Wichita State’s Baker, VanVleet are finalists for national honors

Wichita State juniors Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet remain candidates for national awards in March.

Baker is one of 15 athletes on the final ballot for the Wooden Award and one of five finalists for the Jerry West Award.

He joins Northern Iowa’s Seth Tuttle on the Wooden list, an honor given to the national Player of the Year in voting by national media members. The West Award goes to the nation’s top shooting guard.

VanVleet is one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Award for the nation’s top point guard.

Like the West Award, it is handed out by the Basketball Hall of Fame. Both are determined by fan voting and a selection committee. Fans can vote at hoophallawards.com.

Winners of the Wooden, West and Cousy awards will be revealed on April 10 on ESPN2.

The West Award finalists are: Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant, Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, BYU’s Tyler Haws and Baker. Joining VanVleet are Utah’s Delon Wright, Gonzaga’s Kevin Pangos, Duke’s Tyus Jones and Arizona’s T.J. McConnell.

Fan voting for the Wooden Award continues through March 23 at woodenawardvote.com. The Wooden Award All-American team will consist of 10 players and will be announced March 30 on ESPNU, along with five finalists.

Joining Baker and Tuttle are Haws, Hield, Grant, Wright, Russell, Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon, Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein, Syracuse’s Rakeem Christmas, Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky, Kyle Wiltjer of Gonzaga, Bobby Portis of Arkansas, Iowa State’s Georges Niang and Duke’s Jahlil Okafor.

This story was originally published March 9, 2015 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Baker, VanVleet are finalists for national honors."