Kansas won the NCAA tourney in April and Golden State won the NBA Finals in June but there is still 1 more basketball champion to be crowned this summer. The Basketball Tournament (aka the TBT) kicks off on July 16th with 8 regions of 8 teams playing in Dayton/New Mexico/Omaha/Rucker Park/Syracuse/West Virginia/Wichita/Xavier. Each region will send 1 team to the quarterfinals, with the championship game taking place during the 1st weekend of August, and the winning team walking away with a $1 million prize. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the weeks ahead interviewing as many TBT participants as possible. We continue our coverage with Thomas Bell, who is playing for Bleed Green after leading the Mean Green to an upset of Purdue in the NCAA tourney last year.
You were born/raised in Illinois: what made you choose North Texas? I was at a JUCO called Kaskaskia College about 1 hour away from my hometown of East St. Louis and we went to the national tournament. My mom was moving to San Antonio and after nationals I got 15+ scholarship offers. Being at North Texas allowed me to be close to my family, plus it is a good school with a great culture.
In January of 2020 you set a career-high with 15 REB in a win over UTSA and you ended up leading your team that year with 5.8 RPG that year despite standing only 6’6” and not starting a single game: what is the secret to being a great rebounder? It is how you do anything else on the court. You have to be aggressive and go all out for it, which will lead to good results.
You finished that season as the top seed in the conference tourney: what was your reaction when you learned that the entire postseason was getting canceled due to COVID? We were on top of the world when we were the top seed…and once everything got canceled we were at the bottom because we lost our chance to shock the world. At least I got a 2nd chance the following year: I just felt bad for our seniors who graduated in 2020.
In the 2021 C-USA tourney you scored 6 PTS in a 4-PT OT win over Western Kentucky in the title game: how were you able to win 4 games in 4 days? We always preached being mentally tough/together. We were a close group, which is what it takes to win 4 games in 4 days. Our coaching staff was on us to keep that belief in our minds so we just went out there and took the challenge head-on.
In the 2021 NCAA tourney you scored 16 PTS in a 9-PT OT upset of Purdue: how big a deal was it to get the 1st NCAA tourney win in school history? It was a good feeling and good for our school. I was really thankful just to be in that moment: it was really fun even though it was not as packed as possible in the arena. Purdue was a good team but we were able to make some history.
You only had 27 AST in 2021 but increased that to 85 AST in 2022: how were you able to improve your passing so much in just 1 year? If you really watch my game I am more of a pass-1st player who just tries to make the next pass. This past year I was in a lot of situations where the ball was in my hands more. We had a game plan and it came easy for me because I can see the floor well.
In 2021 you led your team with 33 BLK and in 2022 you made the conference All-Defensive Team: how do you balance your offense with your defense? Defense wins championships! To be the best defensive team in the nation is what we took pride in and where we hung our hats. I take it personally when I get scored on: the accolades mean nothing unless it also shows up in the win category. It is a blessing and I just tried to play the best that I could.
Last year you started the season 2-3, then won 21 of your next 22 games, then lost your regular season finale at UTEP while you shot 6-16 from the FT line, then your team only scored 36 PTS in a loss to Louisiana Tech in the conference tourney: was the season as much of a roller coaster as it looks like on paper? It was a rollercoaster after we got a lot of media attention with all of those wins. At the end of the day you just need to go out and win ball games so we tried to stay locked in to the task at hand and play our hearts out while still having fun. Our only goal was to win a championship so we just tried to stay balanced.
In the 2022 NIT you had an OT win over Texas State and then an OT loss to Virginia: what is the key to winning games in March that go down to the wire? Being together and relying on your defensive principles and remembering what got you there. If you do not get key stops when you need them it makes it a LOT harder to win games. When you work out every summer it leads to the ability to execute during the season. It gets tough down the stretch so you just have to keep doing what you have been doing.
This month you will be playing for Bleed Green in the TBT: how is the team looking so far, and what will you do with your share of the $1 million prize money if you win it all? We have some good guys on the team but I have not seen everyone in person yet. I like our team: we have scorers and good big men and are versatile so once we start practicing we will figure it all out because we have a good coach in Andre Shaw. We have a chance to win it all. I would use the prize money to take care of my family and make sure that everyone is good, then just try to do something else positive.