Education
Bell attended Hempstead High School in his hometown of Hempstead, New New York As a junior he averaged 23.7 points, 15.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.6 steals and 2.5 blocked shots per game. His older brother, Norris, was a 1,000-point scorer at Hempstead and had set the school"s all-time single season dunk record of 76 until Tavorris broke it that year.
Tavorris dunked 81 times his junior season.
An All-American his senior season, Bell chose to play at the University of Rhode Island despite leaning earlier towards Saint John"s University in New New York
Bell played college basketball at Rhode Island where he led the team in scoring for the 2000-2001 season, but was dropped from the team in the 2001-2002 season for academic reasons. While at Rhode Island, Bell was a teammate of future National Basketball Association Champion Lamar Odom.
Despite playing only three years he managed to score 1,147 career points. After he was ruled academically ineligible during his junior season, Bell declared as an early entrant into the 2001 National Basketball Association Draft, though he was ultimately never selected by any team
