'07 OH SF Bill Walker (Kansas State Verbal)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

LINK

Walker admitted to Kansas State

By HOWARD RICHMAN

The Kansas City Star

MANHATTAN, Kan. | According to Kansas State?s Pat Bosco, there are 23,141 students enrolled in the fall semester.
Wildcat basketball fans cross their fingers that five-star recruit Bill Walker is No. 23,142.
As first reported Wednesday morning by The Star, Walker has been admitted to the university but had not enrolled yet in classes, said Bosco, associate vice president/dean of student life. K-State athletic director Tim Weiser said Wednesday that he has been in Indianapolis this week, meeting with the NCAA at its offices about Walker, a 6-foot-6 small forward from Cincinnati and the No. 6-rated player in the country by Rivals.com.
If Walker breaks through any remaining NCAA red tape, he could sign in the early period that starts Nov. 8 and play as soon as Dec. 17, GoPowercat.com reported. That?s the first game of what would be considered the start of second semester on the athletic calendar. The Wildcats play host to Kennesaw State in the first round of the Las Vegas Holiday Classic. First- and second-round games are on campus sites.
ESPN.com?s Andy Katz said by phone that Walker would be a ?huge? addition, but added, ?It doesn?t solve their point-guard issues.?
How did Walker get here? This summer it was ruled his high school eligibility had expired in the state of Ohio. The next step for him to go to a college like K-State was to accomplish at least one of these three: score at least a 21 on the ACT, finish in the top one-third of his graduating class or score at least a 2.5 or higher grade-point average in the prescribed curriculum.
?He met or exceeded admission requirements for the university,? said Bosco, adding that Walker submitted an application and was admitted to the university about two weeks ago.
?We would never have any of our student-athletes positioned for admission, practice or competition unless we first received what we considered to be an approval or authorization from our governing body (NCAA),? Weiser said.
Walker, who averaged 21.7 points and 10.7 rebounds last season for North College Hill High School, was a teammate of O.J. Mayo, who now is attending high school in Huntington, W.Va. Mayo, a 6-5 point guard and the No. 5 ranked player, also could end up at K-State.
Stay tuned on that one.

[osugrad21]

Link

Walker update -- Bill Walker, the acclaimed 6-foot-6 guard/forward from Cincinnati, has been admitted to K-State, according to Pat Bosco, the university's associate vice president/dean of student life.
He might be on campus soon, but he won't be joining the basketball team just yet.
According to gopowercat.com, Walker has been cleared by the NCAA and will enroll at K-State. But the issue was too late in being resolved for Walker to enter the school's short fall semester, so he can't be a member of the basketball program.
He can attend school and officially join the team at the end of the school's fall semester, in time for K-State's Dec. 17 game against Kennesaw State in the Las Vegas Holiday Classic opener at Bramlage Coliseum. In the interim, he can work out on his own and get in shape for his debut.
"He's a prospective student-athlete," K-State athletic director Tim Weiser said on Wednesday, meaning he couldn't comment further.
The Ohio State High School Activities Association ruled Walker, the No. 6 player in the Class of 2007 according to Rivals.com, had exhausted his eligibility, so Walker opted to graduate early from North College Hill High in an effort to enroll in college in an effort to play this year. He passed his ACT, and he submitted an application to K-State.
"He met or exceeded our criteria," Bosco said Wednesday.

[osugrad21]

Dispatch

SPORTS WIRE
Thursday, October 26, 2006

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

North College Hill?s Walker to play for Huggins

Former Ohio high school basketball standout Bill Walker has been admitted to Kansas State, the school said yesterday.
Walker teamed with O.J. Mayo to win two consecutive Division III championships at North College Hill High School near Cincinnati, where he is now a senior but has been ruled ineligible to play. He has close ties with Kansas State coach Bob Huggins, the former University of Cincinnati coach who took over the program in March.
Pat Bosco, associate vice president/dean of student life at Kansas State, said Walker was admitted about two weeks ago but had not yet enrolled.
Walker, 6 feet 6, averaged 21.7 points and 10.1 rebounds last season.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association ruled Walker ineligible in August, saying that he already had completed the maximum eight semesters of eligibility.

[sandgk]

And so the Huggins era at K. State "officially" gets under way with its biggest commitment to date.
I'm sure the rest of those Big 12 schools will be watching these events with more than idle interest.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Cincy

Walker officially a K-State Wildcat

Notebook

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former North College Hill star Bill Walker, one of the players Bob Huggins pursued during his hiatus from coaching, signed a financial aid agreement with Kansas State and will join the team next month.
Walker, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound small forward, was considered one of the nation's top high school players last year at NCH.
"I think you'd have a hard time going anywhere and saying Bill's not the best athlete on anybody's team," Huggins said Friday.
Walker, 19, who earned his high school diploma this fall through an accelerated program, has enrolled at Kansas State.
Walker will be eligible to join the team Dec. 16, meaning he could play the next day against Kennesaw State.
"He's going to have to play himself into shape," Huggins said. "He's been running on his own, but that's not the same thing."

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Rivals.com (Free)

Huggins talks about Walker and what he brings to their program.