Walker Still in the Running?

Kemba Walker is on the 2010-11 Naismith List of the top 30 men's college basketball players in the nation. No surprise there, though in the past few weeks, Walker has gone from the national player of the year frontrunner to barely still in the conversation.

Obviously, he still has time to pick things up, and it says here that he will. Great players find a way to work it out. We've already delved into the "what's wrong with Kemba" thing, so we're not going to spend too much time on that again. The one alarming thing lately, though, has been Walker's woes at the foul line.

Over his last six games, Walker is shooting 55 percent (17-for-31) from the charity stripe. In his last three games, he's hitting just 40 percent (6-for-15). And he's missing some big ones, too (like those three in a row late in the game against Seton Hall).

So what's going on?

"I don't know what's going on at the free throw line," Walker said on Thursday night. "I think I'm thinking a little bit too much, because I have been missing lately. I think I'm just over-thinking it. I'm just going to keep working on it."

It's worth noting that Walker didn't look like a defeated man after Thursday's game. Rather, he was surprisingly positive and upbeat about both himself and his team -- as if he realized that both would straighten out of their recent respective ruts.

Would you bet against him?