photos of erving walker: zimbio.com
Nobody thought these teams would be making much noise this year. Tonight, we get a chance to see why they are, while simultaneously enjoying two of the most exciting youngsters in the college game today. In the blue corner, we have the University of Florida’s diminutive dynamite, Mr. Erving Walker. In the orange corner, we have Syracuse’s Wes Johnson, a Texas native who transferred in from Iowa State.
photo of syracuse’s wes johnson: rushthecourt.net
Walker headlines a dynamic young backcourt, along with freshman sizzler Kenny Boynton, that excites with their own offensive weaponry. Yet they spread the ball around to other double digit scorers Vernon Macklin, Chandler Parsons and Alex Tyus. The 6′7″ Johnson is battling the cream of the college crop for Player of the Year honors while leading an Orangeman rennaissance along with Andy Rautins, Scoop Jardine, Arinze Onuaku and freshman Brandon Triche.
Tonight’s game tips at 9:00pm EST on ESPN. Should be a Doozy.
Below you’ll find the piece, which grew out of my thirst to see Walker flourish into his sophomore self, that hit the Bounce airwaves in July. In a few hours, the wait will be over.
When University of Florida Gator guard Nick Calathes decided to expedite his paychecks by leaving school early to play pro in Europe, my mouth got watery. Coupled with Jai Lucas’ transfer out of Gainesville, that means that one of Brooklyn’s finest young guns on the come up, Erving Walker, will be one of the most important and prominent backcourt performers in the SEC next season.
Although only starting six games as a freshman, Erv cooked up that New York asphalt loveliness down south, averaging 10 points a game for coach Billy Donovan. The young fella is lightning in a bottle, a diminutive 5′8″ dynamo who cannot be stopped. He did his thing at Christ The King, on the NYC playgrounds and gave Gator opponents a reason to fear him last year.
peep Bounce Co-Founder, Writer and Editor extraordinaire Sean Couch, dropping science on Erv
This season, I can’t wait for Walker to get major minutes and explode on the national landscape. It’s time everyone in the world got a taste of what NYC has known for quite some time: this kid has the skills to pay the bills. It’s not even a matter of if, just when.
When asked to talk about his toughness last year, Walker told the Orlando Sentinel, “My toughness kind of goes unnoticed to me. But just from being in the New York City streets playing in the parks because of my height I can’t be soft and small. Those don’t go together.”
photo: highschoolhoop.com
Oh, and by the way, money shot 42% from three last year. Expect his numbers to get urine tested next year, because they’ll be blowing up like Sammy Sosa and Jason Giambi. And if anyone doubts his pro potential, I’ve got two words for you: Earl Boykins. Anyone that fast, that can handle the rock, distribute, play hellacious D and bang the three at a clip like that? C’mon man!
December 10th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
fan says:
This is what happens when a NY product gets out of dodge & doesn’t go to ST.JOHNS(A Politically incorrect school). Let’s go Irv,Kemba,Fish,Travon,Hardy,Sosa,
Lance,Truck,Ebanks. Those I forgot turn it up more. Make them take notice.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
fan says:
I forgot Durand & Malcolm. Come on Baby-ODB. NYC we have to push harder. Let’s break that sterotype.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
fan says:
I forgot Durand & Malcolm. Come on Baby-ODB. NYC we have to push harder. Let’s break that sterotype.
December 10th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
40 cal says:
Erv is a problem.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
ali says:
don’t forget sylven landesberg. hahahahahahah at Baby-ODB. I’m amped up for this game tonight.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
ali says:
quick question. who do ya’ll think is the best NYC bred player in the NCAA right now?
December 11th, 2009 at 12:32 am
kenny Patt says:
Kemba is the best as of now.
December 11th, 2009 at 12:34 am
kenny Patt says:
Kemba is the best as of now
December 11th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Russ M says:
Best NYC bred NCAA player’s NBA future is far from a certainty. Back in the day that statement could rarely, if ever, be said.
December 11th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
ali says:
lance is playing some real solid, all around ball. i love kemba, but lance can dominate in many different facets. ‘cuse looks like they’ve got the potential to be special. they’ve got length, defensive prowess w/ the confounding zone, a takeover player of the year candidate in wes johnson, some horses for the dirty work down low and a serious sniper in rautins. wait til my guy cj fair from b-more gets there with his 6′8″, silky jumper and wing game next year.
December 11th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
funkalot says:
Do not forget about Harlem World’s Jeremy Hazell putting up 19ppg at Seton Hall. Speaking of B’More, Ali, Ricky Harris is putting in work at UMASS 17p 3a 3r.
December 11th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
ali says:
word up funk. jeremy hazell has been getting maaad buckets under the radar at seton hall. they’re my sleeper pick to make some unexpected noise this year. ricky harris is another of those calvert hall kids, i beleive one of the school’s all-time leading scorers.
December 11th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Trevor Kapp says:
i love erv, but he’s not having a great year so far. he’s struggling with his mid-range game. in my opinion, better than ebanks, lance, erv, hazell, the best ny player right now other than kemba is sylven landesberg at virginia. if he went to a different school, he’d be a much bigger name.
December 12th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
ali says:
landesberg is getting busy as well trev. all those guys are representing to the fullest.
December 12th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
40 cal says:
I think Jeremy Hazell is the best one out right now, He’s putting up some serious numbers and he’s looking like a potential draft pick, I dont know how far Seton Hall is going to go when tournament time comes but I think if the team stays healthy there going to land at least in the sweet sixteen!
December 13th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Trevor Kapp says:
i like hazell, but i’d be surprised if seton hall even made the tournament. they’re 8-0, but haven’t even come close to playing anybody. that usually doesn’t bode well for when conference play starts, especially in the big east.
December 13th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
funkalot says:
Oh, and on a smaller college level how about Cardinal Hayes’ James Feldeine who is averaging 19.5ppg at Quinnipiac, as a Senior or Vernon Teel, formerly of Queens Flushing Hs/Lauringburg Prep, who is out at Loyola Marymount putting in work, to the tune of 13p 6a and 5r. Vernon is joined out there with former Christ the King/Seton Hall player Larry Davis – 12ppg.
December 13th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
funkalot says:
Do you guys not count Wisconsin and Queens native Trevon Hughes, as a city product? He is arguably the most polished lead guard from NYC in collge.
December 13th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Trevor Kapp says:
funk- i’ve never counted trevon hughes. he went to hs in milwackee.
December 13th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
funkalot says:
Trevor,
Do you not count former Hoya and Harlem World’s Jesse Sapp, as a NYC player because he attended HS in Maryland?
Or the dozens of kids, from NYC, see Doron Lamb, who are afforded better opportunities to attend schools in idyllic settings , with better education and athletic access. That would be ludicrous. You can take the kid out of the city, but not the city out of the kid.
Trevon is a New Yorker, regardless of where he went to high school. He learned the boogie on the ‘cretes in Queens and has funked the midwest up as a result.
December 13th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Trevor Kapp says:
funk- it’s a tough question, but the difference is doron lamb went to bishop loughlin for a little while. trevon hughes didn’t go to hs in the city at all. and if jessie sapp hadn’t played in ny tournaments this summer, i don’t think anyone would think of him as a ny player either. to me, you’ve gotta attend hs in the city for at least a year.
should we count melo as a ny player? he was born in red hook. i mean, where do you draw the line?
December 13th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
funkalot says:
Trev,
Of course we can’t count Melo or Mike Jordan because they were merely born in Crooklyn, but not primarily reared there; which is different for Trevon and Jesse.
Also, should we not consider Bobbito, a NYC baller because he graduated from Lower Merion in PA. Hmm, I think not, as he is boogie down all the way.
December 14th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
ali says:
i went to prep school in massachusetts, played ball there but i was born and raised in brooklyn. i’m from NYC. trevon is a nyc kid from queens, that’s his home, where he was raised and where his framily resides, regardless of the time he spent at military school in wisconsin.
December 14th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
funkalot says:
ALi,
You beat me too it, as I was just about to reference you, in addition to my mentioning of Bob, as transplanted New Yorkers who prepped outside of the “Apple”, but remained true to the “core”.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Trevor Kapp says:
i agree with you guys, and in hindsight i’m prolly wrong about the hs thing, but i just don’t count trevon as a nyc player. if he comes back to the city after he graduates and starts playing ball here i’ll reconsider. but he’s spent the last 8 years in wisconsin now so to me i think of him as being from there. again, people consider jessie sapp from ny right now cause he came back and was playing there this summer. but if he stayed down in d.c., i don’t think nyers would claim him as one of their own.
December 14th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
ali says:
trev,
you have to count trevon as a nyc player. that’s where he’s from, where he was raised, where he goes back to to spend time with his family. same with sapp. if you follow that line of reasoning, then bob is from pennsylvania and connecticut, where he went to college, and i’m from massachusetts and philadelphia, where i went to college. trevon is from queens, period. sapp is from manhattan, period. they don’t have to come back and ball in the city over the summer for people to accept that.
December 14th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Trevor Kapp says:
i don’t know what to say. these all are decent points, but trevon hughes is certainly not who i think of when i think ny player, and not because he’s not the biggest name, but because of his wisconsin ties for the last eight years. plus, no true nyer fits into bo ryan’s system haha.
you can’t tell me you’d get the same satisfaction if trevon made the league as you would if kemba or corey fisher did. if trevon makes the league and averages 20, you can’t say the ny point guard has been re-born. there’s a difference between trevon, and kemba or corey.
December 14th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
ali says:
ny guards come in all shapes and sizes trev, from mark jackson’s post up and teardrop game to mario elie’s glue game, from pearl’s wizardry with the rock to chris mullin’s pull up out of the phone booth to rod strickland’s mercurial genius. and why would the ny point guard need to be re-born? okay, so we’re in a down cycle but we still have decent representation in jamaal tinsley, bassy and skip keeping the spot warm for the next infusion of great pro floor generals, which just might include misters hughes, fisher, walker, etc.