Dantley Walker is small on size, big on basketball scoring prowess

Though not as big, Lincoln County (Panaca, Nev.) senior Dantley Walker appears to be a combination of Pete Maravich and Jimmer Fredette all rolled into one dynamite basketball player.

Forget about his size (5-foot-11 and 155 pounds). He is one of the most dominant players in the country.

Consider these statistics:

* According to MaxPreps, he leads the country in total points (1,067), 3-point baskets (148) and free throw percentage (.900).



* He is No. 3 in made free throws (237).

* He is No. 6 in scoring average (35.6) and assists average (10.4).

* His recent 73-point game is believed to be the highest in the country for the 2010-11 season. He also has scored more than 60 several other times.

Lincoln County coach Mike Wood told MaxPreps, "I've been watching small-school-level basketball (in Nevada) for 30 years. This kid is unreal. I've seen the best players in Nevada and he can play with any of them. He faces gimmick defenses every night. This kid is just fun to watch. People come to our games that never (normally) come to games.

"He has perfect form. He probably shoots 1,000 shots every day on his own and probably has since seventh grade. He shoots 3-4-5 hours every day on his own."

Walker was named in honor of former Notre Dame and NBA standout Adrian Dantley. His father, Greg Walker, followed Dantley with the Utah jazz and attended his basketball camp as a high school player.



"I was an undersized post (at 6 feet). That's why I loved Adrian Dantley," Greg Walker explained. "I made up my mind that no matter how big my son was he was going to be a guard."

Greg Walker, an assistant coach at Lincoln County, began working with his son at age 3. Dantley, who idolizes Steve Nash, attaches no special significance to his unusual first name. He noted, "Everybody likes to write about it. I've watched a lot of tapes and he was a pretty amazing player."

Quick to admit he was not a natural shooter, Dantley points to the summer before he entered seventh grade as the turning point in his career.

"I went to the gym and spent the summer on (shooting) mechanics," he explained. "My dad always taught me to shoot with backspin and follow through. My confidence shot up."

Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}When he reached the Lincoln County varsity team as a freshman, he immediately stepped into the starting lineup and helped the Lynx win the Class 2A state tourney. Dantley was just 5-7 and 110 pounds, but coach Wood knew he had something special.

During the state semifinals, Wood recalled, "He hit a couple of 3s and got excited. I told him, ‘Don't get excited until you hit seven.' He got to seven and winked at me."



Following Dantley's freshman year, Greg Walker was approached by a writer from Reno who told him, "You really screwed up on this kid of yours, because you should have named him Pete instead of Dantley. He plays nothing like Adrian Dantley. He plays just like Pistol Pete Maravich."

Dantley has continued to raise his scoring averages each year: 17 points per game as a freshman, 26 as a sophomore and 32 as a junior.

This year has been phenomenal, to say the least. When he exploded for a state-record 73 points during a 101-86 victory over Agassi Prep (Las Vegas), he drilled 10 of 14 shots from 3-point land. The record of 70 had stood since 1952.

Coach Wood called it a "quiet 73. These kids who were guarding him were no joke. They are athletes. When he's on, it doesn't matter."

After the game, Greg Walker listened to some fans talking about his son's big night and comparing him to BYU star Jimmer Fredette. One said, "He plays and shoots bombs just like the Jimmer." Another replied, "Yes, but he's even better than the Jimmer. The Jimmer never scored 73 points."

Surprisingly, Dantley revealed that he shot for an hour the afternoon before his 73-point explosion and "I was actually frustrated going into the game because I wasn't shooting well. Midway through the second quarter I started hitting everything. I thought I had about 50 points."



Dantley doesn't just shoot from the arc – his favorite spot is four feet beyond the arc.

"That's my normal 3 now," he explained. "I don't get a lot of looks."

Still coach Wood insists, "His passing is probably better than his shooting."

And don't forget that Dantley has led a sophomore-laden team to an outstanding 24-6 record.

Dantley, who carries a 3.5 GPA and is president of the letterman's club, badly wants to play Division I basketball. He has had talks with BYU, UNLV and Utah State, but no offers yet.

He's been lifting weights since his junior year to get stronger and is going out for track this spring to help increase his speed.



"Hopefully, I'll prove them wrong," he says of critics who think he's too small for big-time college basketball.

"People are worried about his size," Wood concedes. "But wherever he goes, he'll make believers. If he was 6-2, he'd probably be going to Duke."