Wichita native Xavier Bell is coming home in transfer to Wichita State basketball
.JPG "Andover Central’s Xavier Bell is coming home and will play for Wichita State next season.")
The first commitment of the Wichita State men’s basketball team’s 2022 recruiting class is actually a homecoming.
Wichita native Xavier Bell, in the transfer portal after playing two seasons at Drexel, announced on social media Friday afternoon that he will be transferring to Wichita State for the 2022-23 season with three years of eligibility left.
Bell, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound guard, was elevated into a full-time starter position this past season for a Drexel team that finished with a 15-14 record, finishing with averages of 11.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
He was a two-sport star at Andover Central, catching 71 passes for 975 yards in his senior season to earn all-state honors during football season and then averaging 24.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists to earn 2020 Mr. Basketball honors in the state of Kansas.
After six Shockers entered the transfer portal — Dexter Dennis, Morris Udeze, Monzy Jackson, Qua Grant, Joe Pleasant and Chaunce Jenkins — head coach Isaac Brown was finally able to land his first transfer in the 2022 recruiting class.
Bell continues the pipeline of hometown talent playing for the Shockers, joining Evan Wessel (2011-16), Conner Frankamp (2015-18), Samajae Haynes-Jones (2017-19) and Grant Sherfield (2019-20).
With the expected departure of Tyson Etienne, WSU has four players currently committed to play next season in senior point guard Craig Porter, sophomore center Kenny Pohto, redshirt freshman wing Isaac Abidde and redshirt freshman wing Jalen Ricks. Budding star Ricky Council IV, who would be a sophomore next season, is currently testing the NBA Draft waters, but will maintain his eligibility through the process.
If Council returns, WSU would have up to seven scholarships to hand out in its 2022 recruiting class. Bell becomes the first commitment and figures to be a contributor next season at guard.
While Bell is still a work-in-progress outside of scoring, his ability to score does stand out, especially inside the arc for a 6-3 guard. He made 53.9% of his 2-pointers last season, already a good mark, and that number jumps to 61.1% at the rim when he attacked off a ball screen (for 1.28 points per possession), per Synergy Sports Technology.
He also shot 35.9% from behind the 3-point line and has 37.8% accuracy on 90 attempts beyond the arc in his two seasons at Drexel. That’s encouraging for a WSU program that has shot worse than 34% on 3-pointers as a team for four straight seasons now.
He had above-average efficiency scoring in the Colonial Athletic Association — he scored a career-high 30 points against Hofstra, aided by 10-for-11 shooting inside the arc — but he will be challenged by a higher class of competition in the American Athletic Conference.
The promising part is that Bell fared extremely well against top-100 competition, per KenPom, this past season at Drexel. His offensive rating jumped from 105.5 to 116.2 in eight games against top-100 opponents, while his effective field goal percentage jumped from 53.9% to 61.1%. He finished 32 of his 52 attempts inside the arc (61.5% accuracy) against top-100 opponents.
WSU should also find out soon if there will be another transfer coming its way, as Syracuse native Quincy Ballard, a 7-foot center transfer from Florida State, is expected to decide soon between the Shockers and Syracuse. He is currently on his official visit to Syracuse.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 4:32 PM.
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