LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Rick Pitino was the best coach in college basketball this season. He has the national coach of the year awards to confirm it.
I voted for him. Twice.
Donovan Mitchell was one of the five — or perhaps three — best players in the NBA this season. He has the Cleveland Cavaliers charging into the NBA Playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Pitino coached Mitchell two seasons, from 2016-18, at the University of Louisville. In year one, the Cardinals finished 23-8. They missed the NCAA Tournament because the school agreed to a postseason ban for rules violations. In year two, the Cardinals finished 25-9, exiting the NCAA Tournament quietly after defeating Jacksonville State and losing to Michigan in Indianapolis.
In a twist that nobody would have predicted on March 17, 2017, that remains the program's last NCAA Tournament win more than eight years later.
Pat Kelsey figures to fix that issue next season. But here is today's second guess:
Shouldn't Mitchell have done for Louisville what he is doing for the Cavaliers — impose his will on games with his uncommon blend of intelligence, strength, size, quickness, skill and relentless competitiveness? Hasn't Mitchell's NBA dominance made you wonder if, given the freedom, he could have taken the Cards on a one-man joy ride in March? Shouldn't Pitino have featured Donovan Mitchell more?
Encouraging the star system has never been Pitino's standard operating procedure. But as Mitchell has shown in the NBA for eight consecutive seasons, he was the most talented and dominant force to play for Pitino during his 16-season run at Louisville.
Wes Unseld is ahead of Mitchell on the best NBA players to come through U of L. Is anybody else?
Given the encouragement and freedom, Mitchell was a guy who could have carried a team to the Final Four. The Cards certainly should have advanced beyond the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament instead of losing to an 11-loss Michigan team that exited in the next round.
Looking back at Mitchell's numbers during his sophomore season, you don't see confirmation that he was on track to average 24 points per game or that people would say he is a first-team all-NBA player who deserves consideration with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City and Nikola Jokic of Denver as the NBA MVP.
In 2017, Mitchell averaged 15.6 points per game. That's less than Damion Lee (15.9) averaged a year earlier and less than Terry Rozier (17.4) averaged in 2015.
Russ Smith averaged over 18 points his final two seasons with the Cards. Reece Gaines, Francisco Garcia and Taquan Dean all averaged more than Mitchell with the Cards.
But there was a stretch in the middle of that season when Mitchell proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he was one of the finest offensive players in the country.
With U of L point guard Quentin Snider sidelined by an injury, Mitchell became the Cardinals' primary playmaker for a six-game stretch against Clemson, Florida State, Pittsburgh, North Carolina State, Boston College and Virginia.
This is what Mitchell averaged during those games: 19.3 points while making 16 of 37 (.432%) three-point shot and 18 of 19 (.947%) of his free throws. Don't overlook the four rebounds, three assists and 2.3 steals per game.
For the record, the Cards went 4-2 during that stretch. They lost road game to Virginia (where Pitino always lost) and Florida State (which has three future NBA players and finished tied for second in the ACC with U of L and Notre Dame).
Mitchell delivered three more 20-point games in February after Snider returned as the Cards lineup reverted to the two guards, Deng Adel, Jaylen Johnson and Mangot Mathiang.
But the Donovan Mitchell in March was not the Donovan Mitchell in late January and early February.
Over Louisville's final five games, Mitchell averaged 12.6 points. He made only 10 of 30 shots from distance. He shot only 13 free throws in the final five games, making nine. He was no longer the playmaking force.
And the Cards lost three of the last five, falling to Wake Forest, beating Notre Dame, losing to Duke, handling Jacksonville State and ending their season with a 73-69 loss to Michigan.
Something changed. Mitchell was the Cards' leading scorer in only two of those five games.
He did not perform like the guy who would be taken 13th in the NBA Draft three months later and transform himself into a player who has made the last six NBA All-Star teams.
Louisville fans never got to see that version of Donovan Mitchell — the one taking over playoff games, chasing MVP votes, and perhaps chasing an NBA title.
But eight years later, it’s hard not to wonder: if Pitino had let Mitchell cook, could Louisville have danced deeper into March?
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