Darrell Walker made Little Rock his home 35 years ago.
A hoopster raised in Chicago, Walker moved to Fayetteville for three seasons as a guard for the Razorbacks in the early 1980s. Ten years as an NBA guard pre-dated a coaching career that has landed in Little Rock, his home since 1983.
Months after accepting his new job as the University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's basketball coach in March, Walker is less than one month from UALR's season opener Nov. 8 against Southeastern Oklahoma State.
"To be able to coach in front of a bunch of family and friends," Walker said Wednesday, "it's an exciting time for me."
The Trojans will host their annual media day Oct. 25 at the Jack Stephens Center, two weeks before the Walker era officially begins.
In reality, Walker's term already has begun.
"Practice has been good," he said. "Like most young teams, things have been up and down a little bit, but things are starting to move along. Guys are picking up the terminology and how we want to play offensively and how we want to play defensively, so it's been good.
"The guys have bought into what I've been teaching. They've really been getting after it in practice. I like how we're moving forward."
Freshman forward Nikola Maric -- a native of Trebinje, Bosnia-Herzegovina and a member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina national team -- had his amateurism approved by the NCAA on Tuesday and is immediately eligible for the 2018-19 season.
Maric, who was allowed to practice for 45 days while the NCAA assessed his amateurism after stints with a Spanish club while in high school and another in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, has dealt with an ankle injury since his 45-day allotment expired, a well-timed rehab period while the NCAA restricted him from practice.
The 6-f10, 245-pounder returned to practice this week.
"He's ready to go," Walker said. "[His] addition's going to be good. You're talking about a big, young kid that played on the Bosnian national team that is every bit of 6-foot-10.
"[He] can shoot the ball, can put the ball on the floor, can post up, can pass the ball. He's still a young kid though, but he brings something that we didn't have. He brings a post-up presence. He brings a big that can slide out, step out and shoot the basketball."
Sports on 10/18/2018