The University of Florida has had its share of success in recent years (NCAA chips in 06 and 07 plus an NIT semi-final 08), and Coach Donovan is about to continue that with his latest recruit Erving Walker. On April 19th, I had an opportunity to attend the Jordan Brand Classic at the Garden and witnessed the NYC point god. High school All-Star games are supposed to be about flash and showing the crowd that the players are ready for the big stage. No one did a better job of that than Walker. The Christ the King (Queens, NY) product was making the crowd jump out of their seats with his slick handling of the pill and quick strikes to the hole.
In a losing effort, Walker put up 20 points, 11 dimes, and 5 boards. His high school and Jordan brand classic teammate, Ryan Pearson (a George Mason commit) had his own little showing with 35 points and 15 boards. Erving has star written all over him and continues the great line of CTK point guards (Khalid Reeves, Speedy Claxton, Omar Cook, and Erick Barkley to name a few) hoping to push his game past Gainesville into the NBA. Granted, last night was an All-Star game (no D), but if that was any indication of Walkers ability, the future looks pretty bright!
by Justin Solomon
April 29th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love says:
played against Khalid in summer of ‘07 at a Baruch College open run. he’s still got it. even if you had no clue who he was and where on the sideline watching, you’d know he had played pro at some point.
when erving played in the elite 24 ‘06 game, i was announcing and nicknamed him ‘doin’ big tings!’ he has a huge heart. donovan will shape him into a great player.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
funkalot says:
Erv is the truth. Let it be told, that he, not “Born Ready” was the best player for the Juice All-Star AAU teams in ‘06 and ‘07. For someone his size his goods are ripe;quicks,an above average jimmy and solid communication skills (handles). His skill set, minus height, portends for a promising future. The dilemma in attending Florida is that they already have a diminutive point in Jai Lucas (John’s son). It would be difficult to play them simultaneously. I might look at a better fit like: Oklahoma State , where Travis Ford’s open offense is a good compliment for Erv’s game and Kentucky’s Billy Gillespie, who needs a serious point god, with the graduation of nyc’s Ramel Bradley. These are two major programs where Erv could flourish , right away.
In Florida, he might get “squeezed”.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:28 am
ali says:
i think erv will earn his burn. he’s too good to keep on the bench. speed kills and i’m sure that billy the kid is revving up the engine. can’t wait to see the florida pg play next year.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:43 am
ali says:
oh, and that arizona backcourt w/ khalid reeves and damon stoudamire, bananas! best backcourt in the country that year. and there were some mean backcourt tandems that year - red autry and lawrence moten at ‘cuse, rick brunson and aaron mckie at temple, jalen rose and jimmy king at michigan and travis ford and tony delk at kentucky.
arizona bounced to the Final Four, losing to eventual champ arkansas in ‘94. They pushed the tempo and lute olson let them young fellas run, park style.
khalid had a few games that year when he dropped 20 in one half with the pretty rainbow jimmies. khalid had like 26 and mighty mouse had 27 when they took the regional final against mizzou.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Ad-Pol A.K.A. Little Bro of Justin Solomon says:
Yo Where Am I In This? I Was There With You!