GET READY FOR A NEW LOOK
When Geno Auriemma says nothing’s the same about the former No. 1 recruit, he means it
Megan Walker has enjoyed success on the basketball court for years — first as a highly talented preteen and then as the No. 1 recruit in the country. She won three state championships, took home every high school award imaginable and won silver medals with the U19 national team.
Then, she came to UConn and everything changed.
Her first season with the Huskies was a shock as Walker came to terms with little playing time and tough practices. She averaged just 5.8 points in 15.5 minutes per game, leaving many to wonder why she didn’t have more playing time and whether she would become one of the elite Huskies.
But after a summer of intense training that’s transformed her body and her game, Walker is determined to be a dominant presence on the court once again.
“There isn’t one thing that’s the same,” coach Geno Auriemma said of Walker. “Nothing. Everything’s different. How she looks, how she plays, how she shoots it. Everything. How aggressive she is. Everything’s different. There are some things, obviously, that she’s going to keep getting better at, but if you want to compare it to last year nothing’s the same. Nothing’s the same.”
Walker’s talent has never been questioned. As an eighth grader she wowed Monacan High School coach Larry Starr the first time he saw her play. She was tall for her age and clearly talented, but Starr knew her natural ability could only carry her so far.
“The first time I saw her,” Starr said, “I thought, ‘Man, this girl can play, but is she going to continue to work to be at the top?’”
What Starr saw once Walker joined his team was a player determined to be the best and willing to do whatever it took to get there. She recognized how good she was and fought to make sure no one was better.
“I noticed her freshman year in high school that I think where a lot of kids will shut down with the pressure — she was ranked in the top of her recruiting class — and I just saw her work harder and harder and harder,” Starr said. “I think the whole thing was the pressure just pushed her to the point that she didn’t want anyone taking her place, and so she just continued to work that way and continued to work that way.”
Any questions Starr had about Walker’s work ethic dissipated almost instantly. On one of her first days of practice he had the freshmen scrimmage his returning players and watched as Walker played with physicality and finesse. She became a key player, making shots when games were on the line and dominating the final minutes of close games, eventually helping Monacan to three state championships.
As Walker got older she gained more and more recognition, being named No. 1 in her recruiting class and making the U18 and U19 national teams. As her success grew, so did her determination to keep it.
When Walker strolled onto UConn’s campus she was fresh off a season where she’d averaged 25.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 steals a game and won five player of the year awards. Despite all of her success up to that point, UConn was an entirely new level of basketball that she would have to adjust to.
Practices were hard, there was a lot to learn, and Walker soon realized transitioning wouldn’t be as seamless as she had imagined. In Walker’s phone calls with Star Wills, who coached and trained her from a young age at Cap City Ballerz, she opened up about the challenges she was facing.
“For her, she was honest with herself and with me,” Wills said. “She said it wasn’t easy, and that practices were harder than she thought they would be. And she would tell me that she’s going to be OK. She would say, ‘I’m going to be OK, I just have to have better practices.’ So when I would ask her why she wasn’t playing she would say ‘There’s a lot that I don’t know.’”
Her performance and playing time was disappointing for her at first, but she didn’t give up. She realized that playing time was a result of strong practices and that she needed to do everything in her power to make those happen consistently.
“I think a big part of [helping players transition] is being honest with them,” Wills said, “and the moment that they do feel privileged or they do feel like they should be getting time or whatever, then be honest with them… You hold them accountable and let them know that there’s so much more to learn, then it helps them understand that they need to forget about what happened in high school and all the other accolades and just rise to the occasion. And I think that’s what helped Megan. She understood that ‘I’m not the best player anymore. When I arrived at UConn I wasn’t the best player so I have to work for the playing time that I want.’”
Between acknowledging that she’s no longer the best player on the court and being pushed harder than ever before by Auriemma, Walker has been forced to rely on her work ethic to regain a top spot again. She went into the summer knowing what she needed to work on to be better than ever and ready to contribute on a regular basis, and she’s come back in a position to do just that.
“I’ve been working a lot over the summer so I really wanted to make a good impression coming out to practice,” Walker said. “They’ve been competitive. I’ve just been pushing myself to change from last year and to have a bigger impact on the game.”
Walker spent a lot of time in the weight room this summer, and the results are evident. She’s added nearly 10 pounds of muscle, and has been lauded for her strength and aggressive rebounding in early practices.
The transformation hasn’t just been physical, though. The work she’s put in and results she’s seen from it have caused Walker’s confidence to soar. She focused on putting last year behind her, she said, and remembering the areas where she knows she’s capable of having success on the court.
It doesn’t matter who you ask — Auriemma, teammates, past coaches — everyone expects Walker to have a breakout season this year. And she knows it. She sees the expectations, feels the pressure mounting, and intends to deliver big.
“When you’re challenged you have to respond,” Walker said, “so I feel like this year will be full of responses.”