7 | WICHITA STATE
A ONE, AND A TWO, AND A THREE
When Team USA took a mix of pros and collegians to last summer's Pan-Am Games in Toronto, the top-performing amateur—and one of its best players, period—was Shockers senior guard Ron Baker. While potential player-of-the-year candidates such as Maryland's Melo Trimble, Virginia's Malcolm Brogdon and Michigan State's Denzel Valentine were relegated to lesser backcourt roles, Baker earned the most minutes of any collegian (24.2 per game) with his efficient offense (50.0% shooting and just one turnover in five games) and aggressive defense (a team-high seven steals).
The 6'4", 210-pound Baker is a guard for all situations. At Wichita State, "Ron is the starting two, backup one and he can also play some three," says coach Gregg Marshall, "and he knows our system from all those positions like the back of his hand." Plus, when the Shockers' offense goes into ball-screen mode late in the shot clock—a scenario that should arise even more frequently this season with the clock shrinking to 30 seconds—Baker is a formidable weapon. As a junior he ranked second nationally in jump-shot efficiency off of ball screens, averaging 1.48 points over 48 possessions. And point guard Fred VanVleet is pushing Baker to get more touches in the mid-post, where he can isolate against less complete guards—which, at this point of Baker's career, describes nearly all of his opponents.
PROJECTED TEAM STATS
OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY 114.0 (19th)
DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY 92.2 (3rd)
MVC RECORD 16--2 (1st)
X-FACTOR
If 6'11" senior Tom (Bush) Wamukota can play extended minutes at center, the Shockers can go bigger, with 6'8" transfer Anton Grady at power forward. If not, look for 6'4" Evan Wessel to start at the four and Grady at the five.
STAT SHEET
With 2015--16 projections for the top six scorers
Coach Gregg Marshall (9th season)
[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]
PPG | RPG | APG | OFF. RATING | USAGE | ||
SG | Ron Baker* 6'4" Sr. | 14.8 | 4.4 | 2.8 | 120.1 | 22.3% |
PG | Fred VanVleet* 6'0" Sr. | 14.0 | 3.9 | 5.4 | 121.1 | 24.9% |
PF | Anton Grady* 6'8" Sr. | 9.6 | 6.6 | 1.7 | 103.5 | 23.0% |
PG | Conner Frankamp 6'1" Soph. | 9.6 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 107.4 | 19.8% |
SF | Zach Brown 6'6" Soph. | 7.3 | 3.6 | 0.8 | 109.8 | 18.0% |
G-F | Evan Wessel* 6'4" Sr. | 5.5 | 4.2 | 0.8 | 116.2 | 13.0% |
*Starter
TOURNAMENT TRACKER
[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]
TITLE GAME
FINAL FOUR
ELITE EIGHT
SWEET 16
ROUND OF 32
ROUND OF 64
'11--12
'12--13
'13--14
'14--15
'15--16
PHOTO
DAVID E. KLUTHO FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (BAKER)
PHOTO
PETER G. AIKEN/GETTY IMAGES (WAMUKOTA)
CHART