May 29, 2009

Steve Brawner
Special to Rivals High

While the rest of the nation's elite girls' high school basketball recruits will be taking coaches' phone calls and visiting prospective campuses next year, Samarie Walker will be concentrating on playing basketball.

The 6-foot-1 power forward from Chaminade-Julienne Catholic High School in Dayton, Ohio, has already made a solid verbal commitment to the school she has always wanted to play for ? the University of Connecticut.

Walker - ranked the nation's fourth-best 2010 prospect by Rivals.com - first became interested in Connecticut as a fourth-grader when she met former Huskies standout Tamika Williams. Walker grew up watching UConn greats such as Rebecca Lobo and Diana Taurasi.

The actual courtship with UConn was a short one. Coach Geno Auriemma watched her play in July and then contacted her AAU coach to say he was interested. She called him in September and then visited the campus Oct. 17-19, when she saw UConn's "First Night" midnight basketball practice.

Already sold on the school, she was impressed with the team's welcoming attitude and the intensity of the practices. And of course, she'll be playing for one of the game's most successful coaches in Auriemma.

"He's a great guy," she said. "I know that he's a great coach. I know that he'll make me a better person, a better player."

Walker will go to UConn with one disadvantage ? her September birthday means that she will enter college at the age of 17. But she said that she has always been one of the youngest players on the court, and as she has gotten better - particularly in the past year - she has grown mentally tougher. She said she is ready to respond to whatever verbal discipline the notoriously expressive Auriemma dishes out.

"I talked to Maya [Moore] and Tina [Charles] about him, and they said that you just have to stay strong no matter what he says," Walker said. "He'll try to bring you down, but that's just to make you more mentally tough. But no matter what he says, you have to stay strong."

Chaminade-Julienne assistant coach Mandy Myers said Walker became a better player between her sophomore and junior years by improving her shooting and becoming physically stronger, making herself a matchup problem for opposing teams.

"I've never met a player who works harder. ? She's constantly in the gym lifting, running, shooting, working on being able to shoot from all spots on the floor," Myers said.

Walker averaged 16 points and 10.5 rebounds as a junior. As she prepares for her senior season of high school, she is working on her outside shot in order to be more of an all-around threat. Her team, which lost in the district tournament last season, returns a senior-heavy squad, but she knows she'll have a target on her back every game.

"I'll always have one," she said. "It's just not something I really pay attention to. I just go out there and play and block out everything and everybody."

One thing Walker won't have to block out: the recruiting process. Thanks to her early commitment, she can just say no to all the coaches and recruiters who will be begging her to give their schools a second chance ? not that they won't keep trying.

"Scouts still send me letters and stuff just in case I changed my mind, but I'm not going to," she said.

THE NETWORK: Rivals site for your state | National High School Message Board