Erving Walker is playing overseas in Italy, but his name is still prominent in Florida’s record books.
He graduated after last season as UF’s all-time assists leader with 547. He ranks fourth in career scoring with 1,777 points.
Records weren’t the only thing Walker left at UF. When he started his professional career, he also left behind a starting spot at point guard.
After two years as a backup, junior Scottie Wilbekin will get an opportunity to start in 2012-13.
“Right now I feel good about him,” coach Billy Donovan said. “Scottie has really shown a lot of improvement. He’s gotten better. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him because of the things that he can do.”
In Wilbekin’s 74 games as a Gator, he has started twice. Both starts were alongside Walker.
Wilbekin averaged only 16.1 minutes per game during his first two years at Florida.
Donovan has made it clear that he wants Wilbekin to be his own player and not mimic Walker’s style. Still, Donovan would like to see Wilbekin improve as an offensive threat.
“I want [Wilbekin] to be aggressive on offense,” Donovan said. “Erving, because of his size, what enabled him to play at this level was his ability to shoot the ball from deep, and that was always a weapon. I don’t think we need or want Scottie doing that, but we do need Scottie to be a threat offensively.”
Wilbekin attempted only 76 shots last season, as Walker and Brad Beal were Florida’s primary options on offense. But, after working on his shot in practice, Wilbekin has seen improvement.
“It’s coming pretty natural,” Wilbekin said. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in my shot right now.”
Wilbekin envisions himself playing mostly point guard, but he expects to share time with senior Kenny Boynton. Wilbekin is confident in his ability to switch between the two guard positions.
“I’m completely comfortable with [playing shooting guard],” Wilbekin said. “I did some of that last year. I played some of the three and some of the four last year. I know all of the plays from every position, so it’s not really going to be that difficult.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
Scottie Wilbekin poses for a photo at the University of Florida Media Day on Oct. 10. Wilbekin scored a career high 17 points in Florida's 79-66 victory against Central Florida on Saturday night in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
