An Instant Sense of Familiarity
Jul 01, 2026 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
After four weeks of the grind, there' a break in this summer phase of preparation for the Kansas State men's basketball program. Players will enjoy this week and the Fourth of July and return to the Ice Family Basketball Center on July 5. That's when 23-year-old Isaiah Walker, who's in his first season as the Director of Player Development, will rejoin the rest of the K-State coaching staff and get his hands again on this new group of players, so eager, and so together, and so engaged in the 55-minute practice sessions each day under the watchful eye of assistant coaches and support staff — many who've seen it, who've felt it, and who are teaching the many intricacies of a recipe that's led to proven success under head coach Casey Alexander to the Little Apple.
A few days before the break, Walker, a native of Wyoming, Ohio, who grew up craving routine and consistency, headed into the offices at the Ice Family Basketball Center, and sat in front of his laptop, and rewatched the morning's practice, and broke down each play, and recorded the statistics from that morning's practice session. The team goes through its most trying slate of workouts this time of year, then emerge and hit the basketball court, and then Alexander and the assistant coaches and support staff walk through the installation of Alexander's up-tempo, efficient offense capable of putting up gobs of points and causing headaches for opponents — no matter the opponent's classification in major college basketball.
"We're laying the foundation right now," Walker says. "The players are coming along well, really well. We knew we recruited guys who knew how to play the game. That makes the transition a lot more seamless. It's made it easier on us, for sure. I'm liking the way they're sharing the ball and that's exciting for us because it's hard to guard.
"They're lifting weight harder than they will at any point this year to build strength, to become more athletic, but also to build some camaraderie as a team. It's hard to build a great team if guys aren't used to playing with each other. That's just the world we live in now — you're going to have new teams more often now. Our guys are getting to know each other and get a feel for how each other plays. That's big."
There's history here. When Walker pulled open the doors to the Ice Family Basketball Center for the first time in April, he stepped into a "very nice facility" that carried an old-school air, an instant sense of familiarity, and several smiling faces of longtime friends. Walker played four seasons for Alexander at Belmont before finishing his final season at Xavier in March. When Alexander took the K-State head coaching job, Walker, while still playing at Xavier, took a leap into the unknown.
Understand Walker, who graduated with a degree in business administration at Belmont in 2025 and earned his Master's in business administration at Xavier a few weeks ago, comes from a basketball family, and Carol, his mother, demanded that he finish his homework before he could play basketball each day, and instilled a love for learning into her son, who often did his homework on the bus ride home on Fridays so he could focus on hoops all weekend.
By age 10, Walker possessed one of the highest curves of his AAU teammates. At Wyoming High School, Walker scored 1,641 points and was twice named district player of the year and 2021 Cincinnati Enquirer Player of the year.
Walker couldn't take official visits to colleges due to the COVID lockdown, so he entertained many Zoom calls from schools around the country. He had more Zoom calls with Belmont than any other.
"Coach Alexander and his staff, what they were saying was authentic," Walker says. "In recruiting, everyone is trying to sell you and your family something. Coach Alexander and his coaches were genuine, and in the end, they delivered on their promises."
In his college career, Walker was named academic all-district four times and was a three-time member of the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team. He also earned Scholar Athlete of the Year honors by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics and was a member of both the NABC Honors Court and MVC Honor Roll.
Upon graduation, Walker with his two degrees, wanted to create and help local youth.
The goal was always to become a wealth management advisor, and to open an affordable physical therapy center geared toward middle school and high school athletes from low-income areas to aid in their recovery without "breaking the bank."
"I want to give back to the community in that type of way," Walker says. "That was my original goal. I knew it'd take a while to get to that point, but I also knew I had my passion for basketball since I'd played it every day for basically my entire life. I went back and forth."
The day that Walker offered a congratulatory note to Alexander, something clicked. Walker was still finishing his basketball season at Xavier, but thoughts trailed off to his old coach, and a new opportunity, and an ideal opportunity to contribute from the ground floor of what he hopes will be a lengthy tenure with a Power 4 conference program.
"I asked Coach Alexander if he might have any positions open because I'd love to jump on that," Walker says. "He worked something out for me, and I'm really, really grateful to him for that move. It shows the type of person he is, that if you're a guy that he trusts, he can take care of you. Once I made the decision to join him at K-State, there was a ton of relief in being reunited with him and with the staff that coached me just two years ago. They're a bunch of guys I'm really close with so it's an easy transition.
"I received this opportunity with Coach Alexander at K-State, and I felt I couldn't pass it up. The physical therapy center can be something down the road."
These days, Walker hears Alexander impart many of the same messages to the Wildcats that Alexander spoke to Walker and his own teammates not too long ago.
"Coach Alexander's emphasis on just being simpler, making the simple play, and don't turn it into a one-on-one and just making it harder for yourself — I remember him telling me that when I was a young player at Belmont," Walker says. "Now being on the other side of the game it makes a lot more sense. You see why he says those things. It'll benefit us as a team in the long run."
Walker, as Director of Player Development, lets Alexander's words soak in like many times before and at times finds himself utilizing his same player tools on the basketball court. Walker, and assistant coaches JJ Butler, Kerron Johnson and Luke Smith — all former players who excelled in Alexander's system — lace them up daily to show the new players what it's all about.
"I'm working guys out," Walker says. "Right now, I'm so fresh out of playing, so with Luke, Kerron and JJ, and they've been really good on the floor and at developing players over their careers. I do a lot of guarding in workouts, and we have live defense for the players, so they have to read me. I create some workouts, helping the players with drills in practice, and put guys through shooting workouts after practice."
As for Walker's impressions of the players so far?
"They're incredibly skilled, and we have guys who are bought in, and we have much more potential than it looks like on paper," he says. "You don't really know what you have until you have everybody in one place and are playing together as a team. On paper — that doesn't do much for you. We're really excited for what we have, and hopefully we'll keep building from this."
Before any of this and heading into his final year of eligibility prior to last season, Walker had a decision to make. He chose to leave Belmont to complete his career at Xavier, where his father, Tyrice, starred at years ago, and which is located 10 minutes from The Walkers' home.
"It was a very tough decision to leave Belmont just because it was all I'd known and everyone had my best interest in heart," Walker says. "I took a leap of faith to challenge myself against the best competition and fulfill a dream in going to my home city and playing in the school that my father played for. To put that jersey on was really cool. I had played in all the camps at Xavier from first grade on to high school, so to actually be playing for that school, and to play a good number of minutes, was enjoyable and a great experience.
"My family enjoyed it. That was the cool part. They didn't tell me that they wanted me to go to Xavier, but they definitely felt biased toward Xavier a little bit. It was cool to see that dream come to fruition and have my family right there with me."
And now Walker is wearing purple.
And that's a good fit as well.
"Purple is my favorite color," Walker says. "I have numerous different purple items of clothing and work in my wardrobe, so it's nice. It's a good fit."
One topic in particular cause Walker to raise his voice — in a fun-loving way.
Jacob Pullen scored 28 points, Denis Clemente had 25, and No. 2 seed K-State beat No. 6 seed Xavier 101-96 in a double-overtime Sweet 16 thriller on March 25, 2010 — despite Jordan Crawford's 32 points — that college basketball experts touted as one of the best Sweet 16 games in NCAA Tournament history.
Pullen would hit a 3-pointer. Crawford would answer. Pullen would hit another 3. Crawford would answer. It was back-and-forth between two of the best players that March.
And the game, its individual performances, and its outcome all seemingly remain embedded within Walker's soul.
"Jacob Pullen? Oh, my gosh," Walker says. "Don't remind me. Him and Jordan Crawford going back and forth? Yeah, I know, I know. Jacob Pullen? What a player."
A game for the ages.
Perhaps there'll be exciting games in store for these Wildcats as well.
In the end, it might go back to the message Alexander shared with Walker back in the day when he was pondering a scholarship offer to Belmont.
"Coach Alexander said, 'We can't guarantee that you're going to play right away or shoot every time, but you're going to win games every year and play a fun style of basketball while playing together with your teammates, and you'll develop a brotherhood, become a man, and be friends forever,'" Walker says.
That bond seemingly continues to grow stronger among K-State players with each passing day.
And each night, Walker retreats to his laptop, rewatches practice, tabulates the statistics, and silently thanks Alexander for this opportunity to live out a dream of being a part of a Power 4 conference team — a team just scratching the surface on what it could become down the road.
After four weeks of the grind, there' a break in this summer phase of preparation for the Kansas State men's basketball program. Players will enjoy this week and the Fourth of July and return to the Ice Family Basketball Center on July 5. That's when 23-year-old Isaiah Walker, who's in his first season as the Director of Player Development, will rejoin the rest of the K-State coaching staff and get his hands again on this new group of players, so eager, and so together, and so engaged in the 55-minute practice sessions each day under the watchful eye of assistant coaches and support staff — many who've seen it, who've felt it, and who are teaching the many intricacies of a recipe that's led to proven success under head coach Casey Alexander to the Little Apple.
A few days before the break, Walker, a native of Wyoming, Ohio, who grew up craving routine and consistency, headed into the offices at the Ice Family Basketball Center, and sat in front of his laptop, and rewatched the morning's practice, and broke down each play, and recorded the statistics from that morning's practice session. The team goes through its most trying slate of workouts this time of year, then emerge and hit the basketball court, and then Alexander and the assistant coaches and support staff walk through the installation of Alexander's up-tempo, efficient offense capable of putting up gobs of points and causing headaches for opponents — no matter the opponent's classification in major college basketball.
"We're laying the foundation right now," Walker says. "The players are coming along well, really well. We knew we recruited guys who knew how to play the game. That makes the transition a lot more seamless. It's made it easier on us, for sure. I'm liking the way they're sharing the ball and that's exciting for us because it's hard to guard.
"They're lifting weight harder than they will at any point this year to build strength, to become more athletic, but also to build some camaraderie as a team. It's hard to build a great team if guys aren't used to playing with each other. That's just the world we live in now — you're going to have new teams more often now. Our guys are getting to know each other and get a feel for how each other plays. That's big."
There's history here. When Walker pulled open the doors to the Ice Family Basketball Center for the first time in April, he stepped into a "very nice facility" that carried an old-school air, an instant sense of familiarity, and several smiling faces of longtime friends. Walker played four seasons for Alexander at Belmont before finishing his final season at Xavier in March. When Alexander took the K-State head coaching job, Walker, while still playing at Xavier, took a leap into the unknown.
Understand Walker, who graduated with a degree in business administration at Belmont in 2025 and earned his Master's in business administration at Xavier a few weeks ago, comes from a basketball family, and Carol, his mother, demanded that he finish his homework before he could play basketball each day, and instilled a love for learning into her son, who often did his homework on the bus ride home on Fridays so he could focus on hoops all weekend.
By age 10, Walker possessed one of the highest curves of his AAU teammates. At Wyoming High School, Walker scored 1,641 points and was twice named district player of the year and 2021 Cincinnati Enquirer Player of the year.
Walker couldn't take official visits to colleges due to the COVID lockdown, so he entertained many Zoom calls from schools around the country. He had more Zoom calls with Belmont than any other.
"Coach Alexander and his staff, what they were saying was authentic," Walker says. "In recruiting, everyone is trying to sell you and your family something. Coach Alexander and his coaches were genuine, and in the end, they delivered on their promises."
In his college career, Walker was named academic all-district four times and was a three-time member of the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Team. He also earned Scholar Athlete of the Year honors by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics and was a member of both the NABC Honors Court and MVC Honor Roll.
Upon graduation, Walker with his two degrees, wanted to create and help local youth.
The goal was always to become a wealth management advisor, and to open an affordable physical therapy center geared toward middle school and high school athletes from low-income areas to aid in their recovery without "breaking the bank."
"I want to give back to the community in that type of way," Walker says. "That was my original goal. I knew it'd take a while to get to that point, but I also knew I had my passion for basketball since I'd played it every day for basically my entire life. I went back and forth."
The day that Walker offered a congratulatory note to Alexander, something clicked. Walker was still finishing his basketball season at Xavier, but thoughts trailed off to his old coach, and a new opportunity, and an ideal opportunity to contribute from the ground floor of what he hopes will be a lengthy tenure with a Power 4 conference program.
"I asked Coach Alexander if he might have any positions open because I'd love to jump on that," Walker says. "He worked something out for me, and I'm really, really grateful to him for that move. It shows the type of person he is, that if you're a guy that he trusts, he can take care of you. Once I made the decision to join him at K-State, there was a ton of relief in being reunited with him and with the staff that coached me just two years ago. They're a bunch of guys I'm really close with so it's an easy transition.
"I received this opportunity with Coach Alexander at K-State, and I felt I couldn't pass it up. The physical therapy center can be something down the road."
These days, Walker hears Alexander impart many of the same messages to the Wildcats that Alexander spoke to Walker and his own teammates not too long ago.
"Coach Alexander's emphasis on just being simpler, making the simple play, and don't turn it into a one-on-one and just making it harder for yourself — I remember him telling me that when I was a young player at Belmont," Walker says. "Now being on the other side of the game it makes a lot more sense. You see why he says those things. It'll benefit us as a team in the long run."
Walker, as Director of Player Development, lets Alexander's words soak in like many times before and at times finds himself utilizing his same player tools on the basketball court. Walker, and assistant coaches JJ Butler, Kerron Johnson and Luke Smith — all former players who excelled in Alexander's system — lace them up daily to show the new players what it's all about.
"I'm working guys out," Walker says. "Right now, I'm so fresh out of playing, so with Luke, Kerron and JJ, and they've been really good on the floor and at developing players over their careers. I do a lot of guarding in workouts, and we have live defense for the players, so they have to read me. I create some workouts, helping the players with drills in practice, and put guys through shooting workouts after practice."
As for Walker's impressions of the players so far?
"They're incredibly skilled, and we have guys who are bought in, and we have much more potential than it looks like on paper," he says. "You don't really know what you have until you have everybody in one place and are playing together as a team. On paper — that doesn't do much for you. We're really excited for what we have, and hopefully we'll keep building from this."
Before any of this and heading into his final year of eligibility prior to last season, Walker had a decision to make. He chose to leave Belmont to complete his career at Xavier, where his father, Tyrice, starred at years ago, and which is located 10 minutes from The Walkers' home.
"It was a very tough decision to leave Belmont just because it was all I'd known and everyone had my best interest in heart," Walker says. "I took a leap of faith to challenge myself against the best competition and fulfill a dream in going to my home city and playing in the school that my father played for. To put that jersey on was really cool. I had played in all the camps at Xavier from first grade on to high school, so to actually be playing for that school, and to play a good number of minutes, was enjoyable and a great experience.
"My family enjoyed it. That was the cool part. They didn't tell me that they wanted me to go to Xavier, but they definitely felt biased toward Xavier a little bit. It was cool to see that dream come to fruition and have my family right there with me."
And now Walker is wearing purple.
And that's a good fit as well.
"Purple is my favorite color," Walker says. "I have numerous different purple items of clothing and work in my wardrobe, so it's nice. It's a good fit."
One topic in particular cause Walker to raise his voice — in a fun-loving way.
Jacob Pullen scored 28 points, Denis Clemente had 25, and No. 2 seed K-State beat No. 6 seed Xavier 101-96 in a double-overtime Sweet 16 thriller on March 25, 2010 — despite Jordan Crawford's 32 points — that college basketball experts touted as one of the best Sweet 16 games in NCAA Tournament history.
Pullen would hit a 3-pointer. Crawford would answer. Pullen would hit another 3. Crawford would answer. It was back-and-forth between two of the best players that March.
And the game, its individual performances, and its outcome all seemingly remain embedded within Walker's soul.
"Jacob Pullen? Oh, my gosh," Walker says. "Don't remind me. Him and Jordan Crawford going back and forth? Yeah, I know, I know. Jacob Pullen? What a player."
A game for the ages.
Perhaps there'll be exciting games in store for these Wildcats as well.
In the end, it might go back to the message Alexander shared with Walker back in the day when he was pondering a scholarship offer to Belmont.
"Coach Alexander said, 'We can't guarantee that you're going to play right away or shoot every time, but you're going to win games every year and play a fun style of basketball while playing together with your teammates, and you'll develop a brotherhood, become a man, and be friends forever,'" Walker says.
That bond seemingly continues to grow stronger among K-State players with each passing day.
And each night, Walker retreats to his laptop, rewatches practice, tabulates the statistics, and silently thanks Alexander for this opportunity to live out a dream of being a part of a Power 4 conference team — a team just scratching the surface on what it could become down the road.
Wednesday, June 24
Tuesday, June 23
Monday, June 22
Monday, June 22
