Cardinal's Mitch responds to adversity

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Jan 31, 2008 | by Darren Sabedra

Stanford point guard Mitch Johnson had played on two state championship high school teams in Seattle. He had been part of an AAU team that featured four McDonald's All-Americans. His dad had been an NBA All-Star.

"I never had any adversity," Johnson said of his basketball- playing life.

That is until last season. Stanford's captain, Johnson lost his starting job early in conference play because his shooting and decision-making had become a liability.

Fast-forward to Johnson's homecoming tonight at Washington: The junior has not only regained his starting job, but he's also a big reason the Cardinal is ranked 14th and only a game behind Pacific- 10 leader UCLA.

Johnson has become a much better shooter (45 percent compared with 35.6 percent last season). He also has improved his assist-to- turnover ratio.

"He's playing with more confidence," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "He already was mature beyond his years, even when he was in high school. But I just think he's matured to a point now where he's confident in what he's doing."

Johnson's return to the lineup wasn't a given. Although he was the handpicked successor to longtime point guard Chris Hernandez, Johnson didn't know the job was his again until the end of Stanford's seven-game summer tour in Italy.

Before leaving for Europe, Johnson had restored his confidence. He spent time tweaking his shot (it's more of a set shot now) and playing against a slew of talented players in Seattle.

"I was fortunate that a lot of guys from the area were at home this past summer," Johnson said. "I had some very good workouts with several different guys, from young high school players all the way to NBA guys."

Gradually, Johnson's confidence returned. As he put it, "If I'm doing this against so and so, then I need to be doing it every day."

The problem last season was Johnson tried to do too much. Rather than work within the framework of the offense, Johnson was more likely to dribble into heavy traffic or take ill-advised shots.

"The biggest thing that was so hard for me was not starting or not playing all the time," Johnson said. "It was just I knew I wasn't being myself. I was pressing, and I wasn't allowing myself to do the things I've been doing since I'd been a toddler."

Stanford coach Trent Johnson, who also is from Seattle but isn't related to Mitch, said he never had a doubt that Johnson would respond positively. "Adversity doesn't build character," the coach said. "It reveals it."

Johnson hasn't just faced adversity on the court. Two summers ago, he confronted his dad, John, to seek help for alcohol issues. Mitch and John Johnson spoke publicly about it last summer for a Seattle Times story, but Mitch Johnson has declined to discuss it this season.

"Calling for that intervention, that was someone who saw a situation and acted in a very adult manner," John Johnson, a two- time NBA All-Star who played on Seattle's 1979 championship team, told the Seattle Times. "And I decided that was fine. I wanted the intervention. For Mitch, I wanted what was best for his dad. I wanted to improve myself. I wanted to get better."

Tonight, Mitch Johnson returns to his hometown on the heels of perhaps his finest game in a Stanford uniform -- seven assists, one turnover and a career-best 16 points Saturday in an 82-77 victory at Cal.

That's a sharp contrast from last season, when Johnson returned to Seattle as a backup to Anthony Goods, who had moved over from shooting guard.

Johnson's turnaround doesn't surprise the man who aims to beat the Cardinal tonight. From his experience as a coach at Pepperdine, Saint Louis and Washington, Romar said players typically react two ways to being benched: They pout, or they improve.

"The tough ones, the good ones, they get more motivated," Romar said. "The selfish ones, the ones that point the finger, they transfer, or they quit on you."

It's clear which path Johnson took.

"The results show that he tried harder," Romar said. "And I also could have predicted that he wouldn't have been the one that quit or transferred. Mitch is a winner, and he is mentally tough."