPN, have him at No. 7. McShay forecasts Worthy to go No. 5 to the Denver Broncos.
Campus tour
• Kathleen Glavin (Alter), a junior at Memphis, concluded a strong golf season by shooting 79-76-76 in the Conference USA tournament, finishing 21st in a field of 50. Glavin was second this season in Division I in fairways hit (92.8 percent accuracy) and second on her team with a scoring average of just over 76.
• Shawn Roberts (Centerville) helped Georgia Tech's distance medley relay team take third place (9:54.15) at the recent Penn Relays.
• Freshman pitcher Alex Lilley (Fairmont) has appeared in four games in relief for Cincinnati. In 4 1/3 innings, he has an 11.57 ERA and two strikeouts.
• Cory Holman (Wayne), who challenged for the SEC decathlon title and was even talking Olympics last year about this time, sat out the Georgia track season to work on his academics. School officials say his grades have improved, and he is expected to compete next season.
If you have information about an athlete competing in college, please share it by emailing Sean McClelland at
smcclelland@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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