Ron Baker '15-'16

[Aargh]

Ron needs his own thread.

Ron is the stuff of legends. He was best known out of his 3A HS as a cornerback. KU looked at him as a possible recruit at QB for the FB team. Ron's best BB schollie offer was D2 Fort Hays State.

An assistant coach saw Ron at the 3A playoffs and convinced Marshall to take a look. Ron and his parents were convinced Ron had a shot at D1 BB and agreed to pay his way for a year at WSu if he could get a schollie the next year.

Now Ron's a pre-season 1st team AA and the consensus best college player on Team USA in the Pan Am games.

Think about that just a minute. Ron was an unheralded BB player in a small school in western Kansas. He was willing to pay his own way for a year to get a D1 schollie. Now he's a pre-season 1st team AA.

this is a better story than "Hoosiers".

[shockmonster]

Ron needs his own thread.

Ron is the stuff of legends. He was best known out of his 3A HS as a cornerback. KU looked at him as a possible recruit at QB for the FB team. Ron's best BB schollie offer was D2 Fort Hays State.

An assistant coach saw Ron at the 3A playoffs and convinced Marshall to take a look. Ron and his parents were convinced Ron had a shot at D1 BB and agreed to pay his way for a year at WSu if he could get a schollie the next year.

Now Ron's a pre-season 1st team AA and the consensus best college player on Team USA in the Pan Am games.

Think about that just a minute. Ron was an unheralded BB player in a small school in western Kansas. He was willing to pay his own way for a year to get a D1 schollie. Now he's a pre-season 1st team AA.

this is a better story than "Hoosiers".

It's been a long four years since Ron came to WSU and early on, he said that he was going to FHSU. But I think that I remember that he got an offer to UALR but didn't want to go that far from home. But you are correct that he was an unheralded player from Western Kansas.

[kcshocker11]

Just think if he went to KU, he would have sat the bench, and when he got put into the game he would have gotten limited mins. He most likely would have never developed into the player he is today. You made a great choice Ron!

[moshock]

Just think if he went to KU, he would have sat the bench, and when he got put into the game he would have gotten limited mins. He most likely would have never developed into the player he is today. You made a great choice Ron!

Doubt it.....he would have been their best player regardless of the stars.

[im4wsu]

Doubt it.....he would have been their best player regardless of the stars.

Over four years as a beaker, he'd have caused at least six posers to quit.

[kcshocker11]

Doubt it.....he would have been their best player regardless of the stars.

Perhaps, but would he have ever gotten a chance. Once Self replaced one of his big named recruits with him thats when @#$#%$ would hit the fan. People like Self never rock the boat.

[Aargh]

Uh, guys (or gals), KU briefly considered Baker as a FOOTBALL recruit. I don't have personal knowledge that is true, but I've seen that mentioned a couple times on phog.net. Baker was about 3 or 4 stars short of being sniffed at by Self.

[Dan]

I never saw Ron play football, but just based on his size, IQ and athleticism, he probably could have developed into an NFL prospect at QB. A lot of colleges missed out on him and not just basketball.

[proshox]

He would have played at every D1 college in the US. I think you guys are under estimating how undeniably good Ron is. There is a reason NBA scouts took notice of him as freshman when they came to practices to scout Cleanthony.

[jdshock]

He would have played at every D1 college in the US. I think you guys are under estimating how undeniably good Ron is. There is a reason NBA scouts took notice of him as freshman when they came to practices to scout Cleanthony.

That's certainly true. I don't think anyone in this thread is taking a dig at Ron, though. People are making fun of BS for being a poor coach. Connor looked good every time he was on the floor for KU, but BS squandered his assets. Whether or not Ron would get playing time at KU is a silly argument. At his current talent level and notoriety, he would start for every D1 team in the country. I'm all for the insult of BS's intelligence, though, that suggests a future NBA player wouldn't have left the bench.

[TheDover1018]

No offense guys, but the amount of times KU finds a way to get brought up in threads is just exhausting.

Let's talk about Ron Baker and the Shockers! What is a reasonable spot for him to end up on the points list?

[Dave Stalwart]

I think you guys have it a little bit wrong still. Ron would have started at KU, sure thing, but I bet he would have also gotten drafted last year because he would have not cared to stay another season with that system. I think he would have had a very similar college career over there to what he has accomplished here, and then when it came down to leaving for the NBA as a sophomore or junior, he would have left. That's the only difference I see. I have no doubt he would have seen the floor up there just as much as he did here. He's as good of a story for them as he is here (talking about his ascension to AA after being unnoticed). KU people would eat that story up if it was one of their own. He's just that good.

[Bluzrover]

I will always remember the game against Gonzaga as my favorite Ron Baker game. I'm sure there are individual plays that happened in other games that are memorable (how many times has he ended an opposing team's fast break by swatting the ball from behind as the streaking player thought he was about to make an easy layup?), but the way he just took over that game is when I realized just how special a player he was.

[Hurley]

Soak in every minute of this season gents. Isn't often in ANY program to have 2 All-American's playing at the same time. We have the incredible opportunity to watch both have one last go-round together, and hopefully go out like the champions they are. One thing is for sure, I don't think we'll be able to properly convey what they've meant to all of us on Senior Night...no matter how loud or how long the cheers are.

[wufan]

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2238917-the-ultimate-shocker-how-ron-baker-went-from-walk-on-to-nba-prospect

Everyone should read this article. If you've read it previously, you should read it again.