DUNK CITY, Fla. – One of the top assist men in the history of NCAA basketball has a new home as former FGCU standout Brett Comer was selected in the 3rd Round of the NBA Development League Draft by the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Drive, the NBA affiliate of the Detroit Pistons, on Saturday afternoon.
 
Comer was selected with the 7th pick in the round and 45th overall. He is the first player in FGCU history to be picked in the D-League Draft and becomes the eighth professional player the program has produced in its extremely young history.
 
A native of Winter Park, Fla., Comer graduated ranking 24th on the all-time NCAA career assists list with 845 – 212 more than anyone else in the history of the Atlantic Sun Conference. Comer is one of only a handful of players in NCAA history with at least 1,400 career points (1,477), 825 career assists and 450 career rebounds (453).
 
"I'm extremely excited to get started," said Comer, who will report for the start of training camp on Monday already. "I want to thank the Grand Rapids Drive for selecting me. I also want to thank all my teammates and coaches – in particular coaches Dooley and Fly – for helping me along the way. I wouldn't have gotten here without all them, and I'm looking forward to making them proud."
 
For his career, Comer averaged 10.8 points, 6.2 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. He was named to the A-Sun All-Conference First Team twice, the A-Sun All-Freshman Team, was a three-time A-Sun All-Tournament Team pick, the A-Sun Tournament MVP as a sophomore and a two-time NABC All-District Team member.
 
Comer is FGCU's all-time leader in games started (134) and games played (137), and ranks second in program history for total points, field goals made (536) and free throws made (304). He's third in Eagle lore with 181 career steals, and his 453 rebounds as 6-3 guard are the fifth-most in program history.
 
An all-around talent, Comer excelled in distributing the basketball. In addition to the aforementioned exploits, he graduated with 239 more assists than any other FGCU player in program history, and in the Division-I era (since 2007-08) the player with the next-closest assist total is fellow 2015 graduate Bernard Thompson with 246 – 599 behind Comer. Comer led or tied FGCU in assists in 125 of 137 career games.
 
"It's a great opportunity for Brett," added FGCU head coach Joe Dooley, who coached Comer his junior and senior years and watched his assist productivity remain generally the same while his turnovers decreased by more than 40 percent from his sophomore season to his senior campaign. "It's a well-deserved honor and I'm proud of him. It's also great that we're able to continue to have guys coming out of our program who have the ability and opportunity to play professionally."
 
Comer now joins Thompson in the professional ranks as the other half of the backcourt duo is playing in Slovakia's top league for Kamarno. It marks the first time in program history that FGCU has produced two professional players from the same graduating class.
 
In 2014, Chase Fieler signed with a team in Spain which went on to win the league championship this past spring and subsequent promotion to the country's top division. Fieler is now playing for Donar, a club in Holland. Prior to that, 2013 graduate Sherwood Brown inked a deal as a free agent and has spent most of the past two seasons in the Boston Celtics' system as a member of the NBA D-League's Maine Red Claws.
 
Comer is now the eighth FGCU product to sign professionally, joining (in addition Thompson, Fieler and Brown): Kevin Cantinol (2012), Reed Baker (2011), Casey Wohlleb (2008) and Kevin Martin (2005).
 
Grand Rapids is one of 19 teams in the D-League, which has 10-player rosters. The Drive went 23-27 last season as a member of the Central Division alongside Sioux Falls (Miami Heat), Fort Wayne (Indiana Pacers) and Iowa (Memphis Grizzlies). The Drive are coached by Otis Smith, who played at Jacksonville University in the mid-80s before JU was an A-Sun member.
 
Comer's first game will be at home against the Delaware 87ers (Philadelphia 76ers) on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. Ironically, that matchup will feature a pair of longtime A-Sun comrades as the 87ers took USC Upstate's Ty Greene two picks prior to Comer.
 
As a freshman in 2011-12, the Winter Park High School product started 28 of 32 contests, playing a team-high 28.3 minutes per game. He became the first freshman since 2006-07 to lead the A-Sun in assists by averaging 5.6 per contest, finishing second among all freshmen nationally. Comer helped guide FGCU to within one win of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in its first season of eligibility as the Eagles advanced to the championship game of the A-Sun Tournament.
 
Comer had his – and FGCU's – breakout season as a sophomore in 2012-13 as the Eagles advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, the only No. 15 seed in history to accomplish the feat. He led the Green and Blue with 21 points against Mercer in the final en route to A-Sun Tournament MVP honors. For the year, he posted the second-highest single-season assist total in the history of the A-Sun with 244 as he averaged 10.3 assists in FGCU's three NCAA Tournament games, including consecutive double-doubles against No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 7 seed San Diego State.
 
As a junior, he averaged 13.7 points and 5.3 assists per game en route to A-Sun First Team honors. Comer was named A-Sun Player of the Week twice and became just the sixth player in program history to surpass 1,000 points. He established the program career record for assists with still a year of eligibility remaining while increasing his scoring for the third-straight year from 5.7 as a freshman to 8.0 as a sophomore.
 
This past year, Comer landed on the A-Sun First Team for the second-straight year. He was named A-Sun Player of the Week on Feb. 9 after just missing the program's first triple-double with 21 points, 12 assists (no turnovers) and a career-high-tying eight rebounds at Stetson. During the year he was tabbed by ESPN as the nation's seventh-best point guard, and after the season he became FGCU's first invitee to the renowned Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.
 
For his career, Comer was part of 85 wins, leading FGCU to the NCAA Tournament, NIT (2014) and CIT (2015) in only four seasons of postseason eligibility. The Eagles advanced to the semifinals of the A-Sun Tournament every year he was on the Southwest Florida campus, reaching the finals twice and claiming the program's first conference tournament championship (2013) and regular-season championship (2014).
 
TICKET INFORMATION
An extremely limited amount of season tickets are still available for the 2015-16 FGCU men's basketball season. Single-game tickets are currently on sale. For the latest ticket information, log on toFGCUAthletics.com.

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COACH DOOLEY 
FGCU is led by head coach Joe Dooley, who is entering his third year with the Eagles in 2015-16 and coached six all-conference selections during his first two seasons. He guided FGCU to its first Atlantic Sun Conference Regular-Season Championship and first trip to the NIT in 2014, and in 2015 he led the Eagles to their third-straight 20-win season and third-straight postseason appearance with a berth in the CIT. Prior to arriving in SWFL, Dooley spent 10 seasons as an assistant at Kansas under head coach Bill Self. During those 10 seasons, Kansas produced 300 wins, nine straight Big 12 regular-season titles, six Big 12 Tournament championships, six NCAA Sweet 16s, five NCAA Elite Eight appearances and two Final Fours, including the 2008 National Championship. Dooley recently completed his sixth season overall and has a record of 101-76 (.570), and in his two years with FGCU is 44-24 (.647).

SUPPORT THE CAUSE 
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.