by WICHITA, Kan. – All-American guard, Ron Baker (Citizen Band Potawatomi) announced Monday that he will return for his senior season at Wichita State.
The 6-foot-4 guard out of Scott City spent the days following the Shockers’ Sweet 16 exit evaluating his professional basketball opportunities.
“I spent a lot of time talking it over with Coach, my teammates and my family,” Baker said. “The reality is, I felt like any decision I made was going to be a good one. I think I’ll eventually be successful at the next level, but with what we have coming in and the people we have returning, including Fred VanVleet, next season has the potential to be very special. It’s been an amazing ride here at WSU, and my family and I aren’t quite ready for it to end.”
“We are so happy to be able to coach Ron Baker during his senior season,” WSU head coach, Gregg Marshall said. “It goes without saying that Ron has already established himself as an all-time Shocker great, as well as an iconic figure in college basketball. Any coach would be hard-pressed to find a better representative of his program.”
An unheralded recruit, Baker has blossomed into one of the nation’s premier players and has helped the Shockers to the most successful three-year period in school history (90-15). WSU’s .857 winning percentage and 90 wins is the second-highest in Division I over that span.
Baker sat 21 games with a stress fracture during his redshirt freshman season but returned in early March to help spark WSU’s run to the 2013 Final Four. As a redshirt sophomore in 2013-14, Baker averaged 13.1 points and earned First Team All-MVC honors for a WSU team that won its first 35 games.
During the 2014-15 campaign, Baker collected a handful of national honors after averaging 14.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals and just under a block per game. He was a John R. Wooden Award All-American, a Second Team USA Today All-American and also earned Honorable Mention honors from the Associated Press.
In addition, Baker captured First Team All-MVC status for the second-straight year and was the league’s player of the week on three different occasions.
He was the Shockers’ leading scorer in 16 of the 35 games and reached double-figures 31 times. His 80 three-pointers led the MVC and were the second-highest single-season total in school history.
By returning for his final season, Baker can make a run at several WSU career records.
He currently ranks 29th on the all-time scoring list with 1,145 points. If he can duplicate his 2014-15 production, Baker (who lost over half of his freshman season to injury) would become just the eighth Shocker to reach the 1,600-point mark.
Baker is fifth on WSU’s all-time three-pointers list (176) and needs 72 more to catch Randy Burns for the lead. He also ranks 29th in assists (232) and 13th in steals (110).
