When Anthony Mitchell thinks his son needs a little push, he whispers a name in his ear.
“Karl Hobbs”
This might seem strange, since Hobbs is currently the Director of Basketball Operations at UConn, and Akil Mitchell is a senior forward for Tony Bennett at Virginia, but there’s a story behind it all. A story well-told by the Washington Post, reporting from ACC Media Days.
Though he grew up in Charlotte, Mitchell’s family hails from the Washington area and he had his sights set on playing his college basketball there. In the Colonials, led by former Coach Karl Hobbs at the time, he saw a program that appreciated how he blossomed after a late growth spurt during his junior year of high school.Until, that is, George Washington’s coaches called him and his father into an office after he had trekked to Washington for a campus visit. Hobbs informed them he was pulling Mitchell’s scholarship offer, because “he was kind of trying to put a team together that would save the program and he didn’t think I was the guy that would help them right away,” Akil said.
Akil Mitchell’s father told the Post that a reminder of that slight usually provokes a double-double from his son in the next game.In a way, you can kind of see where Hobbs was coming from. He wanted immediate contributors, and MItchell was, admittedly, a bit raw as a big man coming out of high school. When Tony Bennett offered Mitchell a scholarship late in the process, he was showing vision and patience. Mitchell thought he was a wing forward, but Bennett took the time to turn him into a post presence and a crucial piece of this year’s UVA squad, which is considered an ACC contender.With Mitchell doing the dirty work on the inside, Joe Harris sniping from the perimeter, and a talented supporting cast, it would appear that Bennett’s vision of what could be was ahead of its time. Wanna bet Hobbs wishes he had a do-over?Follow @stfhoops
