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People SearchFind an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.
Mr. Dwayne "weezy da great" Mitchell
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Home Phone: -- Men’s Basketball: Mitchell Named D-League All-Star Mitchell leads the Energy and ranks fifth in the league with 20.7 points per game. Basketball-M 02/12/2008 Couretesy RaginCajuns.com NEW YORK – Former Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and current Iowa Energy guard Dwayne Mitchell is one of 20 players selected to play in the second annual D-League All-Star Game presented by Spalding. The game will be held on Saturday, Feb. 16, on Center Court at NBA All-Star Jam Session in New Orleans. The game will tip off at 2 p.m. (CT) and will be shown live on NBA TV. Mitchell, the only Sun Belt Conference product selection to play in the All-Star Game, is a member of the Red Team. The two 10-man rosters were selected by a combination of fan balloting on D-LEAGUE.com and voting of the league’s 14 head coaches. Mitchell has started 28 of 29 games for the Energy, averaging 37.6 minutes per game. The New Orleans native leads Iowa and ranks fifth in the league with 20.7 points per game. The rookie guard is shooting 47.4 percent from the field, while pulling down 6.4 rebounds per game. Mitchell, a first team All-Sun Belt selection in 2006, was taken in the first round of the 2007 NBA D-League Draft with the 14th overall pick by the Iowa Energy. He finished his college career as one of 37 players to score 1,000 points in his career at Louisiana, reaching the milestone during the 2005-06 season. -NBA D-League contributed to this release- Courtesy RaginCajuns.com February 13, 2008 * * * * * * * * * * * * * Basketball: Mitchell stifled by diagnosis July 11, 2006 – An erroneous medical diagnosis contributed heavily to former University of Louisiana basketball standout Dwayne Mitchell not being selected in the NBA Draft, according to Mitchell’s agent. “I know that information wasn’t intended to be harmful,” White said Monday, “but it put him in a situation where he hasn’t found a home.” Mitchell, who led the Ragin’ Cajuns in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals last season – the first player ever to lead UL in all four categories – went through a physical at the NBA’s pre-draft camp in Orlando. “If this was a cardiac matter, someone should have been notified,” White said. “This wasn’t shin splints.” Mitchell has since had a second examination, including tests done by the Cardiology Center of Lafayette and Lafayette’s Dr. Jon D. Leleux. “His letter said he didn’t find any evidence of that,” White said. “He said he did find a delta wave on his EKG, but it was his belief that he was misdiagnosed. Nothing that he found would be a contradiction to him competing on a high level.” Results of the exam at the Orlando camp were made available to all NBA clubs, and White believes that caused teams to back off. “He had four workouts after Orlando, and things were looking positive,” White said. “Draft day comes and goes and he didn’t get picked, and three other guys I represent had summer league commitments before they went to bed that night (after the draft). “I’m saying to myself, what happened. I started getting the professional brush-off, and finally one team called to offer him a summer league slot.” White said that offer, from a team he would not divulge, was withdrawn the next day. “They called back and said there’s a red flag in Dwayne’s records about possible heart disease. I contacted the league office and they said that was noted in his record. Neither one of us had ever heard a word about it.” UL coach Robert Lee said Monday he was shocked by the revelations. “If they have a process where they come up with something and don’t tell the kid, that’s amazing,” Lee said. “To not inform someone of that, that’s wrong.” White said that an earlier notification would have allowed an earlier second diagnosis, one which could have cleared his availability for either the draft or summer play. Three of the four NBA summer league teams have begun play, those in Las Vegas (July 6-14, 16 teams), Long Beach, Calif. (July 8-19, five teams) and Orlando (July 10-14, five teams). A final summer league, the Rocky Mountain Revue, has six teams and runs July 14-21 in Salt Lake City, Utah. “I intend to reach out to some of those teams to see if we can get him out there,” White said. “But our main focus is to try to land him in a camp in October. We’ve got to try to change the perception of the information that was put out there.” Originally published July 11, 2006 Mitchell UL’s quiet warrior June 30, 2006 – Agent says former Cajun has choice with four teams. Dan McDonald Former University of Louisiana basketball standout Dwayne Mitchell, passed over in Wednesday’s NBA draft, could wind up signing as a free agent with any of four teams, according to agent Darren White. “He said a number of teams had inquired about Dwayne coming to play summer league with them,” Lee said. “They’re looking at which team will give him the best chance of playing a lot and making the squad.” The 30 NBA clubs all have summer developmental teams, playing in leagues either in Las Vegas, Orlando, Salt Lake City or Long Beach, Calif. The earliest start among those leagues is July 6. Summer-league players do not sign NBA contracts, but do receive per diem and expense allowances from the clubs. White and Mitchell were not available for comment Thursday. “He’s obviously disappointed,” Lee said of Mitchell. “Every kid who plays college basketball wants to get drafted. But even guys that are picked in the second round aren’t guaranteed of anything.” Mitchell finished the 2005-06 season as the Cajuns’ leader in scoring (16.6), rebounding (8.2), assists (4.3) and steals (2.1), becoming the first player in UL history to lead the squad in all four of those categories. He also shot 52.4 percent from the floor and averaged 36.7 minutes per game. The 6-foot-5 product of New Orleans, who attended Auburn for one year before transferring to UL, had workouts with six NBA clubs prior to the draft. He had been listed as a “bubble” second-round selection on most pre-draft lists. Originally published June 30, 2006 – – – – – – – – – – Basketball: Mitchell granted additional year Bruce Brown Dwayne Mitchell could play some more, if he wants to. Coach Robert Lee hopes to meet today with Mitchell to discuss his plans for the coming year, in which the Cajuns will attempt to capture a third straight Sun Belt Conference title and NCAA Tournament berth. Mitchell, an acrobatic product of John F. Kennedy High in New Orleans, has proved to be the ultimate role player in his two seasons of action with the Cajuns after transferring to UL from Auburn University. He averaged 9.3 points and 4.3 rebounds while contributing 83 assists to the 2003-2004 Cajuns, who won the Sun Belt and finished 20-9. Then last season in Lee’s first year as head coach, Mitchell averaged 10.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in addition to leading the Cajuns with 111 assists as UL completed a 20-11 season. Although listed as a perimeter player, Mitchell led the Cajuns in rebounds in 10 games last season. In his 85-game collegiate career, Mitchell has totalled 642 points, 362 rebounds and 245 assists. Mitchell played the 2001-2002 season at Auburn, transferred to UL and sat out the 2002-2003 campaign under NCAA transfer rules before helping the Cajuns to two straight Sun Belt titles. Tiras Wade, the Cajuns’ leading scorer in 2004-2005, left after one season to enter the upcoming NBA Draft. Also gone from that championship squad are Orien Greene and Brian Hamilton. But center Chris Cameron has announced that he will return for another season, and Mitchell also now has the option of playing again for UL. Originally published June 23, 2005 – – – – – – – – March 01, 2006 – Unassuming senior makes a big difference on court. Dan McDonald He rarely talks about himself, and then only when it comes in a team concept. He doesn’t show much emotion on the floor, especially when things are going well for the University of Louisiana. His facial expressions rarely change. But don’t mistake any of those for lack of passion. A burning desire to succeed brought Dwayne Mitchell back to his home state three years ago, and that same desire has helped the Ragin’ Cajuns win back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Tournament titles. Mitchell ranks fifth in the league in scoring (17.3), fourth in rebounding (8.7), fifth in assists (4.5) and fifth in steals (2.2). He’s the second-leading rebounder among the nation’s guards. He’s averaging over 38 minutes per game. Nobody else in the Sun Belt has played as many as 35. “I do what I have to do,” Mitchell said. “I know if I’m not out there, our chances to win aren’t as good.” That’s not bragging, it’s not ego. It’s fact. It doesn’t take a basketball expert to see that, in the rare instances that Mitchell hasn’t been on the floor this year, the entire dynamic of the UL squad changes. But don’t be surprised if, when the Sun Belt’s All-Conference team is announced Thursday, his name doesn’t pop up on the first team. The league coaches and other voters often lean toward the “polished” basketball players at the expense of the more athletic. Teammate Orien Greene didn’t make first-team last year, didn’t make the All-Tournament Team. All he did was become the first Sun Belt player in three years selected in the NBA Draft and only the second in almost a decade. He’s now a regular performer with the Boston Celtics. Mitchell hopes for a similar opportunity, and scouts have noticed. More than one came to watch teammate Michael Southall in a search for the dominant big men, and left bearing notes about Mitchell’s athleticism. There are also unconfirmed rumors that pro football teams have inquired about his services. Robert Lee knows how athletic Mitchell can be. The Cajun head coach has been watching him since he was an underclassman at Kennedy High in New Orleans. The Cajuns lost him in the recruiting wars to Auburn, but even though he earned the Tigers’ Sixth-Man Award as a freshman he left after that year and transferred to UL. Lee just grins when asked where his team would be without Mitchell. He knows that his team surely wouldn’t be in Sunday’s Sun Belt quarterfinals. “I’ve run out of adjectives to describe him,” Lee said. “With everything that he does for us, and how many times he’s taken this team and put it on his back …” It’s not about points or rebounds or assists or steals, although he has plenty of those. Only 20 other players in the long and storied history of Cajun basketball have matched him on the 1,000-point and 500-rebound list. Only four of those have more assists or steals. It’s not even about physical talents – the thunderous dunks that Cajundome fans still talk about the next day or his ability to continue vertically for rebounds after other players have reached their highest peak. It’s all about attitude, desire, strength of will. “He’s a warrior,” Lee said. “You pick someone you want to go to war with. I’ll take him.” Force of will runs in the family. His mother had to hack her way through a roof to escape rising waters during Hurricane Katrina’s ravages in New Orleans and had to virtually hijack a bus in Houston to contact her son and let him know she was still alive. Like many from the Crescent City, Katrina turned Mitchell’s world around. Many in his family migrated to Lafayette after the storm, and the family is still scattered across the South. In Katrina’s aftermath, basketball became an escape. But basketball had long been the passion, still is. That’s not changing this week. In fact, the will-to-win level may soar even higher than his sky-walking rim attacks. Few are picking a 12-15 team that had a losing record in league play to go to Murfreesboro, Tenn., this weekend and win the Sun Belt Tournament. Even fewer were picking the Cajuns when they finished January with a 5-14 record. Mitchell has no doubts that he’ll be cutting down nets next Tuesday night, just like he has the last two years. “We know we can win it,” Mitchell said. “We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. If we do that, everything will take care of itself.” Dwayne Mitchell’s UL Career Season G-GS FG-FGA Pct. FT-FTA Pct. RB-Avg. Ast. St. Pts.-Avg. 2003-04 26-7 97-176 .551 45-80 .563 112-4.3 82 45 242-9.3 2004-05 31-31 114-216 .538 84-142 .592 181-5.9 111 44 321-10.4 2005-06 26-26 171-328 .521 95-162 .596 226-8.7 117 57 451-17.3 Totals 83-64 382-720 .531 224-384 .583 519-6.3 310 146 1,014-12.2 ACCOMPLISHMENTS: One of 37 players to score 1,000 career points … One of 30 players to get 500 career rebounds … One of 21 players to reach both of those marks … 15th on all-time career assist list and seventh on all-time career steals list … If he gets four steals in the Sun Belt Tournament, he will become only the second player in UL history to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 150 steals, and the only one to do it in three years. Originally published March 1, 2006 Mitchell: UL’s iron man January 11, 2006 – “I’ll rock ’em, roll ’em all night long, I’m a sixty-minute man.” – “Sixty-Minute Man,” written by William Ward and recorded by the Dominoes, the Persuasions and Huey Lewis and the News, among others. Dan McDonald Lou Gehrig earned the nickname “The Iron Horse” for playing in 2,130 consecutive games for the New York Yankees. Chuck Bednarik was the National Football League’s last “iron man,” the last player to be on the field for every play of an NFL game in 1960. Dwayne Mitchell doesn’t have that kind of nickname – yet – and he’s not made of iron. He has the bruises to prove that. But in the University of Louisiana’s last four basketball games, Mitchell’s never left the floor. He’s strung four straight 40-minute efforts together, and effort to him is not just a word. It’s a pledge. “It’s my job,” Mitchell said Tuesday as he and his Cajun teammates prepared for Thursday’s Sun Belt home opener against South Alabama. “Me being out there may give us a chance to win. The important thing is to get the best out of those minutes.” Nobody in the Sun Belt would argue that he’s done that. Entering Thursday’s league games, Mitchell is second in the league in scoring (18.6), third in rebounding (11.0), fourth in assists (4.9) and steals (2.2) and eighth in field goal percentage (.544). It is unquestionably the best combined statistics line in the Belt. He’s also averaging 38.46 minutes per game, far and away more than anyone in the Sun Belt. Arkansas-Little Rock’s Rashad Jones-Jennings is a distant second at 34.38. “We have no choice but to do that,” said Cajun coach Robert Lee. “We need him to do that for us to have the best chance to win.” So he’s out there, virtually from tipoff to final horn. In between, he’s scored at least 12 points in all 13 Cajun games. He’s had at least eight rebounds in all but one of those games. Seven times he’s had “double-double” games with twin digits in points and rebounds. He had 20 rebounds against Tennessee, one off the Thompson-Boling Arena record, and games like that have put him sixth nationally in rebounding this week and as high as third earlier this season. At a listed 6-foot-5 (and probably a full inch shorter), he is easily the shortest player among the nation’s top rebounders and is far and away the top guard on that list. “It’s hard to put numbers on his value to our program,” Lee said. “All I know is that he’s a warrior.” Mitchell averaged 10.4 points and 5.9 rebounds for last year’s NCAA Tournament squad, but he knew he’d have to improve on both numbers as one of only two full-time returnees. “My body takes a pretty good beating,” he said, “but I new that coming into the season. Right now, I’m trying to get as much rest as possible when we’re not practicing or playing, so I won’t be burnt out later in the season.” “There’s been a couple of times this year that he’s said he needed a blow,” Lee said, “and we’ve gotten him out of there for maybe 30 seconds. He gets tired, but he knows he has to play through it.” He’s on pace to become the busiest Cajun player in history (Kevin Brooks averaged 38.5 minutes per game in 1989-90, but was boosted by five overtimes UL played that year), but Lee knows that even Mitchell’s fitness and endurance has its limits. “We may need to get him a little more rest early in games,” Lee said, “so he can be fresh for those last five minutes of conference games.” Until then, it’s every minute, every game. The last time he left the floor was the final two minutes against McNeese on Dec. 22, with the Cajuns comfortably ahead. “I know when the time outs are coming and I kinda know when coach is going to take a time out,” Mitchell said. “They’ll ask me during the time out, and I tell them I’m all right. Communication with the coaches helps me stay in the game.” Originally published January 11, 2006 Whatever it takes Bruce Brown Dwayne Mitchell has a tendency to electrify Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns basketball fans. His stunning dunk against Middle Tennessee in the first half of last season’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinals was the No. 1 “Play of the Day” on ESPN’s March 9 SportsCenter, and Cajun backers can fill in the ESPN crew about other such high-flying moments. If it’s a breakaway or an alley-oop pass, there’s no one fans want to see on the payoff end more than Mitchell. But that’s just the more showy side of the 6-foot-4 New Orleans product, who transferred to the Cajuns from Auburn after a standout prep career at John F. Kennedy High School. He’s willing to guard an opponent’s best perimeter scorer, or fight inside for rebounds, or come up with a game-turning steal, or dish off to a hot-shooting teammate for a big bucket. Mitchell’s not into numbers. He’s into W’s, as in wins, and he was a vital cog in a 2003-2004 UL squad that won the Sun Belt championship and reached the NCAA Tournament en route to a 20-9 record. Mainly, he’s into the game of basketball, which is just fine with Cajun coach Robert Lee. “It’s the game I grew up loving,” Mitchell said. “It was my first love. If I had to do it over again, I would. I regret nothing I’ve done.” That includes choosing basketball over other sports. “I also played football, baseball and ran track a little bit,” said Mitchell, who was a quarterback and running back in his younger days and still looks like he could don the pads. “A lot of people thought football was my best sport, and a lot of big schools were recruiting me. The same people who wanted me in basketball also wanted me in football.” Since he had the choice, Mitchell stuck with that first love, basketball. Not surprisingly, his competitive nature quickly emerges. “I love to compete,” Mitchell said. “If the guy I’m going against is playing hard, that makes me play even harder. I love everything about the sport.” As an Auburn freshman, Mitchell started 10 of 28 games and averaged 17 minutes and 3.5 points per contest. But fate stepped in to bring him back to his home state. “There were some family problems, and I decided to come back home,” Mitchell said. “Coach Evans and coach Lee worked with me and helpd me out.” Former UL coach Jessie Evans brought Mitchell aboard as a transfer who sat out the 2002-2003 season, then last year he scored 9.3 points per game, pulled down 112 rebounds, had 45 steals and blocked a team-high 13 shots for the Sun Belt champions. With Lee stepping up to run the program, Mitchell’s allegiance continues strong. “Both coaches showed a lot of concern for me, and I’d do anything for them,” Mitchell said. “Any way I can help them out, to give back to them, I’ll do it.” It’s no surprise, then, that Mitchell was willing to tackle the task of filling in at point guard when senior Orien Greene was sidelined by a broken leg earlier this season. Greene went down in the Dec. 11 Kansas game and didn’t return until the second half at South Alabama last Thursday, and there’s no question UL missed him. But players like Mitchell helped keep things intense and focused. Mitchell is currently averaging 8.6 points and 4.7 rebounds for the 8-7 Cajuns, who conclude a three-game Sun Belt road swing at New Mexico State tonight. Mitchell also has a team-high 51 assists and has come up with 24 steals. Like other teammates, Mitchell has struggled at the free throw line. But in last Saturday’s 72-67 comeback win at New Orleans, he hit 7-of-8 from the line with family and friends in the stands at Lakefront Arena, part of a 23-of-27 free throw night for UL. Mitchell scored 11 points in that win and also produced a career-high 12 rebounds as the Cajuns dominated the backboards 42-27. Name a category, and Mitchell is ready to help. “I can’t really focus on one thing,” he said. “I’ll defend, rebound, set screens. It runs the whole gamut. I’m not concerned. Once we win, everybody looks good. “In the offseason, I was looking to become more of a scorer and handle the ball more. I knew we weren’t deep at point guard.” The Cajuns were also heading into the season without potent 2003-2004 scorers Brad Boyd, Antoine Landry and Laurie Bridges, so any added offense was welcomed. “I want to do as much as I can,” said Mitchell, who was among those re-focusing after the Cajuns dropped a 72-66 game to Denver in their Sun Belt Conference opener in the Cajundome. “Our intensity level went up,” Mitchell said. “Denver was a game we should have won, but everybody knows we played a bad game. Everybody has those.” Wins over USA (59-56) and UNO followed, leading the Cajuns to tonight’s contest at New Mexico State (4-12, 0-3). “We have one more job to do on this road trip,” Mitchell said. “We have to take care of our business against New Mexico State. It’s a game we have to take. “They have small guards, but they’re all really quick. We have to contain their penetration and use our size to our advantage. They play zone a lot, so we’ll get it to the middle post and let him make decisions.” A demanding pre-conference schedule helped lead to UL’s 8-7 overall record, but the key now is that 2-1 record in the Sun Belt. “We’re all right, right now,” Mitchell said. “There’s still a long time to go in the season.” There’s also a long list of ways Mitchell plans to help the Cajuns down the stretch. If it happens to come in a spectacular way, that’s fine, too. Originally published January 20, 2005
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