Tasmin Mitchell: LSU best option

• By PERRYN KEYS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jun 9, 2009

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Now that Tasmin Mitchell is back, he’ll provide veteran savvy to an LSU men’s basketball team that surely needs it.

Right?

Now that he’s back, second-year coach Trent Johnson can breathe a little more deeply this summer.

Right?

“Oh, I don’t take deep breaths,” he said, only half-jokingly.

Either way, Johnson said he’s certainly happy Mitchell chose to return for his fifth and final season.

Mitchell, who averaged 16.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a fourth-year junior, officially withdrew his name from the NBA draft Monday, clearing the way for his return to the Tigers.

Who, in all likelihood, will need him more than ever.

“I’m coming back to a great program and a great coach. My family has really supported me in this process and in the end the best thing was for me to come back to LSU, get my degree, and have one more year to be a Tiger,” Mitchell said in a statement.

“The workouts went well and some people felt I could have possibly been a second-round pick, but in the end it felt better coming home to be an LSU Tiger.”

Even with Mitchell’s return, the Tigers have lost most of their firepower from last year’s team, which went 27-8 and won the Southeastern Conference title in Johnson’s first year.

How much firepower?

Only these five players — Marcus Thornton, the SEC player of the year; Garrett Temple, LSU all-time minutes leader; power forward Chris Johnson, the second-most prolific shot-blocker in school history; and its top two players off the bench in Terry Martin and Quintin Thornton.