Who's the condiment now? Away from Mayo, Walker's the dish
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</TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD noWrap>July 13, 2006
By Gary Parrish
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Bill Walker insists he'll still enroll in college next year despite recent developments that, on the surface, seem to provide a decent case to fight for early entry into the NBA Draft.
Taking him at his word, it's reasonable to expect Walker's next move will be to at some point over the next few weeks -- or few months, if he really wants to drag things out -- stare into a slew of television cameras and disclose the university at which he'll be dribbling and dunking come November 2007.
It might be Southern California, because of L.A.
It might be Kansas State, because of Bob Huggins.
It might be Cincinnati, just because.
Frankly, it doesn't matter. Any of those choices seem fine so long as young Bill does one very important thing.
Separate from O.J. Mayo.
Please.
"Their friendship will be for life, but I do think they need to breathe," said summer basketball godfather Sonny Vaccaro. "They've been playing together since what, seventh grade? It's been a long time. So I think it may be good for both of them to breathe some."
Take that statement, and interpret it in the most literal sense. Vaccaro said Mayo and Walker -- rising seniors at North College Hill High in Cincinnati and teammates with the D-1 Greyhounds on the AAU circuit -- need to "breathe some," which suggests they aren't currently breathing at all. That's called being smothered. And really, it must often feel that way for Walker, whose longtime role as "Mayo's sidekick" carried him to New Jersey last week for the Reebok ABCD Camp.
The bright red T-shirts the prospects wore while walking around read simply, "Five Days in July," a slogan representing a period many deem to be most important in the recruiting game. For those five days, Walker was nothing short of amazing, dunking over anybody who dared stand near the rim before later showing a surprisingly accurate pull-up jumper that is the product of lots of early morning workouts.
Or early afternoon workouts.
Whatever.
"I've been getting up about seven in the morning and shooting 500 shots before going home, taking a shower and then starting my day," Walker said. "But that's if I'm really focused. Sometimes I slip up and wake up at like noon. But I still get a workout in."
So Walker occasionally sleeps late, which is proof he is a normal teenager. Still, he did not look normal last week. Abnormal, extraordinary, exceptional and explosive is more accurate.
The 6-foot-6 wing averaged 12.9 points in seven games -- impressive considering nobody plays more than two quarters per contest -- while shooting 69 percent from the field, and he was named MVP of the ABCD Camp All-Star Game on Sunday for an unprecedented third consecutive year.
When the gym emptied, the same people who came only to see Mayo -- an undeniably gifted 6-5 point guard recognized as the top prospect in the Class of 2007 -- left instead mesmerized by Walker, similar to the way moviegoers paid to watch Cinderella Man because of Russell Crowe, yet exited the theater praising Paul Giamatti.
Crowe was great, no doubt.
But remember, Giamatti got the Oscar nomination.
"Ten years?" said one college coach, when asked if it was possible Walker could be a better pro than Mayo one decade from now. "He'll be the better pro in three years. Bill Walker is the best player in this class."
<TABLE cellPadding=8 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD><STYLE> .pollQuestion{ font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FFFFFF; font-weight: bold; font-size: 12px; } .pollResponce{ font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 11px; } .pollTotal{ font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 10px; } .pollPercent{ font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #FFFFFF; font-weight: bold; font-size: 14px; } </STYLE><SCRIPT language=javascript1.2> var pollValue; function submitPoll(){ if( pollValue ){ document.getElementById('pollForm').submit(); }else{ alert('You forgot to vote...'); } } function selectPoll( value ){ pollValue = value; } </SCRIPT><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=230 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle background=http://images2.sportsline.com/images/polls/poll_header_bg.gif></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=pollTable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 width=230 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>What should Bill Walker do?
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><FORM id=pollForm name=pollForm action=http://poll.sportsline.com/u/polls/poll.cgi method=post> <TBODY><TR height=24><TD class=pollRadioButtonCell><INPUT id=pollResponce_1 onclick=javascript:selectPoll(this.value); type=radio value="Follow O.J. Mayo to college" name=answer></TD><TD class=pollResponce><LABEL for=pollResponce_1>Follow O.J. Mayo to college</LABEL></TD></TR><TR height=24><TD class=pollRadioButtonCell><INPUT id=pollResponce_2 onclick=javascript:selectPoll(this.value); type=radio value="Challenge NBA eligibility rules" name=answer></TD><TD class=pollResponce><LABEL for=pollResponce_2>Challenge NBA eligibility rules</LABEL></TD></TR><TR height=24><TD class=pollRadioButtonCell><INPUT id=pollResponce_3 onclick=javascript:selectPoll(this.value); type=radio value="Go to college but don't follow Mayo" name=answer></TD><TD class=pollResponce><LABEL for=pollResponce_3>Go to college but don't follow Mayo</LABEL></TD></TR></FORM></TBODY></TABLE>
javascript:submitPoll();
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And yet there's probably not a person in America outside of those who watched the ABCD Camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University who thinks that way. Because for something like five years now it's been all O.J. -- short for Ovinton J'Anthony, by the way -- all the time. Meanwhile, his best friend with the comparatively boring name -- seriously, what's more normal-sounding than "Bill Walker?" -- has been stuck in an overwhelming shadow playing Robin to Mayo's Batman, Pippen to Mayo's Jordan, Garfunkel to Mayo's Simon.
The good news?
If Walker minds playing second fiddle, he doesn't show it.
How's that for refreshing?
"That's what's wrong with sports," Walker said, and there are a lot of young hoopers who should read this quote. "People get caught up in the me, me, me. But everything O.J. gets he deserves. He's earned it. His (fame) is not a problem for me at all. In due time, mine will come."
In overdue time is more like it.
But better late than never, as the saying goes. And if Walker ultimately does choose a college different from Mayo, understand it's nothing personal, just an unfairly overshadowed talent finally deciding to showcase himself on a stage he can call his own.
"It wouldn't be me saying that our relationship is bad," Walker said. "It would just be me making a career move."
And a wise one, at that.
