Monday, December 18, 2006

Keegan: Walker KSU’s superstar

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Manhattan — He hangs in the air so long it almost seems inevitable somebody is going to foul him before he lands, unless, that is, Bill "Sky" Walker decides to pass from way up there, as he did during Sunday's memorable debut in Bramlage Coliseum.

Walker is supposed to be a senior in high school. He was ruled ineligible because he played for his high school team in eighth grade, so he finished school early, enrolled at Kansas State, began practicing Saturday and became team leader by Sunday.

Early in his debut, Walker was above the rim, had the ball in his hands, his back to the basket, and had the presence of mind to feed an underhanded pass to teammate Cartier Martin.

That play drew the biggest ovation of the first half for Walker, who in an 82-54 rout of Kennesaw State scored 15 points in 22 minutes. Walker's 10 points in 11 minutes sparked K-State to a 55-19 halftime lead.

The biggest ovation for him came after taped messages of players revealing what they want for Christmas played on the video board. Teammates said they wanted to be with their families, and a couple of them wished for winning the upcoming tournament in Las Vegas. Revealing he not only was overflowing with confidence but already had a great feel for how to play to a crowd, Walker said: "All I want for Christmas is a national championship."

The place erupted.

Walker flies high above the rim and sets his expectations even higher. That's cool with teammates, who neither sounded nor looked like they had any problem with playing supporting roles to a player who once had 50 points and 25 rebounds in a high school game.

"I'm glad he's making goals like that," said Martin, the team's leading scorer. "It rubs off on all of us."

Walker seemed surprised at the surprise over his wish, saying, "That's what I try for. I want to be a winner. Why not go for the whole thing?"

Senior Lance Harris summed up Walker's game: "How athletic he is, how big he is, how strong he goes to the cup at a young age, it's something I've never seen."

A 6-foot-6 native of Cincinnati and a high school teammate of O.J. Mayo, Walker stays suspended in the air for what seems like forever. When he flings up shots, even when fouled, they tend to roll around the rim softly and ride the shooter's bounce through the net.

In junior David Hoskins, Martin and Harris, K-State has three good ones. In rapidly improving 7-foot-3 freshman center Jason Bennett, the Wildcats have an active shot-blocker. Still, they lacked a star. Not anymore.

Confident without being obnoxious, Walker flashes a highlight one minute, a willingness to make the simple play the next. Leading a fast break in the second half, he stopped at the foul line and fed cutting Clent Stewart for an easy bucket. A less disciplined skywalker would have been whistled for a charge reaching for the SportsCenter jam.

First-year K-State coach Bob Huggins pointed to how much better Bennett had become in such a short time in predicting improvement for Walker.

"There are things he's going to have to do," Huggins said. "It isn't high school anymore. He can't just rely on athleticism. The good thing is he wants to do it. He wants to be coached."

And Walker's teammates want to be led.

Comments

GIHAWK (anonymous) says...

I didn't know that Lawrence is now Manhattan....I think you are writing for the wrong paper Tom.

December 18, 2006 at 8:21 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

jayhawkdon (anonymous) says...

I agree. Keegan has reached a new low in the fact that this being a KU website, I, as I am sure most KU fans could care less about anything that happens in Pastureville. Next thing, we will have to see an article about the new coach at Tiggerville. Keegan needs to go anywhere but here.

December 18, 2006 at 8:30 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

maury (anonymous) says...

Well, though I do agree that this is KU website.....there is one saying that goes well with this.....keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

December 18, 2006 at 10:12 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Nutflush21 (anonymous) says...

Im sure Walker is a solid player but come on Keegen you act like he is the second coming of Michael Jordan.
K-State is no better than a NCAA bubble team and Keegan acts like they are going to win the Big 12 and NCAA title because of one player, a freshman nonetheless. The talent around him is still garbage. Cartier Martin is as soft as you get, Lance Harris and David Hoskins are average at best and Bennett is a project.

December 18, 2006 at 10:59 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

BunE (anonymous) says...

You homers are such whiners. If all you want to read and hear is how great KU is, write yourselves a couple of letters. Maybe you can bring up 1988 again. Or cry about how great KU was during the Roy years.

KSU might barely hit the NCAA; they are doing some great recruiting and maybe just maybe they will be competitive. KU will continue to do really well, have some great games, win the Big 12, go to the tourney and then will probably go out in the 1st or 2nd round. Soon after you will all whine some more about Bill Self. So what is the big deal?

December 18, 2006 at 11:40 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

walkdog262 (anonymous) says...

I agree with BunE. Shut up. You fans who are ripping this column are the same ones who think a good rivalry includes beating a team 30 times in a row.
I want to hear about this kid because he's dynamic and is an asset to college basketball. As a fan of the sport and of KU, I care.
And face it, anyone who complains about this column is just doing it instead of being honest and saying what they're REALLY thinking: that they're worried K-State won't be so damn easy to beat anymore.

December 18, 2006 at 12:23 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

actorman (anonymous) says...

Well said, dog walker (as opposed to Bill Walker -- but I digress). I want to know who's out there; I want to know about the next great player; I want to know how tough it's going to be to beat the former patsies. Just because it's a KU website doesn't mean I don't want to read stories about the other teams. Next thing, you'll have people saying the KU broadcasters should never say anything nice about a player on the other team.

December 18, 2006 at 1:08 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Nutflush21 (anonymous) says...

Its not that I dont want to hear about other great college basketball players, its that Keegan acts like he is MJ when in reality he played well against a team thats been in D-1 for all of two years. We dont know how good he truly is and we wont know until well into the Big 12 season. Sure it appears that he is a great talent but he is still a freshman and will still have growing pains.

Also, this talk about KU fans being worried... please. KSU is still a mediocre team with or without Walker. Yes Huggins has some things brewing for seasons to come but keep in mind that if Walker is as good as Keegan says he wont be in a KSU uniform longer than 20 games anyway.

December 18, 2006 at 5:17 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bmkjayhawk (anonymous) says...

All I've got is that:

1) Walker cannot go to the NBA until after 2007-2008, as his high school graduation date is October of 2006, and by the time the draft rolls around next summer, he will not have been one year removed from high school.

2) I'm sure he's good, but also keep in mind who they were playing. I still think Kevin Durant is the best frosh in the league.

3) The "rivalry" may intensify, but no matter what goes on in Manhattan (where I actually live, which is why I don't care to read an article like this because I hear about this guy, Michael Beasley, and Bob Huggins every single day), KU is still the superior program. Losing to KSU (which is going to happen) isn't going to be fun, but there's nothing that can be done for them to leap ahead of KU in tradition.

4) Merry Christmas.

December 18, 2006 at 7:06 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Nutflush21 (anonymous) says...

Walker can jump to the NBA and will if he is a guarenteed 1st round pick. Yes Walker graduated in Oct 06 but his original class was May 2006 (Hence that is way he is ineligible to play in high school). Therefore making him eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft. Andy Katz has eluded to this on numerous occasions on ESPN.com.

December 18, 2006 at 8:20 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

ttoulouse (anonymous) says...

I agree with the first few comments. This is the Lawrence newpaper. If we want a well rounded perspective on things, we'll read a real analysis from the Star or (God-forbid) the Capital-Urinal. Just another example of Keegan's unfocused view on things.

December 18, 2006 at 8:22 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

bayareajhawk (anonymous) says...

You people are ridiculous. So if Keegan writes anything other than, "KU is the best team in the world and the rest are crap," he should work for another newspaper? Give me a break. To be a true fan of any school, you need to understand what is going on around the nation (and especially with your rivals) to have some context on what is happening with your team. I don't always agree with Keegan's opinions, but I appreciate the fact that he always puts them out there for our consumption (not to mention the fact that he actually thinks about what he is writing). Let's face it: he's the best we've got. Compare him to Woodling or Mayer and then tell me you've got a problem with him. If you do, you're a homer who doesn't care about objectivity or perspective. Mayer is just basically a KU historian and Woodling is a complete moron (who went to Mizzou, no less). There's a lot of lazy journalism out there, but Keegan is one of the good guys. By all means, criticise him if he writes a poor article (which he does on occasion), but leave him alone if he dares to write about something other than how great KU is. It won't hurt you to hear a different viewpoint.

December 19, 2006 at 1:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )