Dartmouth's Kenny Mitchell leads nation in assists

Quakers assistant coach Gil Jackson pointed the fellow Delaware native toward the Big Green. Dartmouth coach Dave Faucher smiles when he talks about Kenny Mitchell. He's talking on the phone, but the listener on the other end can tell that Faucher's face has brightened after hearing Mitchell's name. "He's one of my favorites," Faucher said. "He's a great kid and a hard worker, and he's improved so much. It's a great story." And Mitchell is a pretty good basketball player. If statistics mean anything, the senior is one of the better point guards in the country. In fact, Mitchell leads the nation with 7.9 assists per game. "I think he's as good as any point guard in the league," Faucher said. "I wouldn't trade him for anyone. He's as important as anyone on our team. The position he plays, the way he plays -- he's absolutely critical." Faucher admits he did not expect Mitchell to have this much of an impact on the Dartmouth program when he recruited him. Accordingly, Mitchell saw little playing time as a freshman, sitting behind first-team All-Ivy guard Gregg Frame. But at least one person knew Mitchell would be a success. "He's very bright, very intelligent, extremely competitive," Penn assistant coach Gil Jackson said. "Yeah, I definitely expected him to do very, very well." In the small world of basketball, Jackson and Mitchell go back a long way. Mitchell played in high school at the Sanford School in Wilmington, Del., where Jackson was the head coach until 1989. Mitchell was a freshman at Sanford during Jackson's first year as a volunteer assistant at Penn. But Jackson continued to teach history at the school, and that was how he grew close to Mitchell. As a senior, Mitchell was interested in attending an Ivy League school. He got advice from Jackson, who in turn brought Mitchell to Faucher's attention. "He recommended him," Faucher said. "He said he was a good kid who worked hard. We followed up on Gil's lead, saw him and liked him." Finally Mitchell chose the Big Green, after also considering Brown and Columbia. "I wanted to get away from home," Mitchell said. "Also, in terms of playing, I wanted to go somewhere where I could play." Ironically, Penn's success in recent years discouraged him from joining the program, despite his ties to Jackson. Mitchell considered becoming a Quaker, but he would have been stuck on the bench for two years behind Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney. "I think it would have been unfair to ask him to sit behind Jerome and Matt for a couple years," Jackson said. "That would have been more of a selfish motive on my part. I didn't want to do that." "The coaches at Dartmouth owe me a favor," Jackson added with a laugh. No doubt Faucher will be forever grateful. But Mitchell still had to do his share of pine time as a freshman. After making the switch from high school to college, he realized he had "a whole lot of work to do." "I had to work on everything," Mitchell said. "Ballhandling, shooting, passing, defense -- it definitely was not satisfying, but I was happy that I was progressing." With constant practice, Mitchell made improvements in his game. He gained some strength, took better care of the ball and became a defensive force. (He is tied for 12th in the nation with 2.9 steals per game.) "I'm sure he was frustrated in his first year," Faucher said. "I'm sure he was frustrated at times with the system and at times with me. Now we're extremely close. That's part of his buying into the program." Mitchell now also has the complete confidence of his teammates. As a co-captain, he directs the Big Green offense and sets up scorers like Sea Lonergan and Brian Gilpin. "I definitely try to be a leader," Mitchell said. "I try to make sure everybody's on the same page, make sure everybody's getting the ball." "He really looks to handle the ball, and set up his teammates and defend -- put pressure on opposing point guards," Jackson said. "And make free throws. That's what we kind of talked about when he was young, what a point guard would do." Mitchell has also improved his scoring this year, throwing in 9.3 points a game. He is a decent threat from the three-point line, shooting 36.7 percent. And at 5-foot-11, he is a surprisingly good rebounder, averaging 4.3 boards a contest. "I think he's special because of the number of things he does," Faucher said. "We won three games last year by him diving for balls on the floor at the end. He gets tips, long rebounds, charges -- anything that's related to hustle, he gets." Mitchell's ultimate goal is to play in the NCAA tournament, which requires breaking the Penn-Princeton stranglehold on the Ivy League title. He places that ahead of any individual accomplishments. "I'd so much rather be winning than leading the nation at anything," Mitchell said. Dartmouth can take a big step towards that goal this weekend when it visits Princeton and Penn. Mitchell had a fine game in the Big Green's 54-53 streak-buster against the Quakers last year, totalling nine points, seven assists and seven rebounds. He'll be looking to do more of the same on Saturday. He'll even have his own cheering section -- a group of friends and faculty from high school have hit Jackson up for tickets. "We're going to have to do a good job containing him," Jackson said. "He had a great game against us up in Hanover, the game that they won. I think if you can contain Kenny, that shuts them down. He's the real heart of their team."

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