North Carolina State University Athletics
Bell Eager to Get Back with Pack
3/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
Simon and Garfunkel once asked, "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?" The Statler Brothers wanted to know, "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?" At NC State, it wouldn't be all that surprising to hear someone ask, "what's going on with Michael Bell?"
In case you've forgotten, the 6-9 Bell was a member of NC State basketball's impressive in-state recruiting class last year. The Raleigh Enloe product was part of a highly trumpeted North Carolina triumvirate that included Fayetteville's Marcus Melvin and Mt. Ulla's Scooter Sherrill. But while Melvin and Sherrill were learning the ropes last season, Bell was almost the invisible man after undergoing season-ending knee surgery. And while his teammates were suffering through a disappointing 13-16 campaign, Bell sat on the sidelines wondering "what if?"
"It was really hard for me because I know coach Sendek had set aside a role for me to play on the team," Bell said. "It was hard for me because I knew I could have helped the team out. We went through a tough season, but I know I could have done a couple of things that would have made us a lot better team. It was real frustrating for me."
Bell's outside shooting certainly could have been an asset for a team that often struggled to find the basket from the perimeter.
"I'm a good scorer and I can score in more different ways than anybody on the team," said Bell, who averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per game as a high school senior. "I can play down low and score, and I'm really good at shooting the three for my height."
But Bell's freshman season never really got off the ground. By the time he set up shop on campus last fall, he already knew something was wrong. After playing only seven minutes total in the Pack's first two games, the decision was made to shut him down.
"Right after my last high school season I played basketball outside with my brother for about four hours," Bell recalled. "That night, my knees started hurting. [The doctors] said it was just a matter of all the things I had done in my life like playing basketball on concrete and things like that. It just all caught up with me."
The official diagnosis was bi-lateral tendinitis in both knees. After all non-surgical options were exhausted, Dr. Bob Wyker performed surgery to correct the problem on December 27. Bell is now three months into what will be a six-month rehabilitation.
"I can tell a big difference already," Bell said. "It still hurts a little bit, but it doesn't hurt the same way it used to."
Said NC State Director of Sports Medicine Charlie Rozanski: "He's doing great. Three months in, he's back now starting to shoot and getting back into workouts. Our big focus has been working on his lower abdominal strength and his lower back strength to take some pressure off his knees."
Bell, who weighed just 200 pounds when he first reported to campus last fall, has used his time away from basketball to add muscle to what once was a very fragile body frame. In many respects, he'll be much more prepared for the physical nature of college basketball next year than he would have been as a true freshman.
"At the end of the season, I used practice time to go lift weights every day," Bell said. "I really need to get bigger in order to be a better player in the ACC. I started out benching 165 pounds when I got here. Now I'm already up to 235. That's a real big improvement in one year."
Good things come to those who wait. Michael Bell hopes all his waiting will pay off when he takes the floor as a redshirt freshman next season.
