Even as a No. 2 seed, Stevie Mitchell still looks at Marquette as an ‘underdog’

Stevie Mitchell heads to the NCAA Tournament Friday with a different vantage point than a year ago, when Marquette entered as the No. 9 seed. The Golden Eagles are a No. 2 seed and favored to beat No. 15 Vermont in an East Region opener.

To the Wilson grad the perspective is no different.

“We’re always going to be the underdog,” said Mitchell, the defensive stopper in the Big East champ’s starting lineup. “From the beginning of the year we haven’t been thought of as much, so we’re just continuing to know where we started and how we got to where we’re at now, and we’re just going to continue to follow the process that got us to where we’re at now.”

Shaka Smart was working with a lot of moving pieces before the season. Marquette’s second-year coach had to replace three starters and work in several guys from the transfer portal. No one was quite sure what the Golden Eagles would bring.

They were picked to finish ninth in one Big East preseason poll. That, said Mitchell, helped galvanize the team.

“It added a little bit to our edge,” he said. “We felt we had a pretty good group. A lot of us have roles that we didn’t have last year. It was a new team. No one knew anything about us.

“As a group, we felt pretty confident in each other and what we could do together. We didn’t really believe in (the ranking) but we knew we couldn’t play out of anger, we had to continue to focus on each other to get better. We stuck to that and let that be our edge, being the underdog and playing every game hard.”

Marquette (28-6) has been one of the surprise teams in the nation. It went 17-3 to claim the Big East regular season title, ascended to No. 6 in the national rankings and rolled to the conference tournament championship with three wins at Madison Square Garden last weekend.

“That was never our goal to win the regular season, win the conference tournament, be a two seed,” said Mitchell, a sophomore guard. “Our specific goal was to grow as much or more than any team in the country and be playing our best basketball at the end of February and throughout March.

“Following that goal let us get through the ups and downs we had throughout the season and focus on getting better every day and controlling the stuff we could control.”

Mitchell has been a key part of Marquette’s rise to prominence. He played off the bench last season as a freshman but earned a spot in the starting lineup during the preseason by forging a role as a defensive stopper. He’s been invaluable as a “glue guy” and team player and has started all 34 games.

“He’s a winning guy,” Smart told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He’s a guy that does a lot of really good things for our team.”

Mitchell was one of the greatest offensive players in Berks history at Wilson, where he scored 2,060 points, led the Bulldogs to their only District 3 championship and contributed to more wins (85) than any player in program history.

Mitchell was originally recruited to play at Marquette by Steve Wojciechowski. Before he arrived on campus Wojciechowski was fired and replaced by Smart. Mitchell was uncertain about keeping his commitment but after meeting with Smart he chose to stay with the program. It’s worked out great for both sides.

“He didn’t know me from Adam when I got the job here,” Smart told the Journal Sentinel.  “But he gave me the chance to get to know him. The last staff deserves unbelievable credit for (recruiting) Stevie. You’re talking about high, high character. You’re talking about a guy who is the salt of the earth, who comes from an unbelievable family.”

Mitchell went through a huge transition as a freshman, learning to play off the bench and not be “The Guy,” as he was at Wilson, where he was a two-time All-State pick and averaged 25.6 points as a senior.

He doesn’t have those kind of numbers at Marquette. He’s sixth on the team in scoring average (7.0), fourth in assists, second in steals.

He has gladly accepted his new role, less glamorous as it is.

“I only care about winning,” he said. “Being on the court, and being part of a team that is doing really well, and winning – what more could you really ask for?

“It all goes back to relationships. When the guys around you care about you and feel like the stuff you’re doing is just as important as what they’re doing . . . when your teammates and coaches show gratitude and appreciate the deflections or guarding the other team’s primary scorer or ballhandler, you feel good and that’s what it’s all about: having fun, feeling good and winning.”

“He cares about his teammates first and foremost,” Smart said. “He’s a relationship guy. He has strong relationships with a wide variety of guys on our team. That sophomore group specifically that Stevie’s a part of, those are some of the closest bonds I’ve ever seen being a coach for almost 25 years.”

Even though Marquette had secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Big East Mitchell said it was “still surreal” watching the brackets unfold Sunday evening.

“(We had) the security of  knowing you’re going to get the opportunity to get your named called,” he said, “but (there was) still the anticipation of where you’re gonna play, who you’re gonna play, and just being there with all your teammates was also fun.

“It’s been a great ride. We’ve gotta keep going, keep getting better, keeping working hard and staying together. We’re focused on one game at a time. We want to have fun and enjoy the moment, chase away the so-called pressure you can have from being a higher seed. You just keep getting better and working hard and (know) things will work out. That’s the plan.”