Don't cry because Bill Walker is gone. He's going to a better place, a happier place, a place where he belongs.
He's going to the NBA.
Walker has said he'll come back to Kansas State if he doesn't think he'll be a first-round pick, and Wildcat fans have clung to it like a security blanket.
Thing is, Walker believes in his heart that he should be a first-round pick. He's believed it for years. No mock draft is going to change his mind.
And increasingly, the mock drafts are agreeing with Walker's self-assessment. ESPN's Chad Ford moved Walker up five spots to No. 22 in his latest projections, and his stock should climb even higher by draft day.
He lost 25 pounds by giving up breads and sugars. (Ironically, my wife has me on the same diet. Can't say I've seen the same results.) While his skills weren't really tailored for the structure of a college offense, I suspect he'll destroy many of the players he faces in one-on-one workouts.
So don't expect Walker to move back into his old room at Haymaker Hall, hang his Homer Simpson posters on the wall and enroll in grad school. It's not going to happen.
I don't think Walker hated college, as some have suggested. I don't think he loved it, either.
Michael Beasley was a rare case, an NBA-ready freshman who seemed to genuinely enjoy his college experience — the parties, the people, the atmosphere. Had the logic of going pro not been so overwhelming, Beasley gladly would have forestalled his NBA future.
Not Walker. You have to understand, he's been tantalizingly close to the NBA before. He was labeled the next Vince Carter in high school, before a series of setbacks put his future on hold.
So now that the NBA is finally within his reach, does anyone expect Walker to let it go? It would be like Captain Ahab looking at Moby Dick and saying, "Can we do this another time?"
Some seem to believe Walker owes K-State another season, in part because he never really lived up to the tremendous hype that surrounded his arrival. He had one nice season, had a few highlight-reel dunks, but never became the superstar many expected.
These people miss the bigger point. Walker's legacy at K-State was never meant to be quantified in terms of points or rebounds.
Walker proved it was OK for an elite-level player to sign with K-State. He opened the door for Michael Beasley, Wally Judge and every other blue-chip recruit the Wildcats land. Because of Walker, Frank Martin now can recruit the four- and five-star players required to make K-State a consistent winner.
So don't think for a second that K-State was somehow short-changed, and don't hold it against Walker when he moves on to the NBA.
It's where he belongs.
