Mr. La. Basketball Signs With Tigers

BATON ROUGE - The LSU men's basketball office Thursday night received the signed national letter-of-intent papers from Louisiana's Mr. Basketball, Darrel Mitchell, Jr., of St. Martinville High School.

Mitchell, a member of the Class 4A state championship basketball team was chosen the 2002 Farm Bureau Mr. Basketball winner, honoring him as the state boys Player of the Year.

He eclipsed the 2,000-point plateau for his career in early December and finished his senior season, averaging 24.6 points per game 3.3 assists, 2.9 steals and 3.1 rebounds per game as a 5-11 shooting guard. Mitchell shot 81.1 percent at the free throw line and 41 percent from 3-point range.

He becomes the second signee of the spring signing period for LSU, joining Tony Gipson of Panola Junior College, who signed earlier in the signing period.

Coach John Brady had the following comments on Mitchell's signing:

"We're extremely pleased that Darrel Mitchell has chosen to continue his athletic career and education at LSU. We feel that with Darrel and signing Tim Bush early we have without question signed the two best players in Louisiana. Darrel will be able to come in and play either the 2 or the 1 position, but we are looking at him to mainly be our point guard. He comes from a winning program and he was coached by his father, who has done an excellent job. We are excited about having Darrel and the whole St. Martinville community a part of the LSU basketball program."