Midstatehoops.com rated Bell as the #1 player in the State of Illinois (Class of 2012) when Bell was going into his sophomore year..
http://midstatehoops.com/v5/index.php?s=t.j.+bell
Then Bell moved from Charleston, IL (where his high school had about 800 enrollment) to a much bigger and more prominent high school in Bloomington, IN..
Unfortunately, since Bell left his family behind and moved in there in Bloomington with someone, the IHSAA ruled that this move was for sports purposes and denied TJ eligibility to play varsity sports. This hurt Bell big time....at that time, according to Rivals, TJ Bell was getting big time interest...
This Rivals page claimed he had offers from - Indiana (which was why he moved to Bloomington, IN in the first place), Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and others..
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-T.J.-Bell-92223
So, then TJ moved back and played last year at Charleston, IL but the moves cost him and the offers fell off......
In the end he was down to Indiana State, Georgia State, EIU, and Cleveland State...but he's a very good player.
He pretty much plays the same position as another ex-BU recruit, Justin Gant, who is also at Indiana State right now as a freshman.
note in this article it also talks about another kid, Matt Carlino - an Indiana verbal from 2008 - all the way thru 2010 -, who was also talked into moving from Arizona to Bloomington, IN just so IU could keep closer tabs on him and gain recruiting advantage...in the end Carlino also had his offer yanked.......and never ended at IU
http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/quickhits/?p=2342
http://www.insidethehall.com/2010/03/25/matt-carlino-opens-up-his-recruitment/