Walker visits national power

Erving Walker, one of the top point guards in the class of 2008, was sidelined with an injury to start the spring AAU season but got things going as May came to a close. The 5-foot-6 floor general from Christ the King in New York is playing great basketball going into July. He also managed to sneak in an unofficial visit to one of the national powers along the way.

Walker was one of the standouts at the Tournament of Champions and the Wallace Prather Memorial Invitational as he piloted his team to big victories and playing much bigger than his size.

Despite most defenders standing at least three inches taller than him, Walker played incredibly hard, incredibly smart and incredibly poised. Defensively, he is as pesky as they come. And with the ball in his hands, Walker is as efficient as they come.

"I'm just working hard and preparing for the summer," Walker said. "The more and more I play, the funner it gets."

It shows. The high-majors haven't seemed too worried about his size. In fact, Florida, the defending National Champions, recently hosted Walker and his father for an unofficial visit.

"One of my assistants at Christ the King (Nick Sanchez) played down there and (Florida) asked me if I would be interested in coming down there for a visit so me and my father decided that would be a good thing to do," he said. "We didn't have anything going on (last weekend). I'm glad we went. It was a great visit."

So what stood out the most?

"The kids work ethic. They work like crazy," Walker said. "If one was lifting weights, they other was in the gym. Everyone was working hard. They were going after it. That was impressive.

"It's a very big campus. They love their sports down there. The football stadium, that thing holds like 110,000 people. That's crazy."

Despite the great trip to Gainesville, Walker said he is still looking at his options.

"I'm still open," Walker said. "I like them but I'm still open."

Walker said he has also heard from Stanford, Illinois, Virginia and Virginia Tech but maintains his favorite schools are Louisville, North Carolina, Florida and Villanova. Walker said Florida and Villanova have offered a scholarship.

"I want to decide by the end of my junior year," Walker said, "so I can focus on my senior season and just have fun."

Walker returns to the adidas camp, where he was an all-star at last year's Superstar camp, at the start of July. He'll travel to Miami for the Breakdown Hoops Festival on July 12 with Team Next. Trips to Las Vegas and Los Angeles round out his summer travel plans.