Florida’s star guard is a projected lottery pick after an historic NCAA Tournament run with the Gators
In the span of less than three weeks, Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. has risen from a projected second-round pick with promise to a sure first-round pick who may be a candidate to leap into the lottery discussion. That’s how good — no, that’s how great — he was for the Gators during their NCAA Tournament run that concluded Monday with a national title.
Clayton averaged 22.3 points and 3.3 assists per game in six NCAA Tournament wins and shot a scorching 43.5% from 3-point range in the process. In those games, he scored a career-high 34 points vs. Auburn in the Final Four in helping erase a 9-point deficit, scored 30 points vs. Texas Tech (22 in the second half) to erase a 10-point deficit and scored 11 second-half points Monday in digging out of a 12-point hole vs. Houston.
All told: he scored 53 points in the second half alone in the Elite Eight, Final Four and title game. Florida won each game despite trailing in the second half of every contest.
Rarely do we see a prospect make such a meteoric rise at any point in the season, much less during the NCAA Tournament. But rarely do we see a player produce such magic in March like Clayton.
He has earned him so much attention that in six short games, with his freewheeling style and scoring range that spans the entire continental United States, he’s now into my latest lottery projections. The last player to make hay in such a big spotlight from a fringe prospect to the first round is probably Shabazz Napier, who led UConn to a title in 2014 and was selected No. 24 overall.
That feels like the floor for Clayton.
My latest first-round mock is below with a fresh look at the landscape in the aftermath of a momentous March Madness. Order is set via projections from Tankathon.
