Dallas Walton feeling good health-wise, keeping eye on season in the spring
Colorado senior C/F Dallas Walton joined reporters earlier this week for a Zoom call to talk about the Pac-12's postponement of fall sports through the end of 2020 and what that means moving forward for the Buffs.
He also took the time to give an update on himself physically.
First and foremost, despite Walton's role reduction in 2019-2020 — he played just 6.1 minutes per game last season after seeing nearly 19 as a redshirt freshman in 2017-2018 — Tad Boyle still considers him a key piece to the Buffs' puzzle moving forward, going as far as to recently refer to him as a possible "x-factor" for CU.
Last year saw Walton work hard to shed some rust that naturally comes with the lengthy recovery period following an ACL tear, which he suffered in mid-October of 2018.
The tear was Walton's third in total; he'd battled two earlier such injuries while in high school at Arvada West. With last season a good distance in the rearview mirror, Walton has had time to evaluate his own health and said he was in good shape.
“I’m feeling good, physically," he said. "I used a lot of last year and the off time to really get my physical strength right and my leg strength right. I’ve been working with (director of strength & conditioning coach) Steve (Englehart) a lot. I feel really good.”
Walton echoed what probably a lot of his teammates and college basketball players around the country are thinking in terms of looking down the barrel to how and when a season can be played: just make sure it's safe and we'll go from there.
“I know one thing that’s for sure is that we want to play," he said. "What that looks like, we don’t know right now. There’s a lot of ideas and solutions being thrown around but as far as we know, we’re preparing for a season, whether that comes all of the sudden in December or in January."
"We just need to stay ready, which is what coach Boyle has been talking to us about. All of the coaching staff has emphasized that we just need to stay ready. However it looks, we don't know, but we’ll be ready.”
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Earlier this month, senior point guard McKinley Wright IV had good things to say about the Buffs' incoming brigade of 2020 talent.
"We bring in a good four-man who can shoot the ball like Lucas (Siewert) in Jeriah Horne, Dominique Clifford, who will play at the wing and Luke (O’Brien) — I’m excited about all the young guys coming in and looking forward to playing and being the senior to lead these guys and how these guys the ropes one last time.”
Walton echoed those sentiments, focusing on what he's picked up personality-wise from Colorado's young bucks.
“One thing that I know the new guys (have) is great character," Walton said. "Just being around the guys, it was weird when we first got on campus in June because of all the restrictions that were on us, but once we were able to get in the gym with them and interact a lot more, I found that all of them are really good guys. All of them have the perfect work ethic that’s in line with us on the team and I think they’re really good guys.”
With a lack of seasonal structure in place this fall that otherwise would be keeping the Buffs regularly practicing and looking forward to games, Walton and his teammates now have to stay extra disciplined for the next few months, knowing that they still must make smart decisions now in order to cash in and play a season later.
“We come to college to learn how to go from being kids to young adults and so, just that professionalism that usually is acquired over time, the younger guys have to get it a lot quicker," he said. "The older guys have to maintain it, so it’s just a matter of how you carry yourself."