Last July, former Baylor Men’s Basketball G Jared Butler announced he was declaring for the 2020 NBA Draft without hiring an agent (I wrote about his return to Baylor here). The Bears’ 2019-2020 season was a spectacular run that would’ve saw a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and undoubtedly a successful March Madness run. At the time of Butler’s declaration, I wrote “Baylor MBB had arguably their best season of all time, finishing the regular season with a 26-4 record with a 23-game winning streak that made school and Big 12 history (they broke Kansas’ 1996-97 22-game record). They were also ranked No. 1 in the nation for five consecutive weeks, which, according to Baylor Athletics’ Jerry Hill “was the longest by any team since Kentucky in 2015.” Now the Bears would’ve had a fantastic 2020-2021 season without Jared Butler thanks to the efforts of Gs Davion Mitchell (national defensive player of the year) and MaCio Teague (along with every other G and F who shot over 40% of their 3s), but the team’s aforementioned star shooter’s efforts (I wrote about how essential he was to Baylor’s team last January) were what led Baylor to the national title. Today on Twitter, Butler officially declared for the 2021 NBA Draft following behind Mitchell and Teague who both declared in the middle of April as he will undoubtedly be a first round pick. Butler is a unanimous All-American with honors on the All-Big 12 First Team, All-Big 12 All-Defensive Team, Sporting News’ All-American First Team, National Association of Basketball Coaches All-America First Team, and being named the Associated Press’ Big 12 Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Player of the 2021 Final Four. Jared Butler finished his Baylor career as arguably the best player in program history and in his final season shooting 47.1% (177-376) of his field goals, 41.6% (77-185) of 3s, and 78% (71-91) of free throws with a total of 99 boards, 144 assists, 59 steals, 11 blocks, and 502 points.
