Maryland basketball season review: Charles Mitchell

Charles Mitchell

#0, 6'8", 260 lbs, forward

Mitchell just completed his sophomore year at Maryland, breaking into the starting rotation towards the end of the season (taking the spot of Shaq Cleare). He's from Atlanta, Ga. and was ranked as a 3 or 4 star by the major recruiting services coming out of high school.

Stats

Mitchell finished the season averaging 6.5 points per game, along with a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game. He played 18.8 minutes per game, which was up from his 15.7 his freshman year. He also increased his rebounding average and points per game by one over his freshman year.

In terms of advanced stats, Mitchell was a beast when it comes to offensive rebounds. According to Kenpom, his offensive rebounding percentage of 15.4 ranked 12th nationally. And his defensive rebounding percentage ranked 82nd nationally as well. So what prevented MItchell from grabbing more rebounds per game? He committed 5.7 fouls per 40 minutes. The only players to finish worse in that category were Jonathan Graham (6 per 40), Shaq Cleare (6.3 per 40) and Damonte Dodd (6.4 per 40).

The other area where Mitchell really struggled and actually regressed, significantly from his freshman to sophomore year, was his free throw shooting. Mitchell made just 23 of 70 free throws, which translates to 33%. Mitchell shot almost 20 percentage points better from the field (51.7%) than he did from the line.

That number jumps out at you when you remember that Maryland lost eight games by five points or less this year. Furthermore, Mitchell regressed significantly from his freshman to sophomore year at the line, dropping from the 54% mark that he put up in his first season. Is Mitchell really that bad of a free throw shooter? Probably not. But he's certainly going to have to find a way to improve on that before next season.

High point

This one was pretty easy. Charles Mitchell breakaway slam against Virginia Tech, which we decided was the basketball equivalent of the fat guy touchdown in football.

Low point

Having a disagreement with assistant coach Scott Spinelli that resulted in Mitchell leaving the court before the end of the first half at home against Virginia Tech and not returning to the bench until the eight minute mark in the second half.

2014-15 outlook

With the transfer of Shaq Cleare, Mitchell will be battling with Damonte Dodd and freshman Michal Cekovsky and Trayvon Reed for playing time. Mitchell did a great job coming off the bench, providing an instant rebounding spark and preventing him from getting into early foul trouble. Next season, Mark Turgeon might use Mitchell in the 6th man role, with either Dodd, Cekovsky or Reed starting at the five spot.

Mitchell should continue to be a great rebounding threat and will hopefully improve on both his free throw shooting and shot around the basket. If he can make improvements in those areas, he could average 8-10 points per game while pulling down eight or so rebounds per contest.