Former Four-Star Guard From FAU Signs With Wyoming
LARAMIE -- Leland Walker was once a four-star recruit, receiving offers from Purdue, Providence, Xavier and DePaul, among others.
The 6-foot-1 guard instead went to Eastern Kentucky where he became a First Team All-Conference selection.
He parlayed that honor -- along with a scoring average of 15.4 points a night -- into a scholarship to Florida Atlantic, a program that was in the Final Four in 2023.
Now, he's a Wyoming Cowboy.
Walker, an Indianapolis native, announced late Thursday night he is Laramie bound, becoming the eighth transfer to join the program this offseason. He netted 9.2 points per night last season while starting all 33 games for the Owls, who reached the first round of the NIT.
He has one season of eligibility remaining.
This class is stacked with guards, including Jared Harris (Memphis), DaMarion Dennis (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), Adam Harakow (Lake Superior State), Uriyah Rojas (Chaffey College) and Khaden Bennett (Quinnipiac). Rookie Nasir Meyer (6'7", 185, Los Angeles, Calif.) will arrive on campus this summer.
Sundance Wicks and his staff also added big men Kiani Saxon and Buddy Hammer Jr. (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College) to the Cowboys' front court.
That duo will battle for minutes with returners Matija Belic and Abou Magassa, as well as rookies Gavin Gores (6'10", 210, Cumberland, Wisconsin) and Neil Summers (6'9", 240, Laramie, Wyo.).
Freshman walk-on Garrett Spielman of Sheridan is also currently on the roster.
MORE UW HOOPS NEWS VIA 7220SPORTS:
* Wyoming inks 6'8" forward Kiani Saxon from MWSU
* Cowboys will face South Dakota State at Sanford Pentagon
* Wicks, Cowboys add sixth transfer this offseason
* Former Cowboy Chris McMillian added to Wyoming coaching staff
* Cowboys sign four-star shooting guard from Memphis
* Chris Thomas named assistant coach for UW basketball
* Cowboys head to great white north to find latest transfer
* Wyoming adds another combo guard to the fold
* Wicks announces addition of Will Martin to coaching staff
Walker connected on 37.3% of his shots from the field during the 2024-25 campaign, including nearly 30% from distance. He also averaged a career-best 4.5 assists an outing. Twice he reached double figures in helpers, including a dozen in a road win over rival Florida International.
That's nothing new.
The year prior, his final season at Eastern Kentucky, Walker again reached double digits in two games. One was a 16-assist performance against Wilber. He added 15 points and eight rebounds, two boards away from landing a triple-double.
Walker averaged 4.1 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game during that winter in Richmond. He shot 43% from the field and 34% from beyond the arc. Walker reached the 20-point mark 11 times while leading the Colonels to a 17-win season, including a 29-point outburst in a victory over North Florida. He finished in double figures in all but eight games.
He finished 10th in scoring in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Brian Burden of MSN's College Sports Network penned a story last month, looking into five potential landing spots for Walker this offseason. That list included all of the schools who originally offered him out of Hargrave Military Academy, plus Indiana.
Instead, he chose Wyoming, a program that lost six players to the transfer portal, including leading scorer Obi Agbim, who is now at Baylor. Fellow guards Nigle Cook, Levi Brown and AJ Wills (Hofstra) are also gone. So are forwards Scottie Ebube and Oleg Kojenets (Stony Brook).
POKES: The Seven Best Games In The History Of The Wyoming-CSU Border War Rivalry (Naturally, they were all Wyoming wins)
More From KGAB
