Brayden Bell MIA

Since we whispered the praises of Utah State in our previous post, here's one that isn't so positive.

Again, we want to stress that WE missed on this one. In a sense, it has nothing to do with Bell -- he didn't announce to the world how good and productive he was going to be right away. No, that's what we did, it was both our expectation and prediction. That's one difference we wish to stress -- his inability to perform well makes US look the fool and we readily admit the egg is all over OUR face. But on too many sites and message boards (especially the latter), this entire post would have been a rip job on Bell, chock full of derogatory drivel and self-righteous bleatings in a not-so-veiled attempt to hide the fact the author or authors got it wrong.

Brayden Bell

We flat out missed on this one -- at least for this season.

Now we feel no need to perform any Bell-bashing and such is not the intent of this post. However, we fully expected Bell to be productively sharing time with newcomer Gary Wilkinson as the Utah State center tandem, or even alongside one another but only Wilkinson has come through so far.

For those of you unfamiliar with Brayden Bell, at 6-9 250 he went from the Utah prep ranks to Ohio State. Playing little -- as expected for most freshmen entering the ranks of the BIg 10 -- he saw action in just seven games, averaging 1.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. With Greg Oden looming on the horizon, Bell knew his immediate situation would not become better so he returned home.

After redshirting last year but still practicing and learning both Stew Morrill's system and expectations, here are Bell's numbers to date:

*** he has played in but seven of the Aggies 14 games to date and been on the court for just 44 minutes total.

In fact, Bell's lack of production led to Coach Morrill's decision to play freshman Modou Niang, 6-9 240, a raw talent who had been expected to redshirt this season.

Granted, Bell is a sophomore in athletic eligibility and certainly has the time ahead of him to make strides. It's not like his college basketball career is over.

But Morrill also obtained some additional insurance during the November signing period in center Bryce Webster. From the Utah State news release on Webster:

"...Webster, a 6-9, 240-pound center, is currently a sophomore at Irvine Valley Community College in Irvine, Calif., and is averaging 11.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 60.3 percent from the field. As a college freshman, Webster started seven games and played in 28 at the University of Minnesota and averaged 1.7 points and 1.2 rebounds.

As a prep senior at St. Thomas Academy in Minneapolis, Webster earned first-team all-state honors as both a junior and senior and was named the Minneapolis Star Tribune Metro Player of the year in 2006 as he averaged 21.6 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game en route to being ranked the 18th-best center in the country by scout.com, and the 83rd-best player in the country by prepstars.com.

"Bryce is a humble and hard-working individual who wants to get better," said Irvine Valley head coach Jerry Hernandez. "He is a big, strong and active player who is mobile and a very good defender..."

Webster is a work in progress himself but also one who could very well put another obstacle in front of Bell and his efforts to get some playing time. or maybe the presence of Webster will provide further incentive for Bell.