Darrel Mitchell

Mitchell was born in New Iberia, Louisiana^[1] and attended St. Martinville Senior High School in St. Martinville, where his father Darrel Sr. was the head coach.^[2] As a sophomore, Mitchell was named in the all-district first team after averaging 22.2 points per game.^[3] In his junior year he averaged 21 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 2.4 steals per game,^[4] and he was named Class 4A MVP;^[4] he was also a first-team all-district selection, and the St. Martinville Tigers reached the quarterfinals of 4A state tournament,^[4] where they lost to Woodlawn High School in the final seconds of the game.^[5] His father won the Coach of the Year award, after the team posted a 32-3 overall record for the season.^[4] He mostly played the shooting guard position in high school, despite his 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) frame made him undersized.^[5] Mitchell was invited to participate in the ABCD Camp, a camp for the best high school players in the US, in July 2001, the summer that preceded his senior year.^[6]

Mitchell's senior season saw average 24.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.9 steals per game, shooting 41% from three.^[5] His 41-point performance against Lincoln High School of Dallas, Texas in December 2001 earned him national interest, since Lincoln was led by future NBA player Chris Bosh and was ranked the best team in high school basketball by USA Today.^[5][7] Mitchell won the state 4A championship with the team, which posted a 36–4 record for the season.^[2] At the end of the year Mitchell was named the 2002 Louisiana Mr. Basketball by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA),^[5] and he was also the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Louisiana.^[8] In his career at St. Martinville, Mitchell scored over 2,000 career points^[5] and also performed well academically, maintaining a 3.0 GPA.^[9] In 2007, St. Martinville High School retired his jersey number, 22.^[9]

Mitchell was recruited by several major NCAA Division I programs such as Arkansas, Houston, LSU, NC State, Oklahoma and Virginia, among others.^[2] He signed for LSU in April 2002, choosing it over the University of Houston.^[2] Mitchell played his freshman season under coach John Brady as one of the main options off the bench: he appeared in all 32 games, averaging 19.8 minutes of playing time per game.^[1] On February 26, 2003 Mitchell shot 5/5 on three-pointers against Auburn, scoring a then career-high 19 points.^[1] He ranked 6th on the team in scoring with 7 points per game, and was the best three-point shooter with a percentage of 42.4% on 3.1 attempts per game.^[10]

In his sophomore season, Mitchell received increased playing time at 30.4 minutes per game, and started 17 of his 29 games, being advanced to the starting lineup in the second half of the season, during which he scored in double figures in 9 of his 12 final games.^[1] On February 4, 2004, in a game against Tennessee, Mitchel scored a career-high 22 points shooting 6/9 on three-pointers, and added 8 assists.^[1] Again Mitchell was the top three-point shooter on the team, taking more shots at 5.5 attempts per game, and scoring them at a 41.9% rate.^[11] He was the third best scorer on the team with an 11.9 average, behind senior Jaime Lloreda and freshman Brandon Bass.^[11]

Coach Brady named Mitchell a full-time starter in his junior season, and the guard started all of the 30 games LSU played that year.^[1] After a 18-point game on January 12 against South Carolina, Mitchell scored a new career high with 32 against Ohio State three days later.^[1] On January 18 he was named Player of the Week by the LSWA.^[1] On January 29, Mitchell scored 20 points against Mississippi State. Mitchell ended the season as the third best scorer on the team (tied with Antonio Hudson and behind Glen Davis and Brandon Bass) with 13.1 points per game.^[12] He also improved his assists average, which rose to 2.9, the second best mark on the team behind Tack Minor's 4.6 per game.^[12] He ranked 3rd in the SEC for free throw percentage with 84.6%.^[1]

In his senior year he was part of the 2005–06 LSU team which included several players from Louisiana as part of the team's starting lineup and main rotation (Glen Davis, Tasmin Mitchell, Garrett Temple, Tyrus Thomas and Darnell Lazare).^[13] On November 26, 2005 Mitchell scored a game winner against West Virginia, and reached the 1,000 points mark.^[1] On January 28, 2006 he scored 28 points against Ole Miss, followed by 27 points against Auburn on February 1, and 27 against Arkansas on February 8; he also scored the game winner against Arkansas.^[1] LSU qualified for the 2006 NCAA tournament, and Mitchell opened his tournament with 19 points against Iona on March 16.^[14] He then scored 16 against Texas A&M, and he also made the game-winning three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left in the game.^[1] After beating Duke and Texas, LSU lost to UCLA on April 1, with Mitchell scoring 8 points in 36 minutes.^[14] His 16.8 points per game for the season ranked him 4th in the SEC^[1] and second on the team behind Glen Davis.^[15] Mitchell's 1,322 minutes in 2005–06 were the 3rd best mark in a single season in LSU history.^[1] His 1,569 career points ranked 10th all-time at LSU when he retired, and he was the three-point field goals all-time leader with 258.^[1]