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.
![Lincoln County's Dantley Walker.](https://image.maxpreps.io/editorial/article/6/c/f/6cf66300-7038-e011-a486-001cc494a4ac/ced7870b-7738-e011-a486-001cc494a4ac_original.jpg)
Lincoln County's Dantley Walker.
Photo courtesy of the Walker family
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."