Kevin McGuff seems to have found his stride on the recruiting trail again as the Buckeyes secured a commitment from five-star guard Kierstan Bell, the No. 5 player in the country.
— (@Dotmug_330) August 25, 2018
The Bell File
- Class: 2019
- Size: 6-1
- Pos: Guard
- School: McKinley (Canton, OH)
- Composite Rating: ★★★★★
- Composite Rank: #5 (#1 G)
Bell, out of Canton's McKinley high school, is the nation's top guard in the 2018 class and the No. 5 player overall. She is one of the most decorated players in the country entering her senior season.
Entering her final high school season, Bell has already been named named the Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year and the Division I Co-Player of the Year in 2018, the AP Division I Ohio Player of the Year in 2017, and has been named AP 1st-team All-Ohio every season.
Here's ESPN's latest evaluation of Bell's game:
Athletic off-guard with poised floor game; manufactures, delivers off the dribble; superb interior passer, court awareness, consistent offensive game to the arc; versatile in the back court, skilled guard, difference maker.
Bell is one of the most gifted, athletic players in the country and has been compared to another, familiar basketball player from northeast Ohio – LeBron James. And she once put on a show with The King in attendance.
From ESPN.com:
"People call me She-Bron. They say, 'You that girl. You like 'Bron,'" says Bell, who earned the nickname about a year and a half ago when her uncanny similarities to Mr. Ohio himself, LeBron James, became clear: She's versatile, she's athletic and she's physical.
There is not a position she can't play, though she primarily starts at the 4.
...
With LeBron James and his wife, Savannah, in attendance, Kierstan Bell had 38 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals in a game against Massillon Jackson last month.
"They compare her [to LeBron] just because of the strength and the quickness," Pam Davis says. "She finishes so strong at the rim that even the refs don't call normal bumps, if you will, when she goes to the basket. Another kid might get the same physicality in the paint and get an and-1, but Kierstan finishes through traffic and doesn't always get foul calls."
It goes without saying that Bell is a massive pickup for the Buckeyes. She joins fellow top-50 prospects Rikki Harris and Jacy Sheldon in what figures to be a large and talented 2019 class.
There are still two uncommitted five-star prospects from the state of Ohio alone – Jordan Horston of Columbus Africentric High School and Zia Cooke of Rogers High School in Toledo. Both are top-10 players.
