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Walter Clayton Jr. earns NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Walter Clayton Jr. only scored 11 points in Monday’s NCAA Tournament title game over Houston.
If I told you that stat before tipoff, you’d have assumed Florida lost to the Cougars and it was Kelvin Sampson and company cutting down the nets in San Antonio.
Instead, Todd Golden and the Gators came from behind yet again to take down Houston. It took a heroic effort from Will Richard, who picked up the offensive slack, scoring 18 points to lead Florida.
Clayton, based on his incredible tournament run, was named the Most Outstanding Player in the aftermath of Florida’s win, and deservedly so. When you do something that hasn’t been done since Larry Bird, you’re a special player.
So even if most would acknowledge that Richard was the star on Monday, Clayton’s body of work over the course of the entire NCAA Tournament earned him the MOP trophy.
Clayton didn’t make a shot from the floor until midway through the second half against Houston. But he still found ways to impact the game, dishing out 7 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds.
The SEC put a record 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament field and followed that up with a record 7 teams in the Sweet 16. On Monday night, an SEC team was the last squad standing, thanks in large part to Walter Clayton Jr.
This March Madness run will go down as one of the all-time greats.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
