Walker settles into driver's seat for Huskies

Storrs — Put a basketball in Kemba Walker's hands and he's happy.

It has been that way since his father gave him a basketball at age 3, and Walker immediately began entertaining people in the neighborhood with his advanced skills.

"We lived in the Bronx with a laundromat downstairs," said Andrea, Walker's mother. "Every day he'd go outside with the ball. People would sit down and watch him with amazement. The ball was bigger than he was."

Walker still has the ball in his hands. And he's still entertaining people.

As a sophomore, he's been handed the keys to the UConn basketball team as its starting point guard. Coming off a Final Four season, the Huskies are counting on him to help maintain the program's winning tradition.

After a year of playing behind A.J. Price, it's Walker's time.

Just give him the ball.

"I love the pressure," Walker said. "It's good for me. I'm ready."

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Walker has grown accustomed to patiently waiting his turn at every stop along his basketball journey.

In junior high school, close friend Corey Fisher stood in his way.

At Rice High School in New York, Edgar Sosa blocked his path.

At UConn, Price was entrenched in the starting job when Walker committed to UConn.

In every situation, Walker stayed prepared, worked hard to improve and learned from his older teammates. And he never complained, not even when he got cut from the junior high team at I.S. 174, a public school in the Bronx.

Fisher stepped in, convincing the coach to keep Walker.

"He's like my little brother," Fisher said. "I put him under my wing. He got cut from the basketball team. I told my coach, 'If you don't want him on the team, I don't want to be on the team.' That's how good I thought he was and how good I thought he can be."

Fisher, Sosa and Walker remain close. They're all Big East Conference rivals now with Sosa a senior at Louisville and Fisher a junior at Villanova.

"He's a great player," Sosa said. "He's still the same person."

That's part of Walker's makeup, being remarkably consistent. He's always positive, always upbeat and always encouraging friends to stay on the right track.

Walker says his sunny attitude comes from his parents, Paul and Andrea, who taught him to respect others and carry himself the right way. Andrea rarely worried about her youngest child. If Walker stayed out late, it usually meant he was at a basketball game.

In his Bronx neighborhood, Walker's a role model.

"He's always trying to do something good," Andrea said. "He likes to see people go to school. He talks to his friends about staying on the right path. A lot of his friends look up to him."

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You'd be hard pressed to find someone to say something negative about the easy-going Walker. Last year senior Jeff Adrien grew especially fond of Walker, often calling him "Simba" - his son.

Walker's rarely in a bad mood. About the only thing that gets him upset is a bad game.

"When I make mistakes, I get really mad," he said. "I feel like I shouldn't be making mistakes on the court."

One game in particular from last season still bothers him - UConn's 82-73 loss to Michigan State in the Final Four.

Walker had a rough night, finishing with five points on 1-for-5 shooting and more turnovers (4) than assists (2). He wonders what might have happened if he had only made his free throws, going 3-for-9.

Never mind that UConn would have never advanced to the Final Four without Walker playing a career-best game in the West Regional final against Missouri, scoring a game-high 23 points in an electrifying performance.

"If I make my free throws, we probably win the game," Walker said.

His shortcomings motivate Walker to work harder. Take his jump shot. He noticed that defenders dared him to shoot from the outside last season. He lacked the confidence to make opponents pay, converting only 27 percent of his 3-pointers.

So he focused on shooting this summer, spending hours in the gym.

"I strongly doubt guys will be doing that to me this season," Walker said. "I feel much better. Whenever I have a chance, I try to get in the gym every day and get some shots up. I feel really good about my jump shot."

While he'll be asked to score more this season, Walker realizes his job as point guard is to lead the team. He relishes that role more than any other.

Last year, as a freshman, he was reluctant to speak up. Now he's taking charge.

"Last year was a year off from leadership," Walker said. "I'm back at it again and I'm loving it. … I've always been a leader on and off the court. I've always been positive. Everywhere I've even been - playground, camps, whatever - everybody likes to play with me. I guess that's a good thing."

His teammates are ready to follow him. With the speedy Walker, the Huskies are gearing up the running game. To be successful, it's imperative for UConn to play in the open court.

And forget about trying to press Walker; he's too fast to trap. Just ask Missouri, which Walker sliced and diced.

"He's doing everything he has to do as a point guard," senior Stanley Robinson said.

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Not only has Walker won over his teammates, he already has earned the trust of coach Jim Calhoun.

And that's not easy to pull off.

Calhoun can be especially tough on his point guards. But he quickly became comfortable with Walker running the show last season, predicting greatness for his young guard.

He's compared him to Khalid El-Amin, a charismatic point guard who led UConn to a national title in 1999.

Calhoun loves Walker's competitive spirit and moxie. Other Big East coaches like Walker, too, selecting him on the All-Big East preseason second team after earning all-rookie honors last spring.

"His personality lends itself right away to feeling good," Calhoun said. "He plays the way I want to play. He takes pretty good care of the basketball. He creates opportunities for you.

"Then his personality is so positive about everything. And he's a great competitor. He's actually a perfect guy to throw your trust in because he's thinking the same way you are. And he's at the right program because we're an attack program. …. His best basketball is clearly in the open court defensively and offensively."

The trust works both ways. Some people have already started encouraging him to think about leaving school early for the NBA, but Walker is in no hurry to bolt. He says he has more to learn at UConn. He trusts Calhoun will tell him when it's time.

He does admit that he looks forward to joining the Wall of Fame in Calhoun's basketball office, featuring other former UConn standouts advancing to the NBA.

"I'd love to have a picture up on coach Calhoun's wall," Walker said. "When I took my (recruiting) visit, I went into coach Calhoun's office. Seeing all the pictures of NBA guys, that really inspired me. It made me want to work harder and try to get to the next level and see that picture on that wall."

g.keefe@theday.com