Houston Cougars Set For Visit With Top 2028 Basketball Prospect

Houston Cougars basketball has risen to the top over the past few years and has become one of the premier programs in the country.

Houston initially never used to get the big-name recruits and had to work extra hard to get players with the right tough mindset that would fit the program culture.

Those teams would find ways to win, and over the years, head coach Kelvin Sampson has gotten the four- or five-star recruit to headline those squads and raise the ceiling. Houston’s recruiting success has gotten to another level over the past year or so.

Houston’s brand and culture of defense and playing hard have gotten the attention of various prospects who want to take their game to the next level and get coached hard by Sampson. The Cougars had four-star guard Quentin Grimes and five-star forward Jarace Walker as some of the first big-name recruits, but the view and interest in the program have been among the best of the best.

It’s now showing in the recruiting classes that Houston is putting together. This season, the Cougars had the highest-ranked high school recruiting class in program history with the signing of three five-star freshmen in Kingston Flemings, Isiah Harwell, and the top center in the class of 2025 in Chris Cenac Jr.

Houston is already set up for next season as the program recently signed the highest-ranked center in the class of 2026 in Arafan Diane and four-star combo guard Ikenna Alozie. Recruiting never stops, and the search for future classes continues.

The Cougars have already been working on the Class of 2028, and one of the top players in that group has locked in a visit to Houston this week.

Point Guard of the Way Future

Visit News: Tai Bell, the No. 25 overall prospect in the class of 2028, has locked in three visits, source tells @247Sports

Texas: February 25th
Houston: February 28th
Florida: March 3rdhttps://t.co/py7dprdeNL pic.twitter.com/pvRRfDAKSw
— Dushawn London (@DushawnLondon1) February 23, 2026

While it looks like the point guard for the next two seasons could be either Mercy Miller or Ikenna Alozie, there could be another name among the mix starting in 2028. That is Tai Bell, a four-star recruit who is currently ranked the 25th overall prospect in the class of 2028 according to 247Sports.

It was reported on Monday that Bell is expected to make three unofficial visits over the next week or so, and Houston is one of those three. Bell will unofficially visit H-Town and the Cougars on February 28th. That is the same day Houston will play Colorado at the Fertitta Center at 11 a.m.

He is also expected to visit the Texas Longhorns before that on Feb. 25 and go out to the Florida Gators on March 3rd. Bell is a 6-foot-3, 200-pound point guard that is ranked the third best player in Florida and the third-ranked point guard in the country for his class.

Bell is a five-star prospect with a 0.9910 grade according to 247Sports Composite and is currently at Mater Lakes Academy around Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is the son of former NBA Raja Bell, who was a 12-year NBA veteran and earned first-team All-Defensive honors during the 2008 season.

His older brother, Dia Bell, is a five-star quarterback in the 2026 class and will play at Texas. Bell currently has 12 offers already, with Houston as one of them. Some of his other offers include Florida State, Purdue, Kansas State, and TCU.