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Outstanding Student Athlete: Robert Mischler

By David McCoy (dmccoy@wsbt.com)

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WSBT-TV Reporter

9:54 PM EST, March 1, 2012

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On any other team, Robert Mischler would be the star. And he'd get all the attention and the accolades that go along with that. 

But when you're on the same team as Demetrius Jackson, one of the most sought-after college recruits in the country, you kind of fly under the radar.

"I don't mind that, says Mischler, a senior guard at Marian. "Flying under the radar is fine with me. Because Demetrius, like you said, deserves all that attention. Because he's the best player around in my opinion."

It should be noted that not every kid in that situation always takes that attitude. To have a younger player steal the spotlight, it's not uncommon to see the older kid develop an attitude problem. But not every kid is Robert Mischler. 

"The team is always first, in my opinion," Mischler says. "As long as we keep winning games, I don't have to be the star, or anything like that."

"He's just a great teammate," says Marian's coach, Robb Berger.

And a great player, in his own right. Mischler is one of the most dead-eye outside shooters in the state.

"He's old school," Berger says. "A lot of people in the olden days used to shoot it like that, but you don't see it anymore. And he can step out 24, 25 feet."

"I've been shooting a basketball since I was five years old," Mischler says. "So I like to say that I take pride in my shooting."

And just as much pride in his academics. Not only will Mischler play Division I college hoops next season, but he'll play at Cornell, an Ivy League school. Mischler carries a 4.37 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. He's ranked sixth in his class, and was one of just 22 area students that congressman Joe Donnelly nominated for the U.S. service academies. 

When you have a kid like that on your team, "you get a team that's 18-3 and into the second round of the sectional," Berger says. "He's great to be around. Kids like being around him and they want to play hard with, and for, a kid like that."

A star who is just beginning to shine.