HIGH SCHOOL
While growing up in Nashville, Tennessee, Ron participated in multiple sports. As a 6-foot 5-inch eighth-grader, he was elected to the 1991 All-Metro boys’ basketball team. Ron manufactured 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks per game to help the High School to a 20 win season. During the Football season, he played quarterback in the Middle School team and helped take it to its 2nd straight city title. He was highly recruited as a pitcher out of high school by many Major league teams. In fact Mercer has stated that if he was not playing on the hardwood, he would have been playing baseball. By the time Ron was a sophomore in high school he had colleges intrigued by his skill and athleticism. After an intense recruiting battle, in which every Major Division I college came beckoning for Ron's services, Ron packed his bags and headed to Kentucky to play for Rick Pitino and the Wildcats.
COLLEGE
In his sophomore year  at the University of Kentucky, Mercer led one of the top conferences in the nation, the Southeastern Conference in scoring, averaging 18.1 ppg. During the Southeastern Conference Tournament he averaged 20.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, shooting .575 from the field. In the NCAA Tournament game, he averaged 16.3 points and 5.3 rebounds, including 21 points in the West Regional final win over Utah. He scored a career-high 30 points (13-of-16 from the field) against Purdue, one game after his first double-double (22 points, 13 rebounds) against Ohio State. A year earlier, Mercer became only the third freshman to start his first collegiate game under Pitino and started 12 of 36 games in Kentucky's 1995-96 national championship season. After only 2 years at the University of Kentucky he decided to test the NBA waters and entered the NBA draft.

Season Notes:

1995-96: All-NCAA Final Four Team; All-SEC Freshman Team
1996-97: Consensus All American; All-NCAA Final Four Team; NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player; SEC Player of the Year; First Team All-SEC; SEC Tournament MVP