The big news of the weekend for hoops fans in Gainesville was that Florida native and McDonalds All-American Chris Walker was accepted into school.
Yay!
But it may be a while before Walker actually sees the court.
First things first: he needs to make his was through the NCAA’s Eligibility Center, which is what every incoming freshmen athlete needs to do. Usually, they enroll when Florida isn’t the only place in the country that it is more than 80 degrees. This is standard, although there is no timetable for when he’ll actually make it through.
The other issue is that Walker hasn’t been practicing with the team, and that could actually pose a bigger problem. Most freshmen, regardless of talent level, enter college relatively clueless about the game. They need to learn defensive rotations, offensive sets, different reads for different situations and, most importantly, a feel for how to play with their teammates. That process usually starts during pickup games in the summer and the fall and continues with the start of practice, which was in late September this year.
Walker hasn’t gotten any of that.
“He’s got such a long way to go and it’s not his fault,’' head coach Billy Donovan said on Monday. “Obviously when you miss September, October and November and part of December you are going to be really, really behind.”
It will be interesting to see just what kind of impact Walker ends up having.
He’s talented enough to bring another dimension to the Gators if he can figure it all out.