Second coming of Kemba? Derrick Walton is carrying surging Michigan through March

INDIANAPOLIS – The screen saver on Michigan point guard Derrick Walton Jr.’s iPhone is a picture of Kemba Walker. A nice choice, and not an accidental one.

Walton and Walker are roughly the same size (6-foot-1, around 185-190 pounds) and play the same position – and as of late, they play it similarly. Now Walton is trying to pull a Kemba to close out his college career.

In 2011, Walker put Connecticut on his back and carried the Huskies to an 11-game winning streak to end the season, winning five straight in the Big East tournament and six straight in the NCAA tournament. He averaged 24.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, five assists and 1.9 steals, and cut down nets in New York, Anaheim and Houston in the process.

Walton is performing a fine Walker imitation while making Michigan the hottest team in the nation. He’s led the Wolverines to six straight wins – one to end the regular season, four in the Big Ten tournament and one so far in the Big Dance. His averages along the way: 21 points, 4.2 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 2.3 steals.

In a fast-paced offensive shootout Friday against Oklahoma State, we saw something approaching Peak Walton: 26 points, 11 assists, five rebounds and two steals in a 92-91 Wolverines victory. Walton had a fun alpha-male point guard duel with the Cowboys’ Jawun Evans (23 points, 12 assists, seven rebounds) and emerged victorious.

Walton’s performance put his name alongside a player even greater than Walker: He became the first player to have at least 25 points, 10 assists and five rebounds in an NCAA tournament game since Dwyane Wade for Marquette in 2003.

Understandably, a lot has been made of Michigan’s bonding and elevating its play after the terrifying plane mishap on the way to the Big Ten tournament. But Walton’s ascension began before that happened, with an 18-point, 16-assist, five-steal masterpiece against Nebraska to end the regular season. Since then, there has been no stopping him for the past 12 days. By anybody.

“He’s been on a tear,” said teammate Zak Irvin.

“He’s been so good, and we go as he goes,” said Duncan Robinson. “So hopefully, he’s got more left in the tank.”

The next task will be the toughest yet: No. 2 seed Louisville on Sunday in the NCAA tourney second round. But if Walton keeps playing this way, and Michigan’s splendid array of shooters keep burning the nets, the Wolverines will be a very tough out in that game.

Michigan was 16 of 29 from 3-point range against Oklahoma State, an absurd 11 of 15 in the second half. The Cowboys are not a great defensive team, but the Wolverines might have shot any opponent out of the tournament Friday. Walton kept creating open shots for his teammates, and they kept burying them.

“You go 11 of 15 from the three, that’s hard to do in a gym by yourself,” said an admiring Oklahoma State coach Brad Underwood. “… We shot 55 percent in the NCAA tournament and just lost in the first round. The game is evolving into this. This goes against basically every stereotype you know.

“It’s one I’ve got to grasp, out-rebound an opponent 40-21 and lose. The game’s changing. The 3-point line is changing that way.”

Few coaches have used the three to greater effect than Michigan’s John Beilein. His fluid motion offensive sets work best with a group of skilled passers and shooters, and he’s got that in spades with this group. The Wolverines take 45.3 percent of their shots from beyond the arc, the highest percentage for a Michigan team in the past eight years.

“Shooting the ball from three is part of our package, and we can do that, but we can also drive it in there, too,” Beilein said.

That’s where Walton’s decision making comes into play, knowing when to find shooters on the perimeter and when to take the ball inside. He’s been at this long enough, playing 123 games in a Michigan uniform, that it only seems like he was part of the Fab Five.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Walton said Friday.

Not all of those 123 games have been glorious. After a promising freshman season Walton’s career stagnated a bit as a sophomore and junior, with his shooting percentages dipping and his turnovers rising. But this senior season he’s come back strong, and now is playing his best basketball as the end of the line looms.

That’s why Walton is summoning his inner Kemba. He said he regularly watches old Walker video, including highlights from the 2011 run. Walton said he even watched some Synergy Sports video cutups of Walker on Thursday night to get him in Big Dance mode.

“I just want to do something special,” Walton said. “Knowing the opportunity is right in front of me, I want to take advantage of it.”

More March Madness coverage from Yahoo Sports:
• Controversial flagrant foul call dooms Seton Hall in loss to Arkansas
• An Arkansas player credits his success to his dad locking him out of the house
• Where does Vanderbilt’s foul rank among all-time worst March Madness blunders?
• Former President Obama has two big mistakes in his women’s bracket