2011 Horizon League Player of the Year Norris Cole was selected 28th overall in the 2011 NBA Draft, while Preseason Player of the Year Shelvin Mack was tabbed in the second round, 34th overall. Cole was picked by the Chicago Bulls, with his signing rights heading to Minnesota as part of a prearranged trade. Mack was picked up by the Washington Wizards. After acquiring Cole, Minnesota then sent Cole's rights to Miami.
With Cole's selection in the first round, the Horizon League has had first round picks in each of the last two years of the NBA Draft. Butler Gordon Hayward was tabbed ninth overall by the Utah Jazz in 2010.
In joining the defending Eastern Conference champions, Cole heads to an arena in which he previously found success. In the first two rounds of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, Cole led Cleveland State in scoring, posting 22 points in an 84-69 victory over No. 4 Wake Forest and 17 in a second round setback to Arizona.
Building upon that sophomore campaign, Cole easily captured Horizon League Player of the Year honors in his senior year, leading the League in scoring (21.7 ppg), steals (2.2) and free-throw percentage (.853). The defensive prowess allowed Cole to become the first player in League history to capture Defensive Player of the Year accolades along with the player of the year recognition. Cole finished second in assists (5.4), third in minutes played (35.7), fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.93) and defensive rebounds (5.2) and eighth in rebounds. Cole set the CSU single season records for points (780), free throws made (227) and free throws attempted (266), scoring 20 points or more 20 times.
Cole turned in one of the top performances in college basketball in the last 15 years with his 41-point, 20-rebound, 9-assist effort versus Youngstown State. The Dayton, Ohio-native becomes the first Viking to be selected in the NBA Draft since Clinton Smith was chosen by the Golden State Warriors in the fourth round (98th pick) of the 1986 draft with only Franklin Edwards (22nd pick by Philadelphia in 1981) and Darren Tillis (23rd pick by Boston in 1982) were selected higher in the draft.
"I am extremely happy for Norris and his family," CSU head coach Gary Waters said in a release on CSUVikings.com. "He is a complete player who is perfectly suited for the NBA. He shows great leadership ability as a point guard yet is capable of scoring in a number of ways himself. More importantly, his knowledge of the game is outstanding and he excels at getting his teammates involved in the play.
"I have enjoyed working with Norris and his agent as they have gone through this process. One common comment that the various NBA teams have had when I have spoken with them is how hard Norris works defensively. That is the difference between him and many of the other players in the draft."
Cole is the eighth Horizon League player taken in the first round; before Hayward in 2010, the last Horizon League player to be taken in the first round was Wright State's Vitaly Potapenko, who was selected No. 12 by Cleveland in 1996.
Mack joins Hayward as Butler alumni in the NBA, returning to a venue, the Verizon Center, in which he had one of the top performances in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. After matching Matt Howard with 15 points in a one-point win in the second round of the tournament, Mack went off for 30 against top-seeded Pittsburgh, carrying Butler to a memorable 71-70 victory.
The 2010-11 Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year, Mack earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the Southeast Regional after leading Butler back to its second straight Final Four. The junior had 27 points in the Bulldogs' 74-71 overtime victory over Florida; the combo guard received All-Tournament Team accolades at the Final Four, posting 27 points in the 70-62 national semifinal win and leading the Bulldogs with 13 against Connecticut.
Mack finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 16.0 ppg while handing out a team-best 131 assists on the year.
“I’m excited and happy for Shelvin,” said Butler head coach Brad Stevens in a release on ButlerSports.com. “Like we did with Gordon last year, you take great pride in a guy that came to Butler, had a great career and is better off for his experience here, and Butler certainly benefitted from his time here. At the end of the day, we feel very good about Shelvin moving forward, and he won’t have any bigger fans than us.”
He also was named to the 2011 Lou Henson Mid-Major All-America Team, the Diamond Head Classic All-Tournament Team and the Horizon League Championship All-Tournament Team. He was selected second team NABC All-District 12 and second team All-Horizon League as a junior.
Mack, who won a gold medal as captain of the USA U19 World Championship team in the summer of 2009, became the 33rd Butler player to score 1,000 career points during the 2010-11 season. He finished his Butler career in 11th place on the Bulldogs’ all-time scoring list with 1,527 points. He also finished fifth on Butler’s all-time assist chart with 357 career assists.
