The eternal gratitude of Xavier Bell for a chance to represent his hometown Shockers
The kid with the shoes autographed by Ron Baker couldn’t have conjured up a scene like the one that played out inside Koch Arena on Sunday afternoon.
The kid who cheesed hard for a picture with Gregg Marshall and Fred VanVleet used to tell people he would some day grow up and play for the Shockers. But deep down, he figured it was a far-out fantasy.
Who would have believed that the kid named after a Shocker legend would become the leading scorer for the Wichita State men’s basketball team in his senior year and receive the love and adulation of his hometown crowd before his final home game.
For one last time on Sunday afternoon, Xavier Bell peered around the Roundhouse to soak in a reality that was too preposterous to dream.
“The word that automatically comes to mind is just gratitude,” Bell said. “I’m just grateful for it all. The ups, the downs, the ebbs and flows from season to season. The adversity that comes with being a Division I basketball player. When I was an inner-city kid at Allison Middle School, I would have never pictured how this would have unfolded. I’m just so grateful to be able to wear this jersey. I wear it with a lot of pride.”
The 40 minutes on the court did not go as planned, with WSU losing 73-63 to Tulsa, but Bell tried not to allow the result to spoil his last time on the court in a Shocker uniform.
Players come from all over the country to play for WSU, enchanted by the program’s past success. They hear about how great the 2013 Final Four team was and how special the Roundhouse was during the 35-1 season.
The son of a former Shocker football player and prominent supporter, Bell routinely attended home games and experienced the peak of Shocker basketball inside the Roundhouse. While other players have heard about WSU’s history, Bell has lived it.
“The thing about Xavier is that he wants to play for Wichita and he is so proud to be a Shocker,” said Wayne Bell, his father. “He understands the history and what it means. I’m so proud of him.”
What has made Xavier cherish his time at WSU even more is that it was never a guarantee he would have the chance to experience playing for his hometown team.
When he was a star athlete at Andover Central, even being named Mr. Basketball in Kansas in 2020, Bell wasn’t offered a scholarship by WSU. He instead signed with Drexel, where he became an immediate starter and helped the team advance to the NCAA Tournament as a freshman.
After two years playing in Philadelphia, Bell yearned for a chance to play college basketball closer to home where he could be closer to his family. As luck would have it, WSU was looking for a guard in the transfer portal and Isaac Brown, who had recruited him some while he was in high school, was now the head coach. It was a dream scenario for the Wichita native.
“Coming back to a place like this was very special to me,” Xavier Bell said. “Being from here, it just holds a special place in my heart.”
His commitment never wavered when the program underwent a coaching change following Bell’s first season, as Brown was fired and Paul Mills was brought in as the new head coach.
Mills still remembers his first meeting with the WSU players left on the roster. Many were unsure about their future. Bell was not.
“I asked the guys, ‘Are you all in?’ And before I could even finish the sentence, Xavier Bell piped up, ‘I am,’” Mills said. “So I’ve always been really mindful of the fact of how much pride he takes in representing the city of Wichita and being a part of Wichita State basketball.”
Following in the recent footsteps of Wichita natives like Evan Wessel, Conner Frankamp and Samajae Haynes-Jones, Bell has enjoyed the benefits of being the hometown hero on the Shockers.
He has improved each season in Wichita and is in the midst of a career-best year, averaging a team-high 15.1 points and shooting 88.5% from the foul line. His left-handed finishes have become a staple of WSU’s offense, as he defies the odds and still manages to finish on the left side when every defender knows that is his preferred destination.
A Wichita native leading the Shockers in scoring might seem like it would garner nothing but love and support, but the increased spotlight has led to increased criticism from certain portions of the fan base and gamblers. Social media has made it easier than ever to direct hateful messages to athletes and Bell is no exception.
“You can’t help but see it pop up from time to time, but at the end of the day, I stay in prayer a lot,” Bell said. “I lean on my faith. I try to engage in all positivity with my social media, so it keeps that at the forefront of my mind. I try to flood my timeline with positivity, so I hope the people who do go to my page at the very least will interact with something positive.
“But the love, the hate, the expectations, the pressure that comes with it, I really love all of it. I take pride in it and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Sidelined by an injury for months earlier this season, fellow WSU senior Ronnie DeGray III observed the unique pressure that Bell faces as the Wichita player on the team.
When the team was going through its losing slump at the start of conference play, no other player wanted to speak to the media. Bell always volunteered to be the team spokesperson and answer the tough questions, no matter how he felt after a game or how he played.
“You can definitely tell there’s a lot more pressure on him because he’s from Wichita,” DeGray said. “You see people get on him, but what’s so great about X is that he goes in day in and day out and is just himself. He doesn’t worry about whatever people say. He has stayed true to himself and trusts in his work. We all trust in him and he has helped us win a lot of games this year. I think he’s done a really great job of representing where he’s from with a lot of pride.”
The youngest of six siblings, Bell credited his older brothers and sisters, as well as his father and mother, Stephanie Mitchell, for helping instill that perspective on life at an early age. As his profile rose, Bell made it a priority to stay connected to his roots in Wichita. He is signed to several NIL deals with local companies and takes the time to volunteer and give back to the community.
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His final home game at Koch Arena turned Bell reflective of how much his family has helped him along the journey. He can still remember how his father would put everything on hold to make a 7-hour car drive to a camp just for the opportunity for his son to showcase his talents and try to earn a Division I scholarship.
“You think about all of the times that he sacrificed everything for me to help me get to where I needed to be,” Bell said. “We talk all the time on the phone, but I don’t ever tell him enough how appreciative I am. The biggest person behind it all is my father and I am just grateful and blessed to have somebody like that who is so hands on and so supportive.”
Wayne Bell’s WSU football jerseys hang on the wall in his house, which served as a constant reminder for Xavier of his Shocker heritage.
More than four decades after his time as a WSU football player, Wayne Bell has tried to soak in every game at Koch Arena with his son playing for the Shockers.
“It’s hard to even put it into words,” Wayne Bell said. “I’m just really proud of him and his progress. I’m just so grateful because I know how much this means to me and how much it means to him to be from Wichita and to now be a leader on this team.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2025 at 6:36 AM.
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