North Texas Daily

Tyler Owens / Senior Staff Writer

Mean Green basketball players, fans and media gathered at Treehouse Bar and Grill in Denton on Thursday night to watch what they hoped would be former UNT forward Tony Mitchell be selected in the first round of this year’s NBA draft.

Mitchell was not selected in the first round, instead falling to the Detroit Pistons in the second round at overall pick No. 37.

Mitchell was projected to be the first UNT basketball player to be selected in the first round of the draft in school history.

Mitchell is the first UNT player to be drafted since John Horrocks was selected by Dallas in the fourth round of the 1984 draft.

In his 55 career games at UNT, Mitchell posted a .49 field goal percentage and tallied 511 rebounds. Mitchell is also the UNT record holder for single season and career blocked shots.

Last year, Mitchell was projected to go early in the first round of the draft, but elected to return for his sophomore season at UNT.

Mitchell was welcomed back with high expectations, being touted as the No. 7 ranked NCAA player by CBS Sports prior to the 2012-2013 season and being selected to four preseason All-America teams.

With Mitchell’s return, the team was called “the most talented Mean Green team ever assembled” by UNT commercials promoting the team.

Though Mitchell did not produce at the level expected and the team did not live up to the hype, being eliminated in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference tournament, Mitchell announced on March 20 that he would enter the NBA draft.

Mitchell hopes to join a Pistons squad that went 29-53 last season, finishing in fourth place in the Central Division.

Earlier this month, Detroit hired Maurice Cheeks as its head coach for next season.

Photo by James Coreas