Barry Mitchell (born April 28, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player.

College career

Mitchell attended

First Colonial High School First Colonial High School is a high school in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It is a part of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Demographics The demographic breakdown of the 2,039 students enrolled in 2013-14 was: *Male - 48.7% *Female - 51.3% ...

in his hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia. During his time there he was a standout athlete in basketball and earned All-State honors. He then enrolled at Norfolk State where he studied

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

. At the time, Norfolk State was playing in the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

and competed in the

Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. CIAA institutions mostly consist of historically black coll ...

. In his 4-year career Mitchell played 119 games, totalling 1,631 points (13.7 average), 928 rebounds (7.8), 502 assists (4.2) and 235 steals (2.0). He recorded 2

triple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

s in his career, both in the month of February 1987: he had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists versus Johnson C. Smith on February 27, and 30 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists versus Shaw on February 4. He led the team in rebounds for 3 consecutive seasons from 1984 to 1987, in assists in 1985–86 (4.9 average) and 1986–87 (5.1), and was the steals leader in 1986–87. Mitchell was named in the All-CIAA Team for three consecutive seasons from 1985 to 1987.

Professional career

After his 4-year college career, Mitchell was automatically eligible for the

1987 NBA Draft The 1987 NBA draft was held on June 22, 1987, in New York City. This draft included two future members of the NBA 50 Greatest Players list, David Robinson and Scottie Pippen, as well as fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, who was named to t ...

, but he was not selected by an NBA franchise and decided to sign for the

Wyoming Wildcatters The Wyoming Wildcatters were a professional basketball team based in Casper, Wyoming. They played 6 seasons in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), the defunct development league for the National Basketball Association (NBA). They man ...

of the Continental Basketball Association. During his first professional season he appeared in 52 games, averaging 8.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals in regular season play. His team qualified for the playoffs and reached the CBA finals, where they were defeated by the Albany Patroons in 7 games: Mitchell averaged 12.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals in 19 games played during the postseason. Mitchell then decided to join the Youngstown Pride, a team which competed in the

World Basketball League World Basketball League (WBL) was a minor professional basketball league in the United States and Canada that ran from 1988 to 1992. It was founded as the International Basketball Association in November 1987, before changing its name prior to the ...

, a league that only accepted players 6 ft 5 in tall and under. In three years he experienced significant success, winning the championship in 1989 and 1990 and being named the league's MVP twice. He was also named in the All-Defensive team three times from 1988 to 1990. He returned to the CBA in January 1991,''Quad City Thunder 1987–2001'', Quad City Thunder, 2001, p. 12. joining the

Quad City Thunder The Quad City Thunder was a Continental Basketball Association franchise that was based in the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. They played in the CBA from the 1987–88 season until the CBA folded in 2001. The Thunder were successful on the c ...

where he played the last 14 games of the regular season and 17 games in the playoffs, where his team lost in the finals to the

Wichita Falls Texans The Wichita Falls Texans were a minor league basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association from 1988 to 1994. The team was located in Wichita Falls, Texas, and played their games at D.L. Ligon Coliseum, located on the campus of Midwe ...

. He averaged 8.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals in the regular season, and 13.1 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.9 steals in postseason play. The 1991–92 CBA season was the best of Mitchell's career. He started 52 of the 55 regular season games he played, and averaged 20.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.9 steals, leading the CBA in steals. Mitchell showed again his defensive prowess, and significantly improved his scoring average to 20.1 points per game. He led his team in scoring and rebounding and was named the league's Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, the first time in CBA history in which both awards went to the same player. He started all of his 9 playoffs games, and he averaged 19.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.6 steals.''Quad City Thunder 1987–2001'', Quad City Thunder, 2001, p. 15. He played two more seasons with the Thunder: the signing of

Derek Strong Derek Lamar Strong (born February 9, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played in ten National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons from 1991 to 2001 for six different teams. A 6'8" forward from Xavier University, Stro ...

in the 1992–93 season made him the second scoring option, and he averaged 16.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.1 steals in 27 games. He did not appear in any of the postseason games. The 1993–94 season was Mitchell's last with the team, and he came from the bench more often, starting only 24 of his 43 games. He averaged 13.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.3 steals; he regained his starting role during the playoffs, and in 13 games (all starts) he averaged 16.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals. He led the Thunder to their first CBA Championship, in five games over the Omaha Racers Mitchell was one of Quad City Thunder's most successful players and holds several distinctions with the team: he is the all-time leader in steals with 338, and he ranks 2nd in points (2,226), 2nd in minutes played (5,203), 3rd in number of games played (139), 3rd in rebounds (962) and 4th in assists (668). In 1994 he decided to transfer to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and signed with

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

team Sunair Ostende. He spent several seasons with the club, playing his last game in 1999. During his tenure at Oostende he won the Belgian league once in 1995 and Belgian cup twice in 1997 and 1998. He then played for Siemens Gent in the 1999–2000 season, and of Liège in the 2001–02 season. He moved to French team Nantes in 2002, playing 15 games with averaged of 6.3 points, 5.9 rebounds 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals. In 2013–14 he played for B.C. Alleur, in the Belgian lower leagues.

References

External links

Career stats at ProBallers.com

Stats at Basketinfo.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Barry 1965 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in France American men's basketball players Basketball players from Virginia BC Oostende players Gent Hawks players Liège Basket players Norfolk State Spartans men's basketball players Quad City Thunder players Small forwards Wyoming Wildcatters players Sportspeople from Virginia Beach, Virginia 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople