Mr. Basketball Candidate: Mitchell Robinson
Player: Mitchell Robinson, 7’0, Chalmette Last season: 23-8, 2nd round loss, 1st team 5A 20.9 PPG, 13.6 RPG, 8.1 BPG, 2.0 SPG If one thing can be said for Mitchell Robinson, it’s that he isn’t afraid of being different. Last…
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Continue ReadingPlayer: Mitchell Robinson, 7’0, Chalmette
Last season: 23-8, 2nd round loss, 1st team 5A
20.9 PPG, 13.6 RPG, 8.1 BPG, 2.0 SPG
If one thing can be said for Mitchell Robinson, it’s that he isn’t afraid of being different. Last year, after moving to the greater New Orleans area from Florida for his junior and senior year, there were many vying for the attention of a 6’10 Robinson, who was already a consensus top 40 player in the nation for his class. Many thought he would end up at a basketball powerhouse, most notably Landry-Walker. LW was coming off back-to-back state titles, and already had two D-1 college prospect on their team in 2016 G Lamar Peters (now at Mississippi State) and F Cameron Lard (now at Iowa State), and seemed like a natural fit for Robinson. But what happened instead surprised many, myself included. Robinson arrived for school at Chalmette, a school that has never won a state championship in any of the major sports.
And from the first day, Robison dominated, dropping 33 points, grabbing 15 boards and swatting 6 shots, in a 101-64 win against Hahnville, hitting triple digits for one of the first times in school history. His best game last season was against St. Thomas More, in a game in which he earned a triple-double, scoring 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 blocks, in a 60-50 win against an eventual Top 28 team. Robinson had a great year last year, but Chalmette could never get enough production from other players to compete with the best of the best in the state, losing in the second round of the playoffs to eventual champion Natchitoches Central.
Over this past summer, Robinson lit up the Nike EYBL, playing for Texas based Pro Skills, averaging 15.5 points, 11.6 rebounds and 4.1 blocks against the very best competition in the nation. He had the 2nd highest rebound average per game in the nation, and lead the nation in blocks. He also showed this summer the ability to put the ball on the floor, and expand his range to beyond the 3-point line.
As a result, Robinson is a consensus top 10 player in the nation for the 2017 class, ranked as high as 6 on both 24/7 and Rivals. As a result, you would assume that he is committed to a college blue-blood program, perhaps Kentucky, Duke, or Kansas. Nope. Mitchell Robinson is committed to play college basketball at Western Kentucky University. A Sun-Belt conference program that has never won a national championship in any of the major sports. Sound familiar? Mitchell Robinson isn’t afraid to be different.