His Kind of Town : Mitchell Goes From Role Player at Mater Dei to Role Model at Fresno State

Basketball--specifically Bulldog basketball--is big in Fresno. That, perhaps more than anything else, is what prompted Mike Mitchell to head for Fresno State when he was through helping Mater Dei High School establish its own little basketball Monarchy in Orange County.

Mitchell says Fresno is his kind of town. And, so far, the good feelings appear to be mutual. Celebrity status comes easily in Fresno when you play for the team that calls Selland Arena home.

“I go out with my girlfriend and we sit down to eat dinner and people will come up to our table and talk to me,” Mitchell said. “I’m not used to that yet.”

Said Boyd Grant, Fresno State coach: “That happens around Fresno a lot. This is a tough place for freshmen to come in and adjust to. Players feel the pressure of the Red Wave. We all feel that pressure.”

The Red Wave, so named for its taste in apparel, is a fun-loving bunch of boisterous basketball boosters who inhabit Fresno’s Selland Arena, not to mention large portions of seats in the home buildings of many Bulldog opponents. Nearly everywhere the Bulldogs play, there is a contingent of red-clad spectators there to watch.

“When you look up in your opponent’s gym and see all that red you feel like you’re at home again,” Mitchell said.

It hasn’t taken Mitchell long to make himself at home in Central California. From the time he walked onto the Selland Arena floor as the first Boyd Grant-coached Bulldog to start his first game as a freshman, Mitchell has been collecting Red Wave raves.

Mitchell had 24 points in his second collegiate game, a 62-50 win over Eastern Washington in the Sun Met Tournament at Fresno. He was named the tournament’s most valuable player, and it was clear the Red Wave had a freshman worth shouting about.

Grant thinks Mitchell is the best freshman in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., and the numbers indicate the coach may be right. Going into tonight’s 7:30 game against UC Irvine in Crawford Hall, Mitchell has started 20 of Fresno State’s 21 games. He is second on the team to senior Brian Salone in minutes played with 681, despite missing one game with a pulled groin muscle. He is averaging 10.1 points per game, and is shooting 46.8% from the field. And, much to Grant’s delight, he plays defense as if his future depends on it. Mitchell leads the Bulldogs with 41 steals.

Gary McKnight. Mater Dei coach, called Mitchell and Fresno State “the perfect match.” The ability to play defense is something Grant holds near and dear, and something he looks for when recruiting players. It was one of the skills that attracted him to Mitchell.

“You look at him and see he’s a good athlete,” Grant said. “And he really likes to play defense. I really believe that there are some players who don’t believe that playing defense is important, that you’re not playing real basketball unless you’re scoring a lot of points. Mike didn’t have that concept at all.”

Mitchell’s grasp of defense came largely out of necessity. At Mater Dei, offense was provided by players such as Tom Lewis and Matt Beeuwsaert, now at USC and Notre Dame, respectively. Both Lewis and Beeuwsaert gained rather distinguished prep reputations by scoring points. Mitchell had to find other methods of getting discovered.

“I learned to live with it,” he said. “I knew the whole time I was there, I was going to be a role player. Lewis and Beeuwsaert were going to have the limelight, and I was going to have to make a name for myself. That’s what I tried to do with defense.”

Said McKnight: “I think he got as much satisfaction out of playing a good defensive game as Tom did playing a good offensive game.”

Mitchell has played a bigger offensive role for Fresno State than either he or Grant had envisioned. It was his outside shooting that helped the Bulldogs beat UC Irvine, 53-48, Jan. 9 in Selland Arena. Mitchell was 5 of 7 from the field, including one three-point shot. It is no coincidence that the Bulldogs have lost three of their last four games and Mitchell has been limited to 21 points in those games.

This has been a stressful season for Grant. The Bulldogs enter tonight’s game with a 12-10 record, 5-6 in the PCAA. In the first meeting this season against Irvine, Grant stomped the sidelines, drew two technical fouls, and wondered aloud whether his wife would speak to him afterward. The next day, he said he could use a lesson in taking things easy from his smiling, self-assured freshman.

“I think he thinks that Mike Mitchell is a pretty good guy . . . that he’s the right kind of person,” Grant said. “He may live to be 85 or 90 years old. I’d like to be like him.”

Despite the Bulldogs’ troubles this season, Mitchell said he couldn’t be happier with his choice of colleges. The style of play is to his liking. He gets along with the coaching staff. Fresno’s just far enough from home to make him feel a sense of independence.

And, besides . . .

“We’re the only show in town here,” he said. “I like that.”