Maui Invitational - Oregon v UConn

LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 23: Jordan Bell #1 and Chris Boucher #25 of the Oregon Ducks celebrate during a break in the action in the second half of the Maui Invitational NCAA college basketball game at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 23, 2016 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)

(Darryl Oumi)

EUGENE -- Jordan Bell bought into the block talk last season.

It was hard not to.

Chris Boucher exploded right away upon his arrival at Oregon. He may have left the long bus rides of the junior college circuit back in Wyoming and exchanged them for nice hotels and chartered flights at Oregon, but he brought with him the constant rejections.

Bell had 94 blocks in 2014-15. And with the sophomore on the bench for the first half of last year with a foot injury, Boucher blocked five shots in his first game and didn't stop until he smashed Bell's school record and finished the year with 110. Nobody in the country had more.

So Bell played into the rivalry talk. Once he returned from his broken foot midway through the year, he kept an eye on Boucher. If Boucher had four blocks, Bell would try to get four. If Boucher scored 15 points, Bell would shoot for 15.

By the end of the year, Bell sat in a locker room in Anaheim before the Ducks' Sweet 16 matchup with Duke and proclaimed that the 2016-17 season would be a race between Boucher and himself to 150 blocks.

"I'm going to get it back next year," Bell said then of the record.

But now, nearly a year later, Bell will not get his record back. He has 61 blocks through 30 games and Boucher has 74. There's a chance they might not combine for 150 blocks.

Heading into Oregon's final regular season game of the season, though, the race to 150 is far away from Bell's mind.

His transformative 2016-17 season -- one that has seen him average career highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes -- wasn't sparked by a competition with Boucher. It was propelled by Bell's realization that when it comes to his own game, Boucher didn't matter.

Over the last 30 games, Jordan Bell has flourished because he's finally worrying about himself.

"At first people wanted it to be a competition between us, and I fell into that," Bell said. "That didn't work for me."

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LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 12: Jordan Bell #1 of the Oregon Ducks knocks a shot away from Lorenzo Bonam #15 of the Utah Utes as Chris Boucher #25 of the Ducks defends during the championship game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament at MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 12, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The rivalry started with a break.

It was two summers ago, after Oregon's surprising run to the NCAA Tournament's Round of the 32 in a season when they weren't expected to even win a game at the Pac-12 Tournament.

Bell had recently had surgery to repair a broken foot when Boucher, coming off a national junior college player of the year season in Wyoming, made his official visit to Oregon.

Boucher had plenty of hype after averaging 22.5 points and 11.8 rebounds his sophomore year, but like all new recruits, Bell and others wanted to see how he matched up against Pac-12 competition.

From all accounts, Boucher dominated during an open gym session with current Ducks players as Bell watched from the bench.

"He came in and was just like, 'I'm going to show them what I can do,'" Bell remembers. "He's catching lobs and reverse dunking. Dunking on people. Blocking shots. He came in here with an attitude and he showed people that day."

EUGENE, OR - FEBRUARY 18: Jordan Bell #1 of the Oregon Ducks dunks during the first half of the game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Matthew Knight Arena on February 18, 2017 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

It was a weird time in Bell's career. He had just come off a successful freshman season when he made a name for himself with his tenacity on the defensive end. He set a new Oregon record with 94 blocks and pulled down 6.1 rebounds.

His 5.1 points per game left something to be desired on the offensive end, so after the Ducks were bounced by Wisconsin, he put his focus there. He developed a midrange jumper. He worked on his post moves.

Before Bell broke his foot in May 2016, Oregon coach Dana Altman and teammates were raving about his improvement. He was routinely the best player on the floor early that summer, they would say. Then the foot broke, surgery happened and, when Boucher made his visit on May 15, Bell was still seven months away from returning to the court.

"I'm sitting there with a cast on my foot, watching him play," Bell said. "I wanted to play so bad."

When the two met, one of Oregon's coaches said something that fired up both for separate reasons.

Essentially, they were introduced as parallel players, though each heard something different.

Chris, this is Jordan, while you blocked a lot of shots last year, Jordan blocked 94 at the Division I level.

Jordan, this is Chris, while you blocked 94 shots last year, that's nothing compared to the 150 Chris had last season.

Neither player recalls this interaction as tense or aggressive, just motivating. Boucher was eager to prove himself at the D1 level. Bell wanted to see how he matched up against the new guy.

But that would have to wait while Bell's foot healed. And by the time he came back late in December, things were different for the Long Beach native.

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SPOKANE, WA - MARCH 20: James Demery #25 of the Saint Joseph's Hawks shoots against Chris Boucher #25 and Jordan Bell #1 of the Oregon Ducks in the first half during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena on March 20, 2016 in Spokane, Washington. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

When Bell came back, Boucher had already cemented himself into Oregon's foundation. He blocked shots, ran the floor and shot the three. He earned himself a nickname, "The Swatterboy" and experts around college basketball were calling him a unicorn -- the rare 6-foot-10 guy who could play inside and out.

He was Jordan Bell 2.0.

"Nobody made me think I was coming in to take his position," Boucher said. "But it was easier for me to settle in and do my role. I was capable of doing it and everyone on the team was cheering me on. When Jordan came back, I was still capable of doing it and he was doing it on his side."

Bell retuned to the floor on Dec. 12, 2015, and played 17 minutes in a loss to Boise State. In his second game back, Bell scored a career-high 12 points and blocked a shot in a win over UC Irvine.

Boucher scored 11 and blocked four.

A game later, Bell scored 10 points and blocked two shots against Long Beach State. Boucher had 14 and four.

Against Alabama, Bell had 15 points and no blocks. Boucher had 11 and two.

That game was the last time Bell scored in double figures for more than a month as Boucher continued to flourish. Bell was still finding himself after missing seven months of basketball. He was adjusting to his new role off the bench, and he admits he was pressing as he bought into the narrative of two similar players trying to one-up each other.

"I came in trying to do everything I had before I got hurt, from the jump," Bell said. "I wasn't playing as many minutes, you don't have as much leniency with Coach if you screw up. Your mind is all over the place. How many points did Chris have? Now I have to get that much. How many blocks did he get? Now I got to do that now.

"It wasn't working for me."

But something started to click for Bell as the Ducks marched back toward the NCAA Tournament. Bell felt healthy again. His offense, the thing he worked hard on before the injury, began to take shape. He started to flash. Bell scored nine points or more in six of Oregon's final 10 games. He played the most complete game of his career in the Sweet 16 against Duke, scoring 13 points, grabbing seven rebounds and blocking three shots. This summer, he doubled down and came into camp this fall not only with a refined offensive game, but a new attitude.

Bell and Boucher were always friendly with each other. But now instead of a friendly rivalry, Bell saw it as a friendly partnership -- even as Boucher's fame skyrocketed with an appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

The results have been eye-opening. Boucher's stellar junior season has repeated itself, as the Canadian leads the Pac-12 in blocks (72) again while averaging the same 12.1 points.

Bell's numbers have jumped across the board. He's averaging four more points than last year (10.8), two more rebounds (7.8), his shooting clip has risen by 5 percentage points and his 62 blocks rank fourth in the conference. Both players have scored more than 20 points in a game this year. Both have multiple double-doubles and both are now comfortable with their roles.

"If Chris has 20 points and I have 10 points, we have 30 as a team," Bell said. "I just needed to play my game and stop worrying about the little things."

***

Since late December, Boucher has come off the bench after missing two games with a foot injury. When he returned, Altman decided to feature Bell as the team's starting big man and utilize Boucher's scoring ability as a boost off the bench.

It's a move that may not have worked unless Bell and Boucher went through what they did last season. Bell's focus on his own game gave him the ability to find a place back in the starting lineup. Boucher's confidence in his own skills, and his comfort level within the program, didn't scare him away from shifting to the bench.

"Last year I was starting and this year, coming off the bench, you realize what you're doing and what you can do for the team," Boucher said. "Last year, if I didn't start, maybe I wouldn't have this (perspective). We have to play as a team."

They're still competitive, like earlier this year when a monster Bell dunk against Utah was one-upped by Boucher.

"I got a body on mine," Bell said then. "I got way higher."

But the two also admire things in each other's games. Boucher wishes he had Bell's strength in the post. Bell marvels at Boucher's length and ability to get off a "slow-ass jump shot that takes forever, but you still can't block it."

They have their differences. They have their similarities. Together, they have Oregon primed for a deep run, now that the calendar has flipped to March. It'll be a month that Bell will cherish. A year ago he was essentially an unknown. Now, he's finding his name in NBA mock drafts placed ahead of Dillon Brooks and Boucher. He's not sure if he'll return to Oregon next year, but there is one large incentive: Because of the way he and Boucher have played this season, they haven't done a lot of losing and, like he's done the last two years, Bell is going to have to adjust.

"It's scary, more than anything," he said. "If this is my last year I'm never going to be a college student and enjoy this again. I'm never going to be able to lose only like five games in a season again.

"I'm going to have to learn how to lose. It sucks."

-- Tyson Alger

talger@oregonian.com

@tysonalger