NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Connecticut of last decade
By Joey Loose
2. Donovan Mitchell – Louisville
Back then, Mitchell was just a 6’3 guard and top recruit heading from Greenwich to Louisville, arriving at the school back in 2015. He’s since become an NBA All-Star and a star on basketball’s biggest stage, but we’re focusing solely on what he did at the collegiate level. He spent just two seasons with the Cardinals, coinciding with Rick Pitino’s final two seasons, and did have some great success in college ball.
During his freshman season, Mitchell was more of a role player, only starting a few games and averaging just 7.4 points per game. His sophomore year was more of a breakout, filled with memorable performances like a 29-point game against Pittsburgh or a 19-point, 7-rebound effort in the NCAA Tournament versus Michigan. In that second season of college ball, he’d average 15.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, making just over 35% of his 3-point attempts.
Mitchell was named All-ACC First Team for that sophomore season, a season in which he led the ACC in steals and ranked highly in several other key statistics. He was a dynamic playmaker who made shots and keyed the success of the Cardinals. As previously mentioned, he’s since onto bigger and better things after being drafted by the Utah Jazz. But this 3-time NBA All-Star was very recently one of the best players in the ACC and clearly, he continues to write a brilliant basketball legacy.