Mark Snyder

Detroit Free Press

Oakland University junior guard Kay Felder is coming off the greatest season in program history. Now he's going to see if any NBA teams think that's worthy of their league.

Felder plans to enter the NBA draft, a decision he revealed this morning after meeting with Oakland coach Greg Kampe.

"I made the decision based on what I was thinking," he told the Free Press. "I just went with what my heart said."

Mentally, he's all in after spending the past month weighing the pros and cons and doing as much research as possible. But practically, he knows hiring an agent would slam the door on a potential return to OU.

"Right now, I'm not focused on hiring an agent, but I do feel like I have to talk to agents to see where everything is at and what they have to offer," Felder said.

There is a new NCAA rule this year that gives players who declared for the draft until May 25 to pull out -- 10 days after the NBA combine is over, which gives any player considering the draft further reason to try out (as long as they don't hire an agent).

So Felder will enter the draft with a foot and a half -- the full two feet won't come until he signs with an agent, eliminating the possibility of a return -- but he understands the mentality is what matters most.

"Just the whole rule change, basically, that's my biggest thing," he said. "If I kill it and I hear good things, why not go all the way?"

That was the advice offered by friends in the NBA, especially the Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green, who told him if he declared for the draft, not to do anything halfway.

"He bumps heads with a lot of people, so I did some research myself," Felder said. "He said, 'If you're going to leave school, you have to kill it. You can't be thinking about what if I come back. Because you don't need to leave if you're thinking about returning.' I told him my reasons for what I'm doing and he said, 'Make sure you kill it, don't hold nothing back.'"

While the move is another step forward for Oakland's program -- Keith Benson considered the leap as a junior, but returned to school -- Kampe made sure to show Felder all the possibilities.

"He said he did all the research and told me where and if not and said maybe a bust, but I'm not worried about all that," Felder said. "Because if you take care of your business and take care of the work and you have the right people around you that you trust and make sure you get those good reps that you need, you don't need to worry about all that."

There are no promises that Felder would even be invited to the May 11-15 NBA pre-draft combine in Chicago because, with the loosened NCAA rule, many other players will have the same idea. Few were expecting Felder to jump in. His current projection is as a second-round pick, No. 35 overall, by DraftExpress.com, and that's for the 2017 draft after his senior year.

So he's a wild card at this point.

Finishing fourth nationally in scoring at 24.4 points per game and leading the nation with 9.3 assists per game, Felder was bidding to become the first player to lead the nation in both categories.

He became a YouTube sensation with his elevating dunks and spectacular blocked shots, showing his 5-foot-9 frame didn't matter.

His visibility increased as the season progressed, with national feature stories on him and the postseason Vegas 16 tournament located in a spot for NBA scouts to see him.

But he's still somewhat of an unknown commodity, not being a dominant presence in high school recruiting or on the AAU scene.

"I think for sure I'll be invited to the combine," said Felder, a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation's top point guard Friday at the College Basketball Awards. "I'm one of the top five best point guards in the nation right now and they'd want to see that."

Yet, while Felder has been uncommonly humble this season, trying to defer the attention to his teammates, he's beginning to understand his impact this season.

A month ago, this leap wasn't at the front of Felder's mind. He was focused on trying to carry Oakland into the NCAA tournament. But the topic percolated after the Golden Grizzlies defeated Detroit in the regular season finale and the seed was planted. At the time, Kampe said publicly he would give advice about what was best for Felder.

Stepping back from the season, Felder has begun to realize what he thinks is best for himself.

His biggest challenges at the next level will be overcoming the stigma about his lack of height -- less of an issue in recent years as smaller players such as Boston's Isaiah Thomas and former NBA guard Nate Robinson have succeeded.

Felder's shooting is also a concern, but it improved this year to 36% from three-point range. And he'll need more experience in the pick-and-roll.

As he's finishing the semester at Oakland, he'll prepare for the draft with his high school coach at Detroit Pershing, A.W. Canada, who has trained him for years.

"The way I've viewed everything is just great," he said. "I've been hot this year, my name's been buzzing like never before. (A month ago,) I hadn't been thinking about it and wasn't ready. But I've had some time to think about it and I felt this is the right decision to make."

Contact Mark Snyder at msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @mark__snyder.