ASUN Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)
By Joey Loose
25. David Bell
Originally from Cleveland, Bell is a 6’10 center who actually began his collegiate with Ohio State back in 2015. He saw very few minutes off the bench for the Buckeyes for his first two seasons, opting to transfer to someone with more playing time available. After redshirting for a year, he’d end off his collegiate career in a much more involved role at Jacksonville, becoming a major frontcourt presence for the Dolphins.
Bell’s first year in Jacksonville saw him average 7.5 points and 5.7 rebounds, decent numbers as he adjusted to Tony Jasick’s game plan. He had a much more impactful senior season, averaging 12.0 points and 10.0 rebounds for the Dolphins and clearly racking up the double-doubles. Bell had a career-high 17 rebounds in a win over Lipscomb and eclipsed 20 points on a few occasions as well.
Bell led the ASUN in true shooting percentage and was one of the conference’s top rebounders in that final year, but he was more than just that. He was also a top-level shotblocker and claimed ASUN Defensive Player of the Year honors. Bell was also Second Team All-ASUN and was the best player on a Jacksonville team that didn’t win a lot of games but played hard. He certainly got more run with the Dolphins than he’d get had he stayed in the Big Ten.