LSU's tasmin mitchell to have ankle surgery, likely out for the year.

[antoinewalker]

this is a pretty big blow to LSU. tasmin put up good numbers last year (14.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and i'm sure he was going to improve this year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3129121

BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU junior forward Tasmin Mitchell will undergo surgery later this week after X-rays on Monday determined a stress fracture in his left ankle, coach John Brady said.

"I'm kind of nervous," Mitchell said after learning of the diagnosis. "I've never had surgery. But this is the best decision, to go ahead with the surgery and there is a good chance I will probably not be back this season. This is the best thing for the doctors to do. They will put a couple of screws in and close it up real fast."

The surgery is tentatively scheduled for Thursday.

Mitchell started the first three games of the season, but was able to go only six minutes in the first game at the EA Sports Maui Invitational before going to the bench.

"We are glad to now know the situation and that it will be a six-to-eight week ordeal," Brady said after practice in preparation for Wednesday's game against Nicholls State.

"I feel bad for our team and I feel bad for Tasmin. We all know how hard he worked and he had gotten himself into the best shape of his career. We just have to control the things with this team that we can control. Tasmin was so important to what we had planned to do. That's 15-to-16 points and eight or nine rebounds a game that we've got to pick up somewhere else."

If Mitchell is unable to return this season, Brady said there should be no issue preventing him from getting a medical redshirt and returning to the team for the 2008-09 season with two years of eligibility remaining.

For the three games, Mitchell played 66 minutes and scored 22 points with 17 rebounds. Last season he averaged 14.5 points and 11.4 points in the 2006 NCAA Final Four campaign, earning freshman All-SEC honors.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press