Mark Mitchell’s Easy path to being Duke’s X-factor

DURHAM – It was in the grind of summer workouts that Jeremy Roach first realized the full scope of what freshman Mark Mitchell would bring to Duke’s men’s basketball team.

That was when the 6-8, 220-pound Mitchell was putting his defensive versatility on full display.

“It was like mid-July, I was like, ‘Yeah, he can do a lot of different stuff,’” Roach said. “He was switching onto the ones, guarding them, keeping them in front. Switching onto the threes, the fours and the fives. I mean, he’s just so versatile.”

Frustrating for Roach, one of the premier point guards in college basketball, that a forward was able to stay in front of him? Sure.

Encouraging for Roach that this forward would be helping the Blue Devils when the games actually mattered? Also yes.

“But at the end of the day he’s on your team and you want him to succeed at the highest level,” Roach said.

Success was certainly there for Mitchell in the opening game of Jon Scheyer’s tenure as Duke’s coach on Monday night. Mitchell had a team-high 18 points, scoring the first points of the game on an alley-oop and draining two 3s.

Mitchell’s offensive production will come from a tenacity of playing through contact and getting to the paint, with the occasional 3-pointer. It’s his defensive versatility that will benefit the Blue Devils most — even when fellow freshmen Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead are healthy.

Guarding any position is simply “Easy” for Mitchell.

That four-letter word is Mitchell’s nickname, coach Jon Scheyer pointed out last week.

“I found out quickly, his nickname’s ‘Easy.’ Everybody calls him Easy,” Scheyer said. “And when you watch him play, all right, well he’s easy to play with. And you get to know him off the court, well, he’s easy to be around.

“I told him, ‘As long as you’re not easy to guard, then we can keep that nickname.’”

The origin is from when Mitchell was a baby, he explained after Duke’s game against Jacksonville.

“When I was a baby, I was easy to take care of,” Mitchell said. “My parents … they’ve never really called me Mark. They call me Easy. If you’re really close to me — Coach Scheyer calls me Easy sometimes, too.”

The close relationship Scheyer developed with Mitchell helped land the Kansas City, Kan., native in Durham.

Scheyer was recruiting Mitchell before the succession plan for him to replace Mike Krzyzewski was laid out. It helped Scheyer that he could swing the recruiting pitch from, “I believed in you that way, to bring you to Coach K — I promise you, that’s how I feel for myself.”

The physical aspects and defensive capabilities appealed to Scheyer when evaluating Mitchell as a prospect; it was more than that that sold him, though.

“He just has a winning quality about him,” Scheyer said. “He’s not about himself but he doesn’t lack confidence. His versatility on defense — he’s got a great feel, for that age.

“For me it’s not even about his skillset, it’s about his mindset. Shows up every single day, before and after practice. Can coach him hard, looks at you when you’re talking to him. He always wants more and he wants to be great.”

For the last few minutes of last week’s exhibition game against Fayetteville State, Scheyer threw a not-so-Easy curveball at Mitchell.

Ryan Young and Kyle Filipowski both went to the bench and instead of subbing in freshman Christian Reeves, and with Lively sidelined, Scheyer put Mitchell at the 5 position.

Admitted by Mitchell after the game and confirmed by Scheyer, that’s not something Mitchell has done in Duke’s practices.

“We just threw that out there tonight, kind of just to experiment with it,” Mitchell said. “Might be something Coach goes to but yeah, I just play wherever he wants me to.”

Scheyer, too, admitted that was a case of throwing Mitchell into the fire. Over those last three minutes, Duke and Fayetteville State were tied 7-7 — with all of the Broncos’ points coming in the paint.

“I know that Easy might not have felt like that was easy,” Scheyer said. “But I do think he can play that position. It’s not about playing the 5, but he can guard the 5. … His versatility is huge for our team.”

Easy was huge for the Blue Devils in Scheyer’s first game as head coach, a trend that should continue through his first season.