TCU Men’s Basketball: Baugh Is Back; Walker Transfers
The last day has been exciting for fans of TCU men’s basketball. Two different announcements were made, each of which will positively impact the team.
On Saturday, TCU picked up Rondel Walker, a guard who played the last two seasons at Oklahoma State, from the transfer portal. On Sunday, Damion Baugh announced he was returning to the team after previously saying he was declaring for the NBA draft.
Walker played the last two seasons at OSU and will be eligible to play at TCU this coming season for his junior year. Last season, he played in 30 games and started in eight. He averaged 4.8 points per game, 2.6 rebounds per game, and 1.1 assists per game. When OSU traveled to Manhattan, Kansas, he had a career-high 18 points, including four 3-pointers. He had a season-high five assists in the Big 12/SEC Challenge game versus Florida.
His freshman year included five starts and an average of 7.8 points per game. He had 12 games where he scored ten or more points and shot 33.0% from the 3-point line, which ranked him second on the team.
He is a native of Midwest City, Oklahoma. He was a 4-star talent out of Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma City. In his senior year in high school, he averaged 25.8 points per game while grabbing 5.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. He earned the 2020 Jim Thorpe High School Player of the Year award from the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. He picked OSU over offers from Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, and others.
Baugh announced earlier this year that he declared himself available for the 2022 NBA Draft but left open his college eligibility. On Sunday, he took to Twitter to announce he would be returning to the Horned Frogs for the 2022-23 season.
Last season, Baugh started 30 of the 31 games he played. He averaged 10.6 points per game, which ranked second on the team. He averaged 4.5 rebounds per game and 4.5 assists per game. His assist mark led the team and was 4th in the Big 12. He spent his first two seasons at Memphis.
With Baugh coming back, the Horned Frogs will have their top six players from last season’s team back on the roster. TCU is projected to be the third-best team in the Big 12 next season. Along with Walker and Baugh, add in Mike Miles, Chuck O’Bannon, Eddie Lampkin, Emanuel Miller, and Micah Peavy, and you’ve got a core group that will make this team an exciting one to watch.
Jon Rothstein, a CBS college basketball analyst, was quick to move TCU up in preseason projections after Baugh’s announcement, putting TCU at No. 10. He has 2021 National Champions Baylor at No. 7 and 2022 National Champions Kansas at No. 9.
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