The Most College Basketball College Basketball Players: Troy Bell
Dreams always have the privilege to have existed, even if those dreams were for Boston College to be good at something.
Many great college basketball players go on to become good, or at least employable for an extended period of time, professional players. Many also, for myriad reasons, top out in their collegiate exertions and are short-timers in the NBA before heading off to Europe, getting into coaching or seeking their fortune elsewhere in the world of professions that have nothing to with hoops.
Obviously, I love these particular players with all my heart and they have my sword for eternity.
That’s right, we have another semi-regular re-occurring feature! Let’s examine who fits this bill, why they were so amazing in the collegiate game and why they never really found success in the pros. The criteria: a collegiate stud, at least fitting my definition, who must have appeared in at least one NBA game, but cannot have played in more than 100. No wondering why Guy X never got a look at the League; we’re going to with those who did, then didn’t, and examining their collegiate qualifieds.
Troy Bell, Guard, Boston College (1999-03)
College: 21.6 ppg on 42.4% from the floor (37.2% from 3), 86.8% at the line with 4.4 rpg, 3.5 apg and 2.2 spg.
2-time All-American, 2-time Big East Player of the Year, 3-time All-Big East, 2000 Big East Rookie of the Year, 2001 Big East Tournament MVP, 2001 FIBA U-21 Gold Medalist
NBA: 6 games, all with the 2004 Grizzlies; shot 4-for-18 in 34 total minutes, with 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal
Please let me assure you of something: nothing I’m writing about over the next thousand words or so is fiction. Now I’m going to follow that up with a sentence that looks absolutely ludicrous in print.
From 2000 to about 2007, Boston College basketball was an outright problem.