A little less than five years ago, Will Baker was a senior at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas and was getting ready to sign his letter of intent. The five-star center had offers on the table from some of the biggest brands in college basketball such as Kansas, Texas, North Carolina, Duke and Virginia. The Texas native decided to stay at home, and on November 14th, 2018, Baker committed to play for Shaka Smart and the University of Texas.
In his freshman season, Baker appeared in 23 games in which he averaged eight minutes of playing time. It was a bad year for the freshman center as he shot just 27.5% from the field and 15% from three.
After his freshman season, Baker needed a change of scenery. He took his talents west to play for Steve Alford at Nevada, but he redshirted in his first season with the Wolfpack. After missing the entire COVID season, Baker returned to the court in the 2021-22 season and averaged 11 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes.
Baker would see his production increase once again in the 2022-23 season. In 25 minutes of action, the 7'0 center averaged 14 points and five rebounds per game while shooting 56% from the field and 36% from three. After his team made the NCAA tournament, but fell to Arizona State in the first four, Baker decided to enter his name into the transfer portal for the second time.
This time, he was approached by LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon. The Tigers were coming off a disappointing first season in the McMahon era, and coach was eager to get the seven footer on his squad. Just 11 days after entering his name into the portal, Baker committed to LSU for his final season.
Fast forward a few months and Will Baker just started his first game in the purple and gold. Baker would play just 19 minutes in the Tigers season opener because of the big lead, but he made every single second on the court count.
Baker began his LSU career with a pair of free throws before going on a rampage. A mixture of dunks, post moves, three pointers and free throws got Baker to a game-high 21 points before halftime. The LSU center was causing problems all game long in the paint, and there was nothing Mississippi Valley State could do to slow him down.
Baker started the second half of the game for the Tigers, and in six minutes of action, Baker added on eight more points and three more rebounds to his total. He would finish the game with 29 points on 10-11 shooting and hauled in five boards along the way.
Bakers' 29 points led all players in the SEC on opening night. Alabama's Grant Nelson was second in the conference with 25 points on Monday.
After the game, Baker told us the game just came easy to him Monday night and that he credits his teammates for getting him the ball all night long.
There isn't going to be too many nights where Will Baker doesn't have a size advantage in the paint. He's a legit seven-footer, and in college basketball, there aren't too many guys who can get a hand up to contest his shot.
Baker is going to be one of the focal points of this LSU offense moving forward. His size mixed with his shooting ability outside is going to cause problems for a lot of teams, and as soon as they start to double team him, he'll just kick it out to one of his shooters.
While LSU may not contend for the SEC title or anything like that this season, this team will be much improved from last years squad that won just two SEC games. Keep your eye out for this Tigers team, because they have the pieces in place to pull out a big upset or two as they try to get back to the NCAA tournament.
