Ronald Ross

Ronald Ross (born February 11, 1983) is an American retired professional basketball player and coach. He played internationally for a number of years but he is best known for his collegiate career at Texas Tech University. Playing career High school A native of the Southwest, Ross starred at Hobbs High School in Hobbs, New Mexico. He was an integral part of three consecutive state championships from 1999 to 2001, including an undefeated campaign as a sophomore in 1998–99 (27–0). Hobbs High School won the 1999 and 2001 state championships at the University of New Mexico's famous home court, The Pit. And while Ross performed well throughout his prep career – having been named USA Today's New Mexico State Player of the Year as a senior – he found himself without any four-year college scholarship offers. In one game that season he recorded 38 points, 8 steals, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 dunks. College Ross decided to walk on to the Texas Tech basketball team as a freshman in 2001–02, in spite of his mother's urging to attend one year of junior college instead. It was Bob Knight's first year at Tech and he needed talented walk-ons to begin building his roster. It took until Ross' junior year to earn a scholarship, however. Years later his mother said, "I had to support him. It was expensive and hard at first, but I'd have to say it's worked out." The year he earned his scholarship saw him more than double his scoring average from 4.5 as a sophomore to 10.1 as a junior. He started 31 of 34 games played, and rounded out his season averages with 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals.