Meet future Mav Daniel Norl

That was not really the greatest quality of video that you could find on the internet, you may enjoy this one instead.

Daniel Norl is coming to Omaha from Mineral Area College, a junior college in Eastern Missouri, where Norl averaged 10.6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal, and shot 50% from the field, 40% on threes, and 75% from the foul line.  Norl’s 10.6 points per game was 3rd on the team behind two of his other back court teammates that will be playing basketball at Eastern Illinois and Nebraska-Kearney in 2016-2017.  Mineral Area College was ranked 18th nationally at the end of the season.

Before Mineral Area College, Norl played in 11 games as a freshman on an Eastern Kentucky team that made it to the 3rd round of the 2015 CIT.  Fun note, Eastern Kentucky’s Corey Walden led the NCAA in steals per game that season, so when Norl takes the court with the Mavericks in November, he will have played basketball with the last two Division 1 steals per game leaders.

Out of high school in Clarkville, Tennessee, Norl had scholarship offers to Tennessee Tech, Belmont, Middle Tennessee State, Murray State, and Austin Peay.  As a senior, Norl averaged 20 points per game and was 2nd Team All State for the state of Tennessee.

I’m not sure what you notice when you see these Daniel Norl videos.  I first took notice that he does not have blinding speed as a guard, but I wasn’t expecting much speed at 6’2″ and 210 pounds.  He appears to make up for his lack of speed with a high basketball IQ, great handling of the ball, and willingness to always make the extra pass.  Actually, that is almost the exact profile of a kid that Rick Byrd at Belmont likes to recruit.  It seems easy to picture Norl drawing in a help defender and kicking the ball to an open Mav.  A pick-and-roll game with Daniel Meyer seems like a great package of Daniels to have on the court for stretches of any game.

It may be difficult for Norl to see a huge amount of minutes for the Mavericks in his junior season with Tra-Deon Hollins, Kyler Erickson, and Marcus Tyus all returning to the lineup as seniors for the Mavericks in 2016-2017, but that does not mean that he cannot make an impact.  There were certainly some stretches in games last season where the Mavericks could have used a guy with his skills.  Norl also comes off as a strong defender that could really bother a number of Summit League guards.  40 minutes of having to play offense against Hollins, Erickson, and Norl could really create for a lot of off nights for Summit League guards.

Norl appears to be able to play either guard position, and the Mavericks like to play three guards at once, so there will be opportunities for him to make an impact for the Mavericks in his junior season.  Him and his skills will be incredibly useful against guard heavy teams like IUPUI, North Dakota State, and IPFW, who should be the top teams in the Summit League in 2016-2017.

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