The reconstruction project is moving right along.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has no seniors on its 2018-19 men's basketball coach. Darrell Walker, who was announced as the school's 23rd coach in March after taking over for a fired Wes Flanigan, has had seven months to begin a comprehensive tear-down and renovation of a Little Rock program that went 7-25 last season.
The Sun Belt Conference announced the men's basketball preseason poll Thursday where the league's coaches voted the Trojans 12th out of 12 teams. Dead last.
"We're going to shock a lot of people," said redshirt junior guard Deondre Burns. "Being picked last, that doesn't bother us at all."
Walker is hard-nosed, Burns said. The culture shift was noticed shortly after his hiring. UALR brought in a seasoned coach who played collegiately at the University of Arkansas and had a 10-year career in the NBA. It took time for UALR's veterans to warm up to Walker's style.
Seven months into the Walker era and two weeks out from UALR's Nov. 8 season opener against Southeastern Oklahoma State at the Jack Stephens Center, they have fully bought in.
"Early on, it wasn't as easy," said sophomore guard Jaizec Lottie. "I feel like a lot of players didn't trust him as much. Now that we've gotten a lot of practices under our belt and a scrimmage under our belt, a lot of the team is buying in. When he sits down and analyzes like that, everyone's buying in. It's really cool."
Walker admits he can be straightforward, but not to a fault. It's his way of constructively criticizing the players on this maiden voyage, he said.
The Trojans allowed 70.1 points per game last season and were last in scoring offense (63.7 points per game). UALR's scoring margin of -6.4 was the worst in the Sun Belt.
Defense is UALR's ongoing focus entering this season. The sweeping migration into Walker's high-speed, rim-to-rim offense begins with defense.
"I'm brutally honest with my guys," Walker said. "I respect my guys and I always let them know where we stand. Defensively, we're not very good right now."
Walker, the 12th overall selection by the New York Knicks in the 1983 NBA Draft, also spent time with the Denver Nuggets, Washington Bullets, Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls in 1993, his final professional where he was a teammate to NBA legend Michael Jordan.
His journeyman coaching career began in 1995 as an assistant with the Toronto Raptors. He became the Raptors' head coach from 1996-1998 and led the Washington Wizards in 2000.
Eighteen years later, Walker's returned to Little Rock, where he's called home since 1983.
Walker's experience has value UALR now respects.
"When we're in practice and he draws up plays, some of the plays he draws up everyone's like, 'Wow. Those work," Lottie said. "It's crazy everything that he knows. And how quickly he sees something. And how he's able to analyze something and tell us what to do in order to react to that."
Picked to finish last, the Trojans have little expectations this season. This is simply the first rebuilding phase of the Walker regime.
"It's going to be a process," Walker said. "It's not going to happen overnight."
Sports on 10/26/2018