Baylor Basketball: Davion Mitchell poised for career year with Bears in 2020-21

Coming off a stellar season, Baylor Basketball has every intention of competing to try and earn a shot at a title. Will Davion Mitchell prove to be a deciding factor for the Bears?

Excitement is once again brewing in Waco, Texas, as Baylor Basketball prepares to enter the 2020-21 college basketball season as one of the premier teams in the country. Following a 26-4 season (15-3 in conference play) that was cut short due to Covid-19, Scott Drew will attempt to lead Baylor towards their first-ever National Championship.

Baylor made a lot of headlines this offseason with their strong recruiting class, as well as the return of two of their star players in Junior guard, Jared Butler, and Senior Guard, MaCio Teague.

The Bears in recent years past have been aided by solid depth, but their plethora of talent that will be on display this season is going to be must-watch basketball. While Butler and Teague garnered the majority of attention this offseason, one name to keep an eye on is going to be yet another guard in Davion Mitchell.

When fans learned Baylor had landed the Auburn transfer, the first thing that came to mind was the defensive physicality that Mitchell would provide night in, night out. The former four-star prospect originally attended Auburn, where he had a pretty solid freshman campaign, averaging 3.7 PPG, 1.9 AST, while shooting 42.9% from the field across 34 games.

After sitting out a year, Mitchell quickly made a name for himself in Waco, averaging 9.9 PPG, 3.8 AST, and shooting 40.9% from the field over the course of 30 games. The 6-2 guard out of Hinesville, Georgia earned himself the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year award.

While Mitchell’s offensive numbers were very solid for a stingy Bears team that averaged 71.1 PPG last year, what stood out, even more, was his defensive contributions. He wreaked havoc on defense as one of the best on-ball defenders in the Big 12 and quite possibly the country.

Mitchell accounted for 44 steals, which averaged out to 18.1% of Baylor’s total steals. He also added 11 blocks on the year and played a major role in Baylor’s ability to only allow 60.1 PPG to opponents, a superb clip considering they played in one of the most competitive conferences in the league.

It’s no secret that Baylor will most likely be competing with Kansas for a Conference Championship. The Bears and Jayhawks split their season series last year, as they both held the number one spot in the country at one point or another. The same is to be expected this year, however, with the Big 12 you can never take any opponent for granted. The Big 12 will hope to see an uptick in conference play this year, as four of the six teams that finished with a .500 or better winning percentage in conference play finished right at 9-9.

While Baylor certainly has many weapons in their arsenal this year, sometimes it’s the one that doesn’t get talked about enough that provides the biggest bang. As Baylor looks to make history this season keep an eye out for Davion Mitchell as he attempts to break out in his second year in the Green and Gold.