At the inaugural NCAA-sanctioned NorCal Summer Tip Off at City College of San Francisco, Langston Morris-Walker was turning heads with his athleticism and basketball skills. As a sophomore last year, he helped his Berkeley High Yellowjackets of the ACCAL to a 17-9 record. Entering his junior year, Morris-Walker wants to become an overall better player and be more of a team leader. His team goals are to make a run for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) title and for the program to grow stronger.
Morris-Walker started playing organized basketball in 7th grade and is definitely a slasher on the court. At 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, Morris-Walker is a wing player that can dribble-drive into the paint and then make the decision of shooting or kicking the ball to an open teammate. He compares his skills to former Connecticut star, Rudy Gay, because of his ability to get up and down the court, to score inside/outside, and to play above the rim.
During this summer, Morris-Walker has been working out and playing in tournaments with both his Berkeley High team and club team, Oakland Soldiers 16U. The Berkeley High team boasts a starting five who are all capable of playing at the NCAA level: 5-foot-11 PG Josh Amey, 6-foot-3 SG Jalil Eppinger, 6-foot-7 PF Akil Johnson, and 6-foot-9 C Ian Carr. While playing with Berkeley High at the NorCal Summer Tip Off, several NCAA level coaches list Morris-Walker as one of the top juniors to watch. One coach says, "Morris-Walker is a scorer. Just explosive."
Morris-Walker was recently playing at the much scrutinized Peach Jam event in South Carolina with the Soldiers who featured Mitty High's Aaron Gordon and David Andoh, Jabari Bird (Benicia), and Ikenna Irorgbu (Franklin). When asked how he fared and what he thought about the event, Morris-Walker said, "The Peach Jam event went well and I felt that I played well in front of the coaches and scouts. The competition was by far the best that I have ever played against. I had to bring my A game for every game." According to Morris-Walker, NCAA coaches from the Pac-10 conference, Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, UNC Chapel Hill, West Virginia, and many other schools were watching all the Oakland Soldiers 16U games.
As a result of being around such skilled AAU and high school teammates, Morris-Walker likes to get his teammates involved during the course of a game and comes across as being the consummate team player that puts the team needs ahead of his own statistics. In the Peach Jam event, Gordon got hurt early. Hence, Morris-Walker had to play out of position as a power forward. Once again, he sacrificed for the betterment of the team even though he was undersized. Instead of sulking, Morris-Walker treated playing the power forward position as an opportunity and says, "I was able to show the NCAA coaches that I am a versatile player."
With his physical stature and basketball skills, colleges are highly interested in this Berkeley Southside native. Cal, Cal Poly SLO, Nevada-Reno, UC Davis, UC Riverside, Utah, Washington, and Washington State have contacted Morris-Walker. He has made unofficial visits to Cal, Stanford, and UC Davis. Morris-Walker has stated that Nevada-Reno and Utah have expressed immense interest in him while UC Riverside has already extended an offer.
Morris-Walker wants to attend a college that has a good basketball and academic program. He says, "I want to play in an up tempo style with a good group of guys." Morris-Walker wants to stay on the West Coast and has Cal and Stanford as his early favorites. He would like to make his verbal commitment sometime during his junior season.
Academically, Morris-Walker has a 3.20 GPA and has not taken the SAT yet. He would like to major in Physical Therapy or Video Production. His favorite subject is English and spends his free time on his hobby of making videos. If Morris-Walker continues his explosive play, do an Internet search on the keywords "dynamic dunks" and the results will be of his videos dunking.
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