Top high school hoops player may be draft eligible next season

Sportsline's Doyel is reporting that Bill Walker is ineligible to compete this season, stating his four years of varsity eligibility (since eighth grade) are up.

This means he's halfway to the NBA's requirements. Apparently, his age is disputed as well.

This might throw a (small) kink in the plans for USC, Kansas State, <<team du jour>> who want both him and his prep teammate OJ Mayo. Mayo is the No. 1 prepster in the country, and Walker is almost as highly regarded.

http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/9548336

 

Doyle has no idea what he's talking about. The rule is simple. You have to be 19 and a year out of high school. Even though he won't have any eligibility left, the reality is he won't be done with high school yet. There's plenty of 19-20-year-olds playing big-time high school basketball because they're parents/AAU coaches keep them back several years. That's why the NBA put both clauses in the rule.

Unless Walker gets a GED or something this summer, it won't happen. This is just poor reporting by Doyle.

 

All he has to do is drop out (if he's going to be 18) and the clock starts ticking.

 

Why in the world did Mayo pick USC. ???

 

If you were going to spend one year in school and you knew that you were going to be a top-five pick no matter how your team fares, there are two words that make your decision easy: USC Cheerleaders.

http://americasbestonline.net/USCa.jpg
Probably SFW. The Trojan girls at the beach. Linked it just in case.

 

actually mayo denied committing, per rivals. he said he's choosing between USC, Kansas State and Florida. He may have committed to the Trojans, but he isn't saying yet. Too bad for walker, he's apparently a beats. I find it unbelievable that he played as a freshman in kentucky, and then he was enrolled in ohio as an eighth-grader - how does that get through?

 

I may be wrong (and I have been before), but I thought Mayo only played HS ball as a 7th and 8th grader for Rose Hill.

 

There is no salary cap at USC.

 

And every small town basketball yap in Ohio jumps for joy....

 

No, Doyel might be right on the money. The rule is that it has to have been at least a year since your high school class graduated. The HS association is saying that Walker has used his 4 years of HS eligibility, which could be taken to mean that his original high school class is the one that graduated in June. Therefore he'd be eligible next year. The NBA might not see it that way and there's probably going to be a dispute that could even wind up in the courts, but Doyel's interpretation does make sense.

 

The NBA can't have it both ways. If he was supposed to graduate last year, then he's eligible this upcoming year.

 

Lesson No. 9,987,896 as to why "verbal commitments" mean absolutely nothing.

He'll probably "commit" somewhere, then renege and sign somewhere else when a better offer comes in.

Nothing counts until the LOI is signed.