Manhattan ? He hangs in the air so long it almost seems inevitable somebody is going to foul him before he lands, unless, that is, Bill “Sky” Walker decides to pass from way up there, as he did during Sunday’s memorable debut in Bramlage Coliseum.

Walker is supposed to be a senior in high school. He was ruled ineligible because he played for his high school team in eighth grade, so he finished school early, enrolled at Kansas State, began practicing Saturday and became team leader by Sunday.

Early in his debut, Walker was above the rim, had the ball in his hands, his back to the basket, and had the presence of mind to feed an underhanded pass to teammate Cartier Martin.

That play drew the biggest ovation of the first half for Walker, who in an 82-54 rout of Kennesaw State scored 15 points in 22 minutes. Walker’s 10 points in 11 minutes sparked K-State to a 55-19 halftime lead.

The biggest ovation for him came after taped messages of players revealing what they want for Christmas played on the video board. Teammates said they wanted to be with their families, and a couple of them wished for winning the upcoming tournament in Las Vegas. Revealing he not only was overflowing with confidence but already had a great feel for how to play to a crowd, Walker said: “All I want for Christmas is a national championship.”

The place erupted.

Walker flies high above the rim and sets his expectations even higher. That’s cool with teammates, who neither sounded nor looked like they had any problem with playing supporting roles to a player who once had 50 points and 25 rebounds in a high school game.

“I’m glad he’s making goals like that,” said Martin, the team’s leading scorer. “It rubs off on all of us.”

Walker seemed surprised at the surprise over his wish, saying, “That’s what I try for. I want to be a winner. Why not go for the whole thing?”

Senior Lance Harris summed up Walker’s game: “How athletic he is, how big he is, how strong he goes to the cup at a young age, it’s something I’ve never seen.”

A 6-foot-6 native of Cincinnati and a high school teammate of O.J. Mayo, Walker stays suspended in the air for what seems like forever. When he flings up shots, even when fouled, they tend to roll around the rim softly and ride the shooter’s bounce through the net.

In junior David Hoskins, Martin and Harris, K-State has three good ones. In rapidly improving 7-foot-3 freshman center Jason Bennett, the Wildcats have an active shot-blocker. Still, they lacked a star. Not anymore.

Confident without being obnoxious, Walker flashes a highlight one minute, a willingness to make the simple play the next. Leading a fast break in the second half, he stopped at the foul line and fed cutting Clent Stewart for an easy bucket. A less disciplined skywalker would have been whistled for a charge reaching for the SportsCenter jam.

First-year K-State coach Bob Huggins pointed to how much better Bennett had become in such a short time in predicting improvement for Walker.

“There are things he’s going to have to do,” Huggins said. “It isn’t high school anymore. He can’t just rely on athleticism. The good thing is he wants to do it. He wants to be coached.”

And Walker’s teammates want to be led.