When Ethan Stewart-Smith recruited Kyran Mitchell to Washington & Jefferson, he wasn’t certain he was making the right call.
Mitchell averaged only about eight points a game as a senior at Berks Catholic in 2018-19. He also carried extra weight.
“Honestly, we weren’t sure exactly what we were getting,” said Stewart-Smith, the Presidents coach. “They (the Saints) scored in the 40s and 50s, so it was hard to gauge how that would translate to the college level.
“We were kind of flying blind as far as overall expectations for his career.”
Stewart-Smith and his coaching staff can see clearly now.
Mitchell, a 6-4 junior, is the cornerstone for Washington & Jefferson and one of the premier basketball players in the NCAA Division III Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
He leads W&J in scoring (17.6 points per game), rebounding (9.3), assists (4.9) and steals (3.3) and ranks in the top four in the conference in each category.
After shedding 30 pounds since he graduated from Berks Catholic, Mitchell is chiseled and fit. His improved physical conditioning has enabled him to flourish at one of the few colleges that offered him a chance to play.
“It’s been incredible,” Stewart-Smith said. “I try to think back on all of the players I’ve coached over the last 15 years and there is nobody who has transformed both physically and from a basketball standpoint like he has.
“He is so committed. His mentality has been so impressive. That was something difficult to gauge as a young player.”
Kyran Mitchell has loved basketball for as long as he can remember. According to his mother, Steph, the first word he uttered as a 10-month-old was, “Basketball.”
His best friends as he grew up were Berks Catholic teammates Luis Garcia and Casey Jack. They played together for a long time, but Mitchell deferred to them on the court and in the locker room, according to his parents.
“I was given an opportunity to have a good year when I was a senior,” Mitchell said. “I was really appreciative. I enjoyed it a lot. We didn’t have the end goal that we wanted, but I’m proud of what we accomplished.
“I played with two 1,000-point scorers who are my best friends. That was enough for me.”
Mitchell also played AAU ball with his younger brother, Marquette freshman Stevie Mitchell, who scored a school-record 2,060 points and led Wilson to a 48-3 record and back-to-back Berks Conference championships the last two seasons.
It was at a national tournament in Maryland the summer before Kyran’s senior year at Berks Catholic that his parents saw him elevate his game to a new level. He was on the same team as Stevie and several others from Berks County.
“We saw him play like he’s playing now for one weekend,” Kyran Mitchell Sr. said. “He had a different level of freedom. They ended up winning the tournament. Stevie scored the most points, but Kyran proved to be a facilitator.”
Once Kyran committed to W&J, he lifted weights seriously for the first time. He averaged 19 minutes as a freshman, made 10 starts and averaged 4.8 points for a 14-12 team.
“I thought I had a lot of potential,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t really work out that much in high school. I knew there were a lot of things I could do on the court. I was dedicated to wanting to improve my game.
“Being around my brother all the time and watching him play all the time, that kept growing on me. I wanted to lift and eat better, the stuff I needed to do to get my body better. All of those things helped me become the player I am now.”
Stewart-Smith recalled the first time he put Mitchell in a game in a critical juncture during his freshman year.
“We were playing Geneva College,” he said. “They were playing zone and Kyran had been practicing well. We called his number and the first five possessions he was in the game it was assist, assist, 3, assist, basket. He’s had such a positive impact on our program since day one.”
The Presidents played only 10 games in the 2020-21 season because of the pandemic. Mitchell spent the fall semester in 2020 at home doing virtual learning before returning to school in January 2021.
It was during that time at home that he trained with his brother, who was following a regimen from the Marquette strength and conditioning staff. The results were dramatic.
“It’s been a very, very drastic change,” their father said. “Man, the fuel that generated is amazing to me. I knew he (Kyran) had the potential to (lose) the little extra levels of fat that were there. The weight wasn’t just going to fall off.
“It was about his desire. He had to really work. He found out he had another level of commitment that he didn’t know he had.”
Mitchell averaged 12.6 points and 7.6 rebounds for W&J during the truncated season. Now at a lean 205 pounds, he was the only returning starter this season and has led the Presidents (11-2, 16-4) to second place in the PAC.
“I just try to play the role I need to play for each team,” he said. “I didn’t need to shoot much as a freshman. I was mainly focused on my defense my first two years.
“I still have an emphasis on defense, but the group that we have looks for me to score and also to create for others. I really enjoy doing all those things.”
He’s had seven double-doubles and two triple-doubles this season. His coach calls him the “ultimate mismatch.”
“It’s been really rewarding to watch him,” Stewart-Smith said. “He’s been preparing for this his whole life. It’s a big reason why he came to a place like W&J, to really be the face of a program. He’s embraced that.
“We knew he was going to come back even better than he was last year. He’s worked for this. He’s led the way for us and set the tone for this group.”
If anybody identifies Kyran as “Stevie’s older brother,” it’s fine with him. He’s proud of Stevie’s accomplishments. But Kyran’s carving quite a niche for himself in southwestern Pennsylvania.
“We’re extremely proud,” said Steph Mitchell. “We knew he always had it in him. He was always OK with other people around him shining. I knew from the time Kyran was a little kid that he was a gifted athlete.
“To see him believing in himself as much as we do is a great thing. He’s living out his dream.”
Source: Berkshire mont