After signing the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in the 2022 recruiting cycle, the Oregon Ducks women’s basketball program has hit the ground running in the 2023 class.
Oregon is the only program in the country with commitments from two of the nation’s top-32 prospects, first landing Idaho point guard Amari Whiting before the weekend addition of Sofia Bell.
Bell, a 6-foot-1 wing from St. Mary’s in Portland, chose the Ducks over finalists Cal, Gonzaga, Notre Dame, Oregon State, Stanford, USC and Washington.
But that result surprised very few.
Bell is the daughter of Greg Bell, who played for the Oregon men’s basketball program in the mid-1980′s.
Since birth, she has been a fan of Oregon and has taken multiple trips to Eugene.
For the other finalists it was a significant uphill battle — and they offered her anyway understanding that reality.
“I really can’t count the amount of times I’ve been down to Eugene,” Bell said. “I’ve spent time at women’s basketball games, football games, all sorts of things. Growing up watching Oregon, I’ve always been a huge Duck fan. It felt like it was the right time to make the decision.”
Rated the nation’s No. 28 overall prospect, Bell is eager to play alongside Whiting, her future teammate and the nation’s No. 32 overall prospect.
“I’m super excited to play with Amari,” she said. “I was able to meet her at the Wootten camp in Dallas, Texas. It’s really exciting to put the class together (quickly). It speaks to how cool the program is that people want to commit early.”
Bell is no stranger to playing alongside elite talent.
The dynamic sophomore ended her prep season at St. Mary’s after just a handful of games — while averaging 19.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2 steals and 1.6 blocks — to join the Cal Stars in Northern California, the same program that produced Sabrina Ionescu and is now known as Sabrina Ionescu Elite.
There she teamed up with recent Oregon signee Jennah Isai and key 2023 Oregon target Breya Cunningham, the nation’s No. 4 overall prospect, to win a national championship.
“It was so exciting,” Bell said. “We set our goal at the beginning of the year. We put a lot of work in, traveled a lot of miles and prepare ourselves. To see it all come together was really cool.”
She hopes that experience also helps sway Cunningham to join Oregon, where she would not only team up again with Isai and Bell, but also high school teammate Te-Hina Paopao.
“We’ve talked about it a little at camps,” Bell admitted. “She was high school teammates with Te-Hina. It would be awesome if Breya would come to Oregon.”
As is, Kelly Graves once again has the Ducks on pace for one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.
-- Andrew Nemec | anemec@oregonian.com | @AndrewNemec
Ad Choices