On Friday, news came out that Martez Walker was involved in a domestic dispute and turned himself into University police. He is suspended indefinitely while Texas athletics performs their own investigation. So what’s next for Texas Basketball?
Is Martez Walker still going to be on the team?
No. From the people we have talked to, he will likely be released from his scholarship by the end of the weekend.
How should Texas respond?
First, they should clarify that domestic abuse is wrong and it should not stand in our society. Men and women both should never hit the people they love. It might be a high standard to live up to but that should be our expectation as a society. No one should be hitting anyone. Period. Find other conflict resolution methods that can effectively display your frustration without hurting someone.
What does this mean for Texas basketball?
Opens up a scholarship for the 2015 class
If Martez Walker rebounds from this, learns a valuable lesson, and becomes a better human being – that’s most important.
His release opens up another scholarship for the Texas Longhorns. They have 0 commitments so far but they will have a guarantee of 1 scholarship open with Jonathan Holmes graduating. After this incident, they will have 2 scholarships open. If Myles Turner does go the one-and-done route, that’s 3 scholarships available.
With Kerwin Roach, Matt McQuaid, and Eric Davis all showing very strong interest, Walker’s release helps provide the Texas coaching staff with some flexibility in terms of how many players (and what positions) they ‘take’.
A shooting guard will have to step up
Last year, Texas’s perimeter shooting was atrocious at times and average at the best of times. With teams likely loading the paint to stop Myles Turner and Cameron Ridley, someone will have to step up and hit perimeter shots.
Walker was the team’s answer for perimeter shooting towards the end of the year so someone else will need to fill that void. I expect Damarcus Croaker and Kendal Yancy to step up and hit those shots. If Javan Felix does better at shooting from the perimeter, that would be a solid mix of options for Rick Barnes.
Ultimately, the goal is to have as many perimeter-scoring options as possible in order to open up the paint and let Ridley and Turner go to work.
