One year after winning the national championship, the Baylor Bears had a pretty successful season in 2022-23. They finished the year at 23-11 and 11-7 in Big 12 Conference play. They got past UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the NCAA Tournament but lost to Creighton in the second round. Baylor now looks to next season as they will enter the Big 12 with a very talented roster. They landed one of the top players in the transfer portal recently. And this week they received a dose of good news when talented wing Jalen Bridges, who withdrew from the NBA Draft, decided not to pursue other professional opportunites and returned to the team as per Jeff Goodman of Stadium.

Jalen Bridges had initially declared for the NBA Draft and had actually participated in few workouts before deciding to withdraw his name. His return to Baylor was not a forgone conclusion, however. He had been weighing professional opportunities in the NBL of Australia where several American players have gone while preparing for the NBA Draft.

Bridges had spent three seasons at West Virginia, but only played two as he redshirted his freshman season, He transferred to Baylor following the 2021-22 season. Last year at Baylor, he made an immediate impact averaging 10.3 points per game, 5.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.0 blocked shots. He shot 50.6 percent from the field, 32.4 percent shooting from the three-point line and 77.8 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

The Bears have a few talented freshmen arriving this upcoming season including Ja'Kobe Walter, Yves Missi and Miro Little.