Round Baller Bell Ready for Return

One of our fellow Tech grads sent me a link a while ago on Tech round baller DeAndre Bell I thought was a good read so why not share?

You may recall Bell sat out last season recovering from some serious surgery on the spinal column:

Last year's collision changed that. An Emory orthopedic surgeon told Bell he had narrowing of the spine. His C3-C6 vertebrae were compressing his spinal cord.

With the wrong blow -- on the court, or off -- Bell could be paralyzed from the neck down. Surgery was recommended and no basketball for a year.

"They said if I wanted to play with my kids [someday], pick up my son, play football with him, tackle, wrestle, I'd have to get this surgery," Bell said. "… [At least] we found it before it got too bad, and I knew I wasn't going crazy, thinking something was wrong with my body."

I didn't know Bell was raised by his dad and grandparents after his mother left him when he was young. It seems behind every suceesful athlete there is some influential parent that pushed them to succeed:

"I always tried to keep him lifted up that ‘Hey, Baby Boy, this is about you,' " Larry Bell said. " ‘This isn't about me or your grandmother. You've got your education to fall back on. ... When you got that diploma, that's what you will do for me.' "

I very nice story on the personal side...but lets not get carried away...what we care about is...basketball!!!

We really missed this guys' defense on the perimeter last season as we couldn't stop people from launching shots all over the place. Bell hardly seems like a Pro prospect (but then neither did Mario West) but he could make some $ playing in Europe.

Shaping up to be a good year for GT sports. GT ranked in the top 20 going into the b-ball season. Anyone else just as hopeful we will challenge for the ACC title?