Mississippi State center Jimmy Bell enters NCAA transfer portal

Mississippi State center Jimmy Bell entered the NCAA transfer portal. He began his basketball career at St. Louis and eventually went to West Virginia.

Bell transferred to Mississippi State last summer and this past season, he played in all 35 games for head coach Chris Jans and his staff, including 16 starts. Bell averaged 5.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and had 20 blocked shots while helping lead Mississippi State to its second straight NCAA Tournament.

Earlier this month, Paul Jones of Maroon and White reported Bell joined the football team for spring practice.

“Confirmed by a Mississippi State source, Bell will join the Bulldog football team on Thursday to begin spring drills,” Jones wrote. “Bell recently concluded his college basketball eligibility in the NCAA Tournament but has one year of eligibility remaining in football if he remains on that course.”

If that is indeed the case, Bell entering the portal could signal his desire to go to another school to try and play football this fall. However, that is unknown at this time.

Bell also went through football practices while at West Virginia. He was expected to practice with the offensive line while at Mississippi State.

As a member of the Class of 2019, Bell was not ranked, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He played his high school basketball in Scottsdale (Ari.) at Bella Vista Prep.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

Getting to the NCAA Tournament was a huge goal for Jans and crew. Bell was a big part of the Bulldogs’ run this season.

Jans feels as though the mission his team set out to accomplish was completed.

“Our sole focus was to kind of get back to the basic tenets of what we’re trying to do as a program,” Jans said back in March. “I thought we as a group took advantage of it, just our core defense, our principles, were better these three games than the majority of the games leading up to the SEC tournament.

“Hopefully that’s something that this team has learned. If we’re hopefully given another opportunity to play in post-season, we’ll get that on the floor, as well.”