GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio -- One member of Ohio State basketball's class of 2014 is not like the others.
Dave Bell doesn't have a fancy star rating, a deep basketball pedigree or thousands of frequent-flier miles accumulated on the high-level summer basketball circuit. Young players are being annointed as superstars earlier than ever, but Bell is really still learning.
The basics.
"He's only been playing seriously for about two years," Bell's coach at Garfield Heights High School, Sonny Johnson, said. "He's come a long, long way, but he's nowhere near what he's going to be. His upside is ridiculous."
Apparently, Thad Matta agrees. Last winter, Matta and his Ohio State coaching staff had only a highlight tape of the 6'10 Bell and a Garfield Heights schedule. A little online research showed Bell had mid-level offers -- from Dayton, Kent State, Cleveland State and St. Joseph's -- and that more recognizable programs were showing interest. The big man had put together a couple of big games and was showing signs that he's starting to grasp the game.
Bell, by the way, is a legitimate 6'10.
"And still growing," Bell said, smiling.
Since height is one thing college coaches can't teach and their shoe contracts can't manufacture, college interest in Bell picked up quickly. After Matta and Ohio State assistant coach Jeff Boals saw Bell play once in person, Bell and Garfield Heights assistant coach Demetrius Johnson, Sonny's brother, went to Columbus for the Buckeyes game last February vs. Indiana.
The next day, Matta drove two hours north to watch Bell practice, and sometime over the ensuing 24 hours he offered Bell a scholarship.
It took Bell all of about two seconds to commit.
"It's just a dream," Bell said. "Being an Ohio kid, you know about the Buckeyes. If that chance comes, it's just hard to say no. It's a blessing."
It's harder to envision Bell in this spot not just because he's played really only one full season of high school basketball and one summer on the travel circuit, but because of how far he's come as a person. He was raised in Cleveland by his grandmother, Petronia Bell, after his mother, Paulette, died when Dave was just five. He said he was always big, almost 6'6 by the time he entered high school at Cleveland John F. Kennedy, but never took basketball seriously.
He was academically ineligible to play basketball as a freshman at JFK, then played "a little bit" in the spring on an AAU team. He talked his grandmother into moving into the Garfield Heights district because "I wasn't in a good environment, I wasn't doing my schoolwork and I knew I'd have a chance to play basketball at Garfield Heights. I don't know if I ever saw this coming, but I knew I wanted to try.
"My grandmother has been there for me always. Every day she picks me up at practice and I tell her thanks."
He's put in plenty of time in the weightroom to add strength and "just playing" basketball has helped him develop his skills. A foot injury cut his sophomore season short and probably delayed his recruitment, too, because he missed time on the summer ball circuit. But a stronger, more confident Bell showed up last season, and though he was far from consistently dominant -- he averaged 10 points, five rebounds and three blocks per game -- he started looking a guy who could become a game-changer.
"I started playing harder," Bell said. "I learned to compete. I learned to take it serious."
Sonny Johnson said he believes the Buckeyes plan to redshirt Bell next season, when big men Amir Williams and Trey McDonald are seniors, and continue to let him develop.
"I think Ohio State is always going to take a look at a 6'10 kid from Ohio, a kid who would give anything to go there," Johnson said. "On that second look I think (Matta) saw the upside. We're just excited. He's getting the opportunity so many kids here would love to have, and he's not there yet. He's living the dream but he's chasing it, and we're just going to stay on him.
"The thing about Dave is he's a high-character kid...a kid who's been through some stuff but a good kid, a kid who works hard and appreciates things. He wants to succeed. He didn't always love basketball and maybe he still doesn't, but he's seen the chance he has. He knows how far he's come and I see him seeing the light. I see him working like crazy to make himself love it and make himself really good."
