Battered and bruised, Kemba Walker limps into his frigid oasis. Though he visits this place nearly every day, that doesn’t make feeling the near-frozen temperatures of the cold tub against his skin any easier. The pins and needles are always there.

Nonetheless, he’s come to appreciate this place. After all, it’s about the only thing keeping his body in game condition. Playing 37 minutes per game in the Big East takes its toll. Having three, four or even five bodies converge on you every time you drive the lane just makes it worse.

‘I get tired a lot,’ Walker said. ‘But I can’t show it. All the time I’m with the trainer, in the cold tub. Anything I can do to get my body ready for the game.’

Heading into the 2010-11 season, Walker knew it was going to be like this. He assumed the leadership position on this Connecticut team as soon as the final buzzer ended last year’s disappointing NIT season.

And with seven new freshmen coming to play for head coach Jim Calhoun, Walker knew he had to be ‘that guy.’

‘Kemba Walker is doing this because an awful lot of it is that he’s terrific,’ Calhoun said in the Big East coaches’ teleconference on Jan. 20. ‘And he’s got an incredible, competitive heart. And because he’s a great leader for our team, and he knows we need it.’

What he’s doing is leading a resurrection of the UConn men’s basketball program Syracuse will face Wednesday at 7 p.m. inside Hartford’s XL Center. Almost single-handedly bringing it back from the murky depths of a recruiting scandal that tarnished the team’s reputation.

Twenty games into the season, Walker has guided the Huskies to a Top 10 ranking and is pouring in more than 24 points per game. He’s hit three game-winning shots this year and is one of the frontrunners for the National Player of the Year award.

It’s a role Walker knew he was going to have to play, and he accepted the challenge. Hundreds of hours in the gym working mostly on his jump shot were complemented by experience with the USA basketball team and trips to the camps run by Chris Paul, Deron Williams and LeBron James over the summer.

Now, with his team in the hunt for a Big East title, it’s all paying off.

‘I’m not surprised because I put in the time,’ Walker said. ‘I knew it was going to be a breakout year, and I knew it was going to have to be a breakout year for this team to be at this point.’

A lasting impression

Seven seconds.

That’s how long it took Lorenzo Romar to respond when asked where Kemba Walker can improve offensively. And even then, he was stumped.

‘Oh, man,’ said Romar, Washington’s head coach. ‘Offensively, I don’t think he needs to improve much.’

From July 20-24, Romar ran the USA Basketball Men’s Select Team. The team was composed of 20 college players, including Walker, and its sole task was to scrimmage the National Team leading up to the 2010 FIBA World Championships.

Going up against the likes of Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and Rajon Rondo, Romar said Walker was one of the few players not intimidated by the superstars.

‘He had a day where, in a scrimmage, he went for about 28 points,’ said Jay Wright, Villanova’s head coach and an assistant with the Select Team, in the Big East coaches’ teleconference on Jan. 27. ‘And everybody just said, ‘Wow.’ I think everybody realized this kid is on another level.’

Despite being undersized at just 6-foot-1, Walker used his speed to wreak havoc on some of the best guards in the world.

And on a team that had four AP Preseason All-Americans, Walker emerged as the go-to guy for the Select Team.

‘He was the one that could just go out and create,’ Romar said. ‘I thought he had the ability that, if you’re just having a tough time against a good defensive team, you can still win the game because of his ability to break down defenses.’

In one scrimmage, Walker said, a trimmed-down Select Team finally beat the NBA guys later that summer in New York City. Though meaningless, it was an accomplishment that will stay with Walker forever. And his play in those two weeks will continue to be the lasting impression for the players and coaches of that Select Team.

‘We needed a guard that could go against Westbrook and Rose and (Chauncey) Billups and those guys every day and give them good work,’ Wright said. ‘And he was the first guy we picked.’

Youthful talent

When the mentor struggled, the 17-year-old pupil stepped up.

In the 2009 Elite Eight, Kemba Walker showed the first glimpse of what he could be down the road. With senior A.J. Price playing poorly, the freshman Walker took over and got his team to the Final Four.

‘It was one of those games where I had no choice but to have a good game,’ Walker said.

On the biggest stage, the kid from the Bronx had the game of his life. He matched a career high with 23 points and handled Missouri’s ’40 Minutes of Hell’ full-court press with ease. And the Huskies prevailed.

‘I just kept thinking, (what) if he could do that on a consistent basis,’ former UConn forward Gavin Edwards said.

‘And this year, he’s really doing it.’

It was Walker’s speed that energized the Huskies against the Missouri press in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, an asset he’s had ever since he was young. An asset that, in the words of Davidson head coach Bob McKillop, likens Walker to a sports car.

‘He has controlled speed,’ McKillop said. ‘He’s like a high-powered race car, like a Porsche. He’s got different gears and knows exactly when to use them.’

McKillop coached Walker in the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship with Team USA, when Walker averaged 13.4 points over five games and also dished out five assists on his way to tournament MVP. In the championship loss to Argentina, he netted a game-high 21.

‘He was pretty darn good,’ McKillop said.

‘Fruits of his labors’

Flash forward from that freshman season to the present, and Gavin Edwards can’t help but chuckle. When asked how Kemba Walker’s game has changed since, he laughs at his own response.

‘Kemba,’ Edwards said, ‘has obviously been working on his shot a little bit.’

After UConn attempted its fewest 3-pointers and shot the lowest percentage from 3-point range in 15 years last season, the team needed to improve. More specifically, Walker needed to improve.

He made only 13 3-pointers as a freshman and shot 27 percent. A year later, he made roughly three times as many triples, but the team still ranked third to last in the Big East in 3-point percentage.

So between his experience with the USA Select Team and all of the guard-oriented camps, Walker was on campus in Storrs, Conn., working on his game. Hundreds of jump shots. Hours in the gym.

‘I just wanted to take shots,’ Walker said. ‘Take consistent shots. It was hard, but I had no choice.’

It all worked.

Through 20 games this season, Walker made more 3s (40) than he did all of last season in 34 games (38). He’s hit three or more 3-pointers in six games this season — a feat he accomplished just three times in his career prior to this year.

And his ability to drive the lane — the skill that’s always been his strength — has only become more dangerous. Now teams have to respect his jump shot, and they can’t pack the paint with all five defenders.

‘That was the big thing that everybody tried to knock him with,’ said Jacob Pullen, a Kansas State guard and Select Team teammate. ‘He really understood how hard you have to work to be a good player.

‘And right now, it’s just the fruits of his labors.’

It’s labor that has yielded 15 20-point games and six 30-point games.

He’s been asked to do it all for this young Huskies squad, and so far the challenge has been answered.

So as unpleasant as every cold bath is following his labor during a taxing Big East battle, every game UConn wins might make the frigid water feel a bit warmer.

‘He’s a terrific all-around basketball player,’ Calhoun said. ‘Who we need desperately every single night to score points for us.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on January 31, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13