Tiffany Mitchell: USC’s leader on and off the stat sheet

There’s every reason to believe she will excel in another position. She’s done it every other time.

South Carolina needed a dynamic shooting guard? Tiffany Mitchell became a two-time All-American and SEC Player of the Year. The Gamecocks needed someone fearless enough to take a last shot in a Sweet 16 game? Tiffany Mitchell drove, the lane opened and she hit the layup to finally dispatch the nemesis Tar Heels.

In her senior year, Mitchell will still play the two, still take the last shot. She has been asked to assume another position, the most crucial as USC attempts to win its third straight SEC championship and advance to a second straight Final Four.

And she must come through.

“Aleighsa was our vocal leader,” Mitchell said before the season. “A lot of times when we didn’t know what to do, we looked at her. Now she’s gone.”

Aleighsa Welch was the backbone of the program, the most indispensable player the Gamecocks had. It was Welch who started the run of in-state talent committing to Dawn Staley, Welch who turned a solid team into an NCAA tournament staple, Welch who more than any other represented USC’s ascension.

Nobody could replace everything that Welch brought. Points, sure. Rebounds, yeah. Hustle, heart and conviction, OK.

All that and unquestioned leadership in one player? Impossible to replicate.

But Mitchell is going to try. She has to.

“Does she have to be as vocal? No, she just has to have her own leadership style,” Staley said. “She also has to step up and communicate a little bit more. It’s out of her comfort zone, but something she’s going to have to walk away from this season from with that capability.”

Mitchell is an outstanding player. As vital as Welch was in turning USC from strong to good, Mitchell was the one who transformed the Gamecocks from good to great.

Yet it was Welch who had a hand in that. In Mitchell’s sophomore year, Welch was going to be the go-to part of the offense. Often, she would pass up an open shot because Mitchell was more open – and because she wanted to get her teammate to take over.

“The talent was there. I didn’t have to do much of anything,” said Welch, who always downplayed the role. “Once she got a nudge, she took off full-speed.”

Mitchell never failed to credit Welch, despite Welch’s refusals. Perhaps that’s what made them work so well together.

“I feel like Aleighsa could have taken more shots than she did, but that’s who she is,” Mitchell said. “She always felt if she was open, I was open.”

There was no symbolic passing of the torch when the season ended last year, because Welch had already groomed Mitchell to be the leader through small doses. The shots, the pointedly not saying anything in a late-game huddle so Mitchell could, the addressing a younger teammate and then privately explaining to Mitchell why and how she did so – it was all the means to an end.

Welch didn’t want the program to backslide after her departure. She knew how good the Gamecocks were and how much it meant to them to get to the Final Four.

“We’re here now,” she said before she graduated to international ball. “We want to stay. Tiff is the one to make us stay.”

Mitchell has no fear of taking the last shot to win a crucial game. She’s not afraid of filling Welch’s king-size sneakers, although there is a little concern.

“Maybe a little anxiety,” she said. “I’ve never been in that position. I kind of had a taste of it at the end of the year. Now it’s full force.”

Staley and others have encouraged her. Nikki McCray-Penson, herself a two-time SEC Player of the Year, told her of the WNBA’s system. Mitchell is considered a lock as a top-five pick in next year’s draft.

“I told her there are two buses in the WNBA. One leaves shortly before game time, one leaves a lot earlier so you can get shots up,” McCray-Penson said. “I asked her, ‘Which bus do you want to ride on?’”

“Tiffany has had three years to watch how different people have stepped up in that role,” Staley said. “She was a freshman when IeasiaWalker led our basketball team. Ieasia wasn’t probably as vocal as Aleighsa. Now Tiffany has to figure out what kind of leader she’s going to be.”

The most difficult parts are the words. Mitchell shuns attention so much that her awards – All-American plaques, Player of the Year trophies – are shuttled home to Mom. There’s a room at her Charlotte home reserved for the accomplishments of Mitchell and her brother. “What am I going to do with it here?” Mitchell asks.

Words are tough enough, moreso when they’re critiquing. Despite five seniors, it’s still a young team – Mitchell is discovering how to treat the ones who haven’t been around as long.

“They need guidance, and with them, it’s talking to them,” Mitchell said. “Criticism, you got to say it. But they know it comes from a good place.”

It’s a lot to handle. She has to lead, on the stat sheet and off. She has to cultivate next year’s leaders. She has to play with the target affixed to her back ever since she was named an All-American.

There’s the example in Welch. “A lot of players don’t see the big picture like Aleighsa saw the big picture,” Staley said. “Leaders, you look at them as most of their peers have expectations of leaders. Tiffany has to live up to those.”

Mitchell has never crumbled despite the immense weight of having to be herself through close to 40 games. She has no plans of changing that despite the 24-karat pressure on her to be another Welch.

She could win a third All-American honor and an unprecedented third SEC Player of the Year prize. She could achieve the dream she, Staleyand her teammates have signed on to chase – a national championship.

All of it starts here with a title she’ll never have on a piece of paper or trophy to send home.

Leader.

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 1:19 PM with the headline "Tiffany Mitchell: USC’s leader on and off the stat sheet."