Huskers a good fit for Walker’s style

When it came to recruiting Kansas City prep star Marcus Walker, Nebraska had an ace in the hole.

After scoring 2,790 points for O’Hara in a high school career in which he twice won the DiRenna Award for the best player in the Kansas City area, Walker, a wiry 6-foot-2 point guard, drew the attention of many Division I schools.

Not many of them, though, could provide Walker with the education he would need for a future beyond basketball as an entreprenuer in the fashion industry.

“Nebraska has a real good department of fashion design,” Walker said. “When I came up here on my visit, they showed me the department. I met advisers. I met the teachers that were in the department, and I just liked the whole thing they were doing.”

Walker seems to have it all figured out, including the most lucrative direction to head.

“I want to go the women’s route,” Walker said. “I think with me being in the women’s field, they shop a lot more than men do and I think I’ll be able to make a lot more money and be able to use my creative mind and be able to bring out something new that people will want.”

When Walker signed with Nebraska in 2005, it seemed like life in Lincoln wouldn’t suit the self-proclaimed city slicker from 18th street in downtown Kansas City.

Walker said Lincoln is definitely different from where he grew up, but he said it’s not much different than most campuses in the Big 12 that are also in relatively small towns.

“I thought of it like this, every college town is basically like it’s own little area,” Walker said. “Unless you go to like UNLV...as far as like the Big 12...Lincoln is like the second biggest town in the Big 12.”

So surprisingly, the thing Walker has had to adjustment to the most is what he has always had the most success at: playing basketball.

In the Big 12, Walker has had to learn more from the bench than he is used to.

“I think that it’s good for me because most of my life I’ve been the best player on the team and been the one everybody looks up to,” Walker said. “So now I am in a position where I just got to play my position and play my role and eventually be one of those players that steps ups and does what I know I can do.”

Although at 160 pounds Walker will be at least 20 pounds lighter than anybody guarding him when he plays against Missouri (10-7, 3-3) at 3 p.m. Saturday, his quickness could be a key in creating scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Walker leads the Huskers (12-6, 2-3) in assists and has shown the scoring ability that drew crowds in high school, garnering Big 12 newcomer of the week honors in December after scoring 13 points against North Carolina A&T and 20 points against Alabama A&M.

Against Iowa State’s vaunted backcourt duo of Curtis Stinson and Will Blalock on Jan. 17, Walker tallied 14 points and four assists.

Although the Huskers are mired in a three-game skid, losing consecutive conference games against Iowa State, Kansas, and Colorado, Walker is excited about growing with the nine other underclassmen who some believe can lead Nebraska to a brighter future.

“I think the next few years is going to be wonderful,” Walker said. “I think with me playing and adding experience with the playing time I’ve been blessed with, I think that everybody is going to come together. It’s going to be one of those things that you’re going to have to wait for.”