Oregon Ducks land Jordan Bell

The Oregon Ducks received a commitment from one of the best defensive players in the country yesterday when four-star power forward Jordan Bell chose the Ducks over the Auburn Tigers. It would have been a surprise if the Ducks did not land Bell, who is the team’s top catch thus far in the 2013 class. In fact, the only recruit who could top Bell by committing to Oregon is top ten prospect Aaron Gordon.

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Bell took his final official visit to Auburn this past weekend, and that was really the final chance that the Tigers had at catching up to the Ducks. The long PF also had offers from other top programs such as UConn, Memphis, USC, Washington, and Texas. Oregon has certainly added an impact recruit, because Bell has the talent to be a future Pac-12 DPOY and had some elite offers to prove it.

A top 125 recruit overall, Bell’s offense has steadily improved while playing for Long Beach Poly. He has to be regarded as one of the top 25 recruits at the position, and 247Sports has him at 15th. The four-star recruit is also clearly a top ten recruit in the state of California, and this was a huge catch for Dana Altman.

What makes Bell’s commitment to Oregon even more important is the fact that the Ducks might not receive another top 150 commit in this class. The only other top prospect who is considering Oregon is Aaron Gordon, and it’s going to be extremely difficult for Altman and the Ducks to land him when going up against Lorenzo Romar and Sean Miller. The Ducks were the favorites for Bell, and they were able to get it done and land a pledge from the best shot-blocker in the 2013 class.

He is an extremely talented PF who has as much upside as any big man on the west coast, and Oregon has now landed their first basketball commit who isn’t a Robinson-twin.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.