For Clayton, this national championship is sweeter for having chased his heart’s desire

Walter Clayton, Jr. stands atop ladder after cutting remnants of net following Florida’s national championship win. Former Iona Gael, who passed on chance to play football at Georgia, finally has his title after chasing his dream and passion. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

SAN ANTONIO — Walter Clayton, Jr.’s backstory is now much more widely known than it was four years ago.

By now, everyone understands that Clayton was an all-state high school football player in his native Florida. That he received a number of high-major FBS offers after winning a state title. Schools like Georgia, Notre Dame, Tennessee and others were interested in making the defensive back a cornerstone of their secondary for years to come.

Clayton, as we all know, had other ideas. He loved basketball more, and when the time was right, followed his heart. As it turned out, he could have won two national championships on the gridiron had he signed with Kirby Smart and Georgia, who won back-to-back titles in Clayton’s freshman and sophomore years. Instead, he took a chance on Iona and honed his craft under the Hall of Fame aegis of Rick Pitino.

The accolades accrued just the same on the hardwood. All-rookie as a freshman. MAAC Player of the Year the following year. The first of three NCAA Tournaments shortly thereafter. They continued after a well-documented recruiting battle when Clayton entered the transfer portal, ultimately choosing to be closer to home, his family, and his then-newborn daughter when he picked the University of Florida rather than stay with Pitino, who had taken the job at St. John’s by that point.

Clayton ascended into an astral plane in his senior year after a first-round March Madness exit last season. First team All-American, the first such Gator to receive that distinction. And now, the kid who passed up two national championships in the sport that made him a name has one in the sport he loves best.

Walter Clayton, Jr. National champion.

“That’s a feeling I can’t even explain,” he said amid the euphoria of Florida defeating Houston to win its third title all-time and first since 2007. “We’ve been saying all year our motto is, ‘we can all go.’ It’s not just about me. We’ve got multiple guys that can go get a bucket and do anything. My team helped me hold it down until I was able to go get a bucket.”

Clayton needed his teammates through an atypical first half in which he was shut out, the product of stifling Houston defense and Florida being lured into the methodical, grinding style of the Cougars. The lack of a crooked number on the scoreboard masked an understated contribution, however: Clayton had five of his seven assists in the opening stanza. In the second half, the master of almost every clutch moment this postseason for the Gators donned the cape one more time and went to work.

It took five minutes for Clayton to get on the board out of the locker room, doing so on a pair of free throws. Seven minutes later, he made arguably the defining play at that point in the game, drawing a foul on a scoop layup to turn it into a 3-point play and tie the score at 48, punctuating a 14-3 Florida run to erase an 11-point deficit. He struck again on another conventional three-point turn 52 seconds after that to knot the proceedings again at 51 apiece. Then, his final field goal was another equalizer, a triple—the 62nd consecutive game in which he drained one—to forge a 60-all deadlock with 3:14 remaining in regulation.

But fittingly, it was the all-state defensive back playing defense that won the game for his team. Up 65-63 with 19.7 seconds left and Houston holding for the tie or win, Clayton found himself guarding Emanuel Sharp, one of Houston’s best shooters. The Cougars did not necessarily need a three, but thanks to Clayton, did not even get a shot off inside the arc as the point guard broke Sharp’s momentum, allowing Alex Condon to secure the championship-clinching steal.

“A lot going on,” Clayton said of the final possession. “I felt like we were gonna get something from (L.J.) Cryer or (J’Wan) Roberts. Sharp kind of crept down to the baseline (and) I saw a back screen. Sharp ended up slipping it, set elevator screens. We work on it in practice, closing out, jumping to the side so you don’t foul the shooter. He pump faked, threw the ball down, it ended up being a good play (and) we won the game.”

And so it goes for the native Floridian, whose upbringing in Lake Wales and Bartow is no stranger to breeding successful athletes, as Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady hails from Bartow as well. Clayton cited the importance of family in his life leading up to the Final Four, and in true family fashion, credited each member for stepping up and adding to a winning cause.

“Tonight was nothing different,” he said. “The way we won tonight, it’s just an exclamation mark on the year. It’s great to win like that, knowing the fact that we’re a brotherhood together and we’ve been picking each other up all year.”

As for the long-awaited chance to hoist that which he could have had in another sport had he decided to take that fork in the road four years ago?

“The feeling is just surreal,” Clayton gushed. “It’s a crazy feeling, I can’t even explain it. But it feels good, though.”

Good things come to those who wait.