A8 December 8-10, 2016
Richmond Free Press
Sports
Stories by Fred Jeter
Mitchell crafting his own future at VUU
John Mitchell
It was a long and rocky road — cluttered with pitfalls — that led John Mitchell to Virginia Union University. The VUU senior tells of a heartbreaking ordeal of youth survival. But here’s the good news: The “John Mitchell Story” appears headed to a smiley-face ending. Now 25, the 6-foot-9, 230-pound native of Harlem, N.Y., is averaging 8.4 points and 9.6 rebounds while hitting 63 percent from the floor for Coach Jay Butler’s improved Panthers. Better yet, the former high school dropout is on track for a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in psychology. There was a time when none of that seemed in the cards. “I got the bitter end of the stick,” Mitchell said of his formative years. “I wish it had been different, but I learned a lot from it.” His mother died a tragic death when he was only 16. Soon after, he dropped out of the High School of Economics and Finance in Manhattan after completing one year and never having gone out for basketball. “My only basketball was on the streets,” he recalled with a shrug of his shoulders. He bounced around from one foster home to another and at one time lived in a group home. Resisting temptation for what he called “short-cuts,” he earned his GED and landed a job with a program called American Building Maintenance. Mostly it involved janitorial work. “I had one job cleaning up at the Fashion Institute of Technology, a mostly girls’ school,” he said with a laugh. In time, his towering frame drew attention
on the Big Apple’s competitive asphalt courts. He was invited to play in a Reebok-sponsored tournament on an outdoor court near Harlem’s Kennedy Community Center. “I think I got about 16 points and 11 rebounds, and that’s where the ASA coach saw me,” Mitchell recalled. ASA College has five campuses, including one in Manhattan, and offers associate degrees. With no formal hoops background, Mitchell was offered a scholarship to ASA’s junior college program. Mitchell led the ASAAvengers in rebounding as a sophomore and word of his power game began to spread. “I had five Division I offers, including Iona (N.Y.), plus endless Division II’s,” he said. He chose VUU in part because of its rich tradition — three NCAA Division II titles and a jaw-dropping string of bona fide big men. “I got to talk to Ben Wallace on my recruiting trip and he was very impressive,”
said Mitchell. Mitchell is blossoming in his second season on Lombardy Street. On Nov. 30 at the University of District of Columbia, he enjoyed a game even Wallace would be proud of. In a 71-69 win, Mitchell was 8-for-8 from the floor for 16 points. Plus he corralled 12 rebounds as VUU moved to 6-2. “Not many are as athletic and strong as John on this level,” said Coach Butler. “He’s very hungry for success. And we all have dreams he will play somewhere on the next level.” Butler added this: “And considering where he’s come from, John doesn’t take anything for granted. He’s among our hardest workers.” For an athlete who never played high school basketball, Mitchell has risen to uncommon heights — and he’s in no mood for hanging up his sneakers. “I want to keep playing for as long as possible,” he said with a confident smile.
Big Man U. Few Division II schools — or Division I for that Active NBA, 1989-2001 Derrick Johnson, 6-foot-10, Cleveland, matter — have produced so many quality big men as Virginia Union University. Here are a Ohio. 1994 National Player of the Year; helped few produced by the Panthers, with height and the Panthers to the 1992 NCAA title Ben Wallace, 6-foot-9, White Hall, Ala. notables, since the 1970s: Curvan Lewis, 6-foot-9, New Haven, Conn. Undrafted. Active NBA, 1996-2012; four-time Drafted by NBA Buffalo Braves, ABA San Diego NBA Defensive Player of the Year Among other All-CIAA low post Panthers with Clippers, 1977 Irv Kiffin, 6-foot-9, New York, N.Y. Drafted by height, hometown and final VUU season: Ralph Hunter, 6-foot-6, Greenville, Ga., 1975 San Antonio Spurs, 1979 Larry Holmes, 6-foot-6, Miami, Fla., 1980 Charles Oakley, 6-foot-8, Cleveland, Ohio. Chandar Bingham, 6-foot-9, Richmond, 2000 Drafted by Cleveland Cavaliers (first round), Brad Byerson, 6-foot-8, Chester, 2008 1985; Active NBA, 1985-2004 Omar Briggs, 6-foot-8, Highland Springs, Terry Davis, 6-foot-10, South Boston, Va. Two-time CIAA Player of the Year. Undrafted. 2014
Damon ‘Redd’ Thompson resigns as John Marshall football coach B6
Granberry taking it to another level at VSU
If any element was missing from last season’s Virginia State University basketball success, it was a dominant, under-the-basket post player. Richard Granberry has filled that vacancy with muscular authority and a two-year lease. “I like to crash the glass; I like to bang,” said the broad-shouldered, 6-foot-8, 230-pound transfer from Neosho County Community College in Kansas. Granberry has made a smooth — albeit bullish – transition from junior college to NCAA Division II competition. Heading into the winter exam break, Granberry was leading the defending CIAA champion Trojans in scoring (14.1 points per game) and rebounding (7.6 per game) while hitting 61 percent from the floor. He had 15 points and 15 rebounds in VSU’s victory Monday over Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C. In his first outing at VSU’s sparkling Multi-Purpose Center, the junior majoring in sports management snagged 17 rebounds in an overtime exhibition win over Norfolk State University. His sweet spot is always setting up in the shadows of the backboards. He reminds longtime Trojans fans of such former VSU power post players as Linwood Johnson, Julius Norman and Leonard Harris, the school’s top three all-time rebounders. “Richard is a true post player. He likes to play with his back to the basket,” said VSU Coach Lonnie Blow Jr. “He enjoys being on the post. He knows how to play the post. And he has an uncanny knack for positioning.” Joining Elijah Moore, an All-CIAA senior who is a comfortable on the perimeter as in the paint, Granberry gives VSU the second of two 6-foot-8 starters. Moore has averaged 10 points and 7.0 rebounds during VSU’s 6-2 start, with 17 of his 53 attempts from beyond the arc. Granberry has a track record of pounding the boards — and winning — dating to Chester High School in Pennsylvania, just south of Philadelphia. The high school team went 31-0 his junior season, winning Pennsylvania’s 4A State title. His teammates included Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, now with the
NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. As a senior, Granberry helped Chester High to a 28-4 record. “I think we only lost five games, JV and varsity combined, my whole high school career,” said Granberry. The good fortune continued at Neosho. Advancing to the second round of the Junior College Nationals in Hutchinson, Kan., Neosho went 30-6, setting the school standard for victories. Here’s where VSU caught a break. First of all, Coach Blow was familiar with the Neosho coaching staff from previous recruitments. Also, Granberry was ineligible for Division I because he had not graduated from Neosho, largely because of missing time because of illness as a freshman. To be eligible for Division II, an athlete does not need to graduate, but must accumulate at least 12 hours per semester. “I had a great visit to Virginia State,” said Granberry. “It felt good and I hit it off with the coaching staff. After I visited VSU, I stopped answering my phone.” Growing up in Chester, Pa., Granberry was always among the tallest boys in his class, yet he never played basketball until high school. “It wasn’t like I was doing anything else,” he said. “It was just a situation where I never got signed up.” Richard Granberry Provided an opportunity, he became a quick learner after joinReinforcements ing one of Pennsylvania’s premier public schools programs. Richard Granberry isn’t the only transfer student making “Until I went out for basketball, an impact on Virginia State I was missing classes, failing University hoops. grades,” he said. “Once I began Also in the mix are 6-foot-3 playing, I started hanging out with Trey Brown, a transfer from different people, doing better in North Carolina A&T State school. It turned me around.” University and 6-foot-7 Ken Following in his positive footWoodard from the University of steps is younger brother Da’Quan Charleston in West Virginia. Brown averages 6.7 points Granberry, a sophomore star at per game, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 Chichester High, a nearby rival assists. Woodard averages 3.8 of Chester. points, 2.2 rebounds and has “Da’Quan is different from blocked seven shots. me. He’s about 6-3 — likes to VSU’s next game is Tuesday, play all over the court,” said Dec. 13, when St. Augustine’s Granberry. University comes to VSU’s “I just like to bang,” the VSU Multi-Purpose Center for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. junior added, with a good-natured smile.
VCU to take on ODU Saturday in Norfolk
Football has come between Virginia Commonwealth University and Old Dominion University, except for one night a year. In one of the state’s oldest basketball rivalries dating to 1948, the VCU Rams will travel by bus to Norfolk on Saturday, Dec. 10, to meet the ODU Monarchs at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. Tipoff is 8 p.m., with the game broadcast on the American Sports Network. VCU is 6-2 following its 64-46 loss to the University of Illinois last Saturday in Miami. The Rams’top scorer, JeQuan Lewis, suffered an ankle injury during the game, but is expected to play in Norfolk. ODU is led in scoring and rebounding by Brandan Stith, son of ODU assistant coach and former NBA player Bryant Stith. The team is 5-2 after a 60-58 win last Saturday at Towson University. The schools have much in common, Coach Wade except VCU does not sponsor football and ODU plays football on the highest level — in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). After many decades, ODU revived football in 2009 and plays all sports in Conference USA. The Monarchs will make their first bowl appearance on Dec. 23 against Eastern Michigan in the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl in Nassau. VCU’s headlines, like reaching the NCAA Final Four in 2011, mostly come from basketball. The Rams compete athletically in the Atlantic-10 Conference that does not feature football. Because VCU doesn’t play football and ODU does, the schools snapped long-standing conference ties. Previously, both were in the Sun Belt Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association and met twice a year. Now they meet just once per season, alternating cities. To say the VCU-ODU hoops rivalry began in 1948 is counting games when VCU was the Richmond Professional Institute. RPI and the Medical College of Virginia merged in 1968, creating VCU. But the school’s mascot was called the Rams as far back as 1963, and the VCU Rams
first played in the same Franklin Street Gymnasium as the RPI Rams. Aside from pigskin passion, VCU and ODU are similar in many ways. Consider: Both originally were divisions of the College of William & Mary. Each sprawling state-supported school is an urban research center. VCU has 24,051 undergraduates; ODU, 19,612. Both had previous nicknames – the RPI Green Devils and the ODU Braves. Each school produced an NBA champion in the 1970s. Dave Twardzik of the ODU Class of 1972 helped the Portland Trail Blazers win the 1977 NBA title. Gerald Henderson of the VCU Class of 1978 was on three NBA championship teams — the Boston Celtics in 1978, the Seattle SuperSonics in 1984 and the Detroit Pistons in 1990. Each school has relatively new oncampus courts — VCU’s Siegel CenCoach Jones ter in 2000; ODU’s Constant Center in 2002. Before that, both teams used municipal facilities. VCU used the Richmond Coliseum, while ODU played at the Norfolk Scope. Each was ahead of the curve racially. Among the current state Division I schools, not counting HBCUs, ODU was the first team to sign an AfricanAmerican player, Buttons Speakes in the 1965-66 season. VCU came next when Charles McLeod joined the Rams in 1966-67. Both schools now have large African-American enrollments. Since the formation of VCU in 1968, the Rams hold a 48-43 hard-court edge over the Monarchs, including a victory at the Siegel Center last winter. ODU won the year before at the Constant Center. However, the Norfolk school dominated 31-8 prior to the RPI-MCV merger. VCU and ODU now play basketball just once a year. The matchup is always before packed, enthusiastic crowds, with postseason ramifications at stake. Football or no football, old-timers still get fired up when the Rams and Monarchs put it on the floor.