Former West Virginia big man Jimmy Bell commits to Mississippi State
Mississippi State landed its first transfer portal commitment of the offseason Wednesday in the form of West Virginia big man Jimmy Bell.
Bell began his official visit to Mississippi State on Monday. He had initially planned to visit Missouri after but canceled those plans after how well his visit to Mississippi State went. Bell also received interest from Seton Hall, DePaul, UCF, BYU, and Temple among many others.
"Everything went exactly how I thought it would," Bell said about his visit.
Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans was a key part in Bell committing to the Bulldogs. What stood out to Bell was how well Jans was able to break down his game and show him where he fits into the team.
"What really sold me was Coach Jans," Bell said. "We did our presentation and he was just breaking down my whole offensive game and defensive game. He told me stuff about myself that I didn't even know."
While a lot of teams had their assistant coaches do the recruiting, it was Jans that led the recruitment for Bell and he felt that the head coach recruiting him was very genuine.
"He [Jans] is the one who recruited me. Usually you've got assistant coaches recruiting you, people on the side recruiting you, but it was Coach Jans recruiting me so I felt like the love was more genuine because of him," Bell said.
The 6'10," 285-pound center started all 34 games for West Virginia as a senior. In 18.5 minutes per game, Bell averaged 4.8 points on 54.9% shooting and 61.2% from the free throw line while hauling in 5.4 rebounds. Bell also tacked on 0.5 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game.
Bell tallied two double-doubles last season, with an 18-point, 10-rebound performance against Buffalo and a 15-point, 12-rebound game against TCU. He scored in double figures five times, including a 15-point game against Auburn, and brought down six or more rebounds in 14 games.
What stands out the most about Bell's game is his offensive rebounding. Bell averaged 2.4 offensive rebounds per game for the Mountaineers last season, and had a 15.8% offensive rebounding rate according to KenPom, which ranked 11th in the country.
"They love my offensive rebounding. They said that I was 98th percentile in offensive rebounding," Bell said of what the Mississippi State coaches like about his game. "They love my rebounding. They love my physicality and my body size. He [Jans] does real good with bigs and I just felt like I'd be real comfortable with him helping me out and developing me."
The Saginaw, Michigan native spent his first two college seasons at Saint Louis where he scored 3.1 points per game with 3.7 rebounds. Bell spent his junior year at Moberly Area (MO) C.C. and scored 9.3 points per game with 9.3 rebounds.
Bell also went through spring practice with the West Virginia football team working as an offensive tackle and tight end, but is expected to only play basketball at Mississippi State. He has one year of eligibility remaining due to the extra year given to players during the 2020-21 season.
Bell's addition puts Mississippi State at 12 scholarship players for next season. The Bulldogs lost Eric Reed Jr. and Tyler Stevenson to graduation and Kimani Hamilton and Martavious Russell to the transfer portal. Mississippi State is currently waiting on a decision by All-SEC center Tolu Smith who is testing the NBA Draft waters and has until May 31 to make a final decision.
The Bulldogs are currently expected to return four starters, and it could become five if Smith opts to return. Mississippi State also brings in a recruiting class featuring three high school prospects in four-star point guard Josh Hubbard, three-star wing Adrian Myers, and three-star center Gai Chol, as well as two junior college prospects in shooting guard Trey Fort and power forward Jaquan Scott.