One year ago, Alabama forward Tony Mitchell left school early to enter the NBA, and went undrafted. Now, the North Texas forward with the same name intends to declare his intent and hope for a better result. According to Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com, Mitchell is expected to announce today at a news conference that he'll enter this June's draft.
Mitchell, 20, seemed to take a step back during his sophomore season at North Texas. After posting 14.7 PPG and 10.3 RPG, along with .567/.439/.739 shooting in his freshman year, he averaged just 13.0 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and .440/.300/.675 shooting this season.
Despite a disappointing year for Mitchell and North Texas (12-20), NBA executives still expect the 6'8" forward to be selected late in the first round this June, according to Goodman. That seems to match up with prospects lists by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com and ESPN.com's Chad Ford, who rank Mitchell 26th and 30th, respectively.
With a number of NCAA teams having finished their respective seasons now, and another handful to be eliminated from March Madness later this week, we should see plenty of underclassmen declare their intent to enter this year's draft over the next several weeks.