SAN ANTONIO — Walter Clayton Jr. could barely move an inch without being swarmed by reporters. Orange and blue confetti blanketed the court beneath him. In his hands was the national championship trophy, which Florida had earned with a thrilling 65-63 victory over Houston just thirty minutes earlier.
Amid the chaos, Clayton carved out some space to take pictures with his family, including 1-year-old daughter Leilani, who was allowed to stay up way past her bedtime to watch dad etch his name in college basketball history.
Clayton, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, capping a remarkable NCAA Tournament run. Surrounded by loved ones with a championship hat tilted sideways on his head, he finally could crack a smile after wearing a stern, cold-blooded expression for the past several hours. A weight had been lifted. He had reached the mountaintop he had been chasing for so long.
“Seven days a week. Travel ball starting at 8 years old. Long weekends of nothing but basketball. Every day he went,” Cherie Quarg, Clayton’s mom, told Hoops HQ, reflecting on her son’s journey. “Travel ball, practice, him going to the court. He deserves it all. He worked for it. He worked his ass off for it.”
Quarg had cried before coming to the arena for the game, overwhelmed by all that has transpired over the last few weeks. Now standing on the floor and watching her son celebrate the title, she felt “every emotion possible.”
“I’m ecstatic,” Walter Clayton Sr. added. “I’m super proud of him because I know the hard work he put in. I’m just proud to see him get to this point and succeed. It’s everything he deserves because he worked so hard. He got rid of all the doubters. You got to believe now.”
Clayton himself described the moment the final buzzer sounded as “surreal.” On the final possession, Houston ran an action for 6-foot-3 junior guard Emanuel Sharp, who sprung free for a second and rose for a three-pointer before Clayton leapt out to contest, causing Sharp to rethink his decision and simply drop the ball. As players scrambled to retrieve it, the clock expired.
“We work on it in practice, closing out, jumping to the side so you don’t foul the shooter,” Clayton said. “Honestly, my mind was just a little blank. Trying to get a stop. We ended up getting it, getting the win. Happy we got that done.” (Cameras also caught Clayton consoling a heartbroken Sharp before the trophy presentation.)
After consecutive 30-point performances in the Elite Eight and national semifinal (making him the first player since Larry Bird in 1979 to do so), Clayton was scoreless at halftime against the Cougars. He had attempted just four shots, all from well behind the arc. Houston’s signature aggressive defense, particularly in pick and rolls, was forcing him to get rid of the ball. He did have five assists, but Florida scored just 28 points and trailed by three heading into the break.
Everyone in the Alamodome was waiting … and waiting … and waiting for him to come alive. “It definitely was intense and I was nervous there for a little while, but I wasn’t worried about Walter’s scoring or not hitting like he normally does,” Quarg said. “I wasn’t worried at all about that.”
And then it happened. With just under eight minutes remaining, Clayton exploded to the rim and finished a lefty layup — plus a foul — for his first field goal. His free throw tied the game at 48.
Fifty seconds later, another and-one.
At the 3:14 mark, a huge three-pointer to knot the score at 60.
In the end, Clayton had 11 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, a block, a steal and the clutch defensive stop that sealed the victory and delivered the Gators their first national championship since winning back-to-back in 2006 and ’07. Multiple members of those title teams were in the building, including center Al Horford, who raved about Clayton’s performance.
“He’s just a winner and I think he proved it tonight,” Horford told Hoops HQ. “He didn’t have to score 30 points, but his impact was still felt. He was getting his teammates involved, getting assists, and then when he needed to score in big moments, he did. That’s what being a winner is all about.”
Taurean Green, the point guard of those two title squads and now an assistant for the Gators, echoed his former teammate. “He’s a big-timer, man. He lives for the moment,” Green said about Clayton. “And he turned it on, got comfortable with how they were playing, figured it out, manipulated the defense in so many ways, made big baskets. He’s a gamer. That’s why he’s the best college basketball player this year.”
Carmelo Anthony in 2003. Kemba Walker in 2011. Anthony Davis in 2012. Shabazz Napier in 2014. Clayton’s name deserves to be mentioned among the greatest individual NCAA Tournament runs of the past quarter-century. Through six games, Clayton averaged 22.3 points, 3.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds, while shooting 47.4 percent from the field, 43.5 percent from three and 91.3 percent from the line.
He consistently showed up in the biggest moments, when the pressure was at its highest. In the Round of 32, Florida trailed No. 8 seed UConn 61-59 with 2:54 remaining when Clayton took over, hitting two massive three-pointers to lift Florida to a 77-75 victory. He put on his cape again in the Elite Eight, scoring 10 of his 30 points in the final 3:35 as the Gators pulled off a stunning comeback against No. 3 seed Texas Tech. And in a closely contested national semifinal with Auburn, Clayton poured in a career-high 34 points on 11-of-18 shooting.
It has been an incredible rise for a former football star who, as a junior in high school, made the shocking decision to go all in on basketball. At the time, Clayton had received numerous scholarship offers to play football at powerhouses like Florida, Georgia and Notre Dame, but he wasn’t on the radar of any Division I basketball programs. His recruitment was affected by COVID and he never attracted attention from high majors, despite winning two state championships at Bartow (Fla.) High. He ended up at Iona, where he got the opportunity to play for legendary coach Rick Pitino. Following a breakout sophomore season, he entered the transfer portal and committed to Florida. During that roller coaster of a journey, Clayton’s belief in himself — and his work — never wavered. “I’ve always believed that I could go as far as I wanted to go,” Clayton told Hoops HQ.
“He’s a gym rat,” said Terrence McGriff, Clayton’s coach at Bartow. “Once he made the decision to go all in with basketball, he has worked to be a great player. He earned it. Nothing’s been given to him. He’s had to fight and scrap.”
Shortly after Clayton was named Most Outstanding Player, McGriff texted Hoops HQ, “Surreal to watch him live out his dream. He believes in team. And unity. And the team lifted him and the trophy.”
As the on-court celebration continued and Clayton was engulfed by media, Quarg stood off to the side, taking in the scene. Asked to reflect on the sacrifices her son made to reach this point, she smiled and said, “It was all worth it.”
