Walter Clayton declares for the NBA, no need for UF fans to panic

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:

Photo Credit UAA

Walter Clayton Jr. declared for the NBA Draft Monday which sent immediate waves of panic through the Gator Nation. No need. At least not yet.

Clayton, who averaged 17.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, tweeted that he holds the option to return to college basketball and if he does that, it will be back to UF. Clayton has until June 12 to make his mind.

This is not unusual. By declaring for the draft, Clayton can go to combines and work out individually for NBA teams. The feedback he receives will allow him to determine if he wants to stay in the draft or return for his final season of college basketball. The NBA Draft is two rounds in which 60 players are taken. Clayton neither listed among the top 100 prospects by ESPN nor the top 60 by Sporting News.

If Clayton isn’t drafted he could sign a G-League contract where average salaries run about $42,000. Clayton allegedly makes much more than that from NIL money at Florida, so unless he gets assurances that he will be taken in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft, figure he will be back at Florida.

UF SOFTBALL: Gators win in 8, take series from LSU

There is no way to script what happened to the Florida Gators in eight innings Monday night at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. With the score tied at 5-5 and runners on second and third with two outs, Skylar Wallace swung and missed at strike three in the dirt. Wallace took off running but LSU catcher Maci Bergeron overthrew first base allowing Brooke Barnard to score for a 6-5 Florida (34-6, 9-3 SEC) win.

Florida trailed the Tigers (21-6, 9-6 SEC) 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth but the Gators loaded the bases and pushed across a run when Ava Brown’s grounder to second was mishandled on a throw home. Two outs later, Kendra Falby tripled to left center to clear the bases and tie the score at 5-5. It was Falby who doubled with two down in the bottom of the eighth to send Barnard to third.

By winning the series, the Gators remained one game behind SEC leader Tennessee. The Gators will be home Wednesday night against South Florida and return to SEC action at Missouri on Friday.

SEC standings: 1. Tennessee (29-6, 10-2 SEC); 2. FLORIDA (34-6, 9-3 SEC); 3. Texas A&M (31-8, 10-5 SEC); 4. LSU (31-6, 9-6 SEC); 5. (TIE) Georgia (31-8, 7-5 SEC) and Arkansas (28-10, 7-5 SEC); 7. Mississippi State (28-10, 8-7 SEC); 8. Alabama (29-8, 6-6 SEC); 9. Missouri (30-10, 5-7 SEC); 10. South Carolina (27-12-1, 4-8 SEC); 11. (TIE) Kentucky (24-14, 3-9 SEC) and Auburn (20-12-1, 3-9 SEC); 13. Ole Miss (20-18-1, 3-12 SEC)

UF BASEBALL: Gators try to end 3-game skid at FSU

Fresh off a rather shocking 3-game sweep at the hands of Missouri over the weekend, the Gators will try to break two losing skids tonight (7 p.m., ESPN) in Tallahassee. First there is the 3-game losing streak at the hands of Missouri and second there is the matter of a 2-game losing streak to Florida State. The Gators (17-14) will be trying to avoid being swept by the 10th-ranked Seminoles (26-5).

Despite losing three one-run games to Missouri, which came into the series with only one SEC win, the Gators remained ranked in two of the three major polls. Florida dropped won to No. 18 in the USA Today/Coaches top 25 and to No. 24 in the D1Baseball poll.

USA Today/Coaches top 25: 1. Arkansas 27-3; 2. Clemson 28-3; 3. Texas A&M 28-4; 4. Tennessee 26-6; 5. Oregon State 26-4; 6. Vanderbilt 25-7; 7. Duke 24-8; 8. Kentucky 27-4; 9. Florida State 26-5; 10. Virginia 25-7; 11. East Carolina 23-7; 12. North Carolina 26-6; 13. Dallas Baptist 25-6; 14. UC-Irvine 24-4; 15. Wake Forest 21-10; 16. Virginia Tech 21-8; 17. Alabama 22-10; 18. FLORIDA 17-14; 19. UCF 21-8; 20. Coastal Carolina 22-9; 21. Nebraska 22-7; 22. Oregon 22-8; 23. Mississippi State 21-12; 24. Louisiana 24-8; 25. Oklahoma State 21-11

D1Baseball top 25: 1. Arkansas 27-3; 2. Clemson 28-3; 3. Texas A&M 28-4; 4. Tennessee 26-6; 5. Oregon State 26-4; 6. Vanderbilt 25-7; 7. Duke 24-8; 8. Kentucky 27-4; 9. East Carolina 23-7; 10. Florida State 26-5; 11. Virginia 25-7; 12. UC-Irvine 24-4; 13. North Carolina 26-6; 14. Wake Forest 21-10; 15. Dallas Baptist 25-6; 16. Virginia Tech 21-8; 17. UCF 21-8; 18. Oregon 22-8; 19. Louisiana 24-8; 20. Coastal Carolina 22-9; 21. Oklahoma State 21-11; 22. Mississippi State 21-12; 23. Nebraska 21-7; 24. FLORIDA 17-14; 25. Alabama 22-10

Baseball America top 25: 1. Arkansas 27-3; 2. Clemson 28-3; 3. Texas A&M 28-4; 4. Tennessee 26-6; 5. Vanderbilt 25-7; 6. Duke 24-8; 7. Florida State 26-5; 8. Oregon State 26-4; 9. Virginia 25-7; 10. Kentucky 27-4; 11. UC-Irvine 24-4; 12. East Carolina 23-7; 13. Dallas Baptist 25-6; 14. North Carolina 26-6; 15. Mississippi State 21-12; 16. Alabama 22-10; 17. Oregon 22-8; 18. Wake Forest 21-10; 19. UCF 21-8; 20. Virginia Tech 21-8; 21. Nebraska 22-7; 22. Coastal Carolina 22-9; 23. Oklahoma State 21-11; 24. Louisiana 24-8; 25. South Carolina 22-10

UF MEN’S GOLF: Gators lead by 11 strokes at Calusa Cup

The Gators turned in a 2-under par 286 Monday to stretch their lead to 11 strokes over second place Purdue at the Calusa Cup in Naples. With a 2-day total of 139 (5-under), Jack Turner is tied for first on the individual leaderboard. Parker Bell shot a 4-under 68 Monday to move into sole possession of fifth at -2.

Team leaderboard: 1. FLORIDA -7; 2. Purdue +4; 3. Wake Forest +9; 4. (TIE) Miami (OH) and Georgia Tech +13; 6. Iowa +15; 7. Georgia +16; 8. Nebraska +33

BASKETBALL STUFF: UConn men, South Carolina women, Calipari fallout

The UConn men became only the eighth team in college basketball history and the first since Florida 2006-07 to repeat as national champions Monday night. The Huskies beat Purdue, 75-60, completing a dominant run to the national title in which UConn outscored its six NCAA Tournament opponents by a combined 140 points. It is the sixth national championship for the Huskies, their fifth since 2000, which makes both the UConn men and women (11 national championships, 10 since 2000) the top basketball programs in the country.

Give credit to UConn coach Danny Hurley for a great game plan. The Huskies challenged 7-5 Zach Edey enough to throw him off, but their real defensive focus was on the Purdue guards. Purdue managed just 1-7 from the 3-point line. UConn went 6-22, which isn’t a great percentage, but it was an 18-3 differential. Imagine that. Fifteen points, the final margin of the game.

Dawn Staley and South Carolina upheld the SEC banner by finishing off a 38-0 season by taking out Iowa and Caitlyn Clark, 87-75. Of South Carolina’s 38 wins, 34 were by 10 or more points, which is phenomenal. Kudos to Dawn Staley for recognizing how Caitlyn Clark raised the awareness of the women’s game. The South Carolina-Iowa game drew more than 18 million viewers and is the most watched women’s game in history.

Clark will be in the WNBA next year, leaving a huge void that someone will have to fill in the college game. Is there a player with Clark’s charisma and ability to score in clusters? And, if Clark isn’t an instant star in the WNBA will the interest in the league fall back to current levels? Things that make you go hmmm.

Meanwhile, the folks in Arkansas are thrilled beyond belief and the same folks in Kentucky who were wildly critical of John Calipari a few weeks ago are acting like a bride jilted on the altar. Let’s get real here. Nobody held a gun to UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart’s head and made him give Cal a lifetime contract with a ridiculous $33 million buyout. Cal would have been stupid to turn it down, but when Mitch didn’t sound all that enthused about Calipari staying another year on the job, it provided the incentive to move on to greener pastures.

Calipari gets a fresh start in Arkansas which has the resources and the willingness to spend whatever it takes to win championships. Given the preponderance of gozillionaires in Arkansas with names like Walton, Reynolds, Tyson, Stevens, Jones and Baum and no NIL rules, figure Cal has the ammunition he needs to buy the best team in the country.

Meanwhile, Kentucky is scrambling to find a coach that will light a fire under a fan base that feels entitled to win national championships. Billy Donovan is at the top of the list and I would bet the farm he will say thankee but no thankee. The next two calls will probably go to Danny Hurley at UConn and Scott Drew at Baylor. Danny Hurley coaches in a football wasteland. UConn fans live for basketball, whether it’s the men or the women. Baylor built Drew a $200 million state of the art arena in downtown, named after a couple who wrote a $100 million check as a down payment.

If you bet on such things, then put your money on Kentucky going down on strikes with its first three calls. My instincts tell me that after UK whiffs three times, the focus will be on Iowa State’s TJ Otzelberger and Chris Beard of Ole Miss.

THINGS PEOPLE ARE SAYING …

Pat Forde (Sports Illustrated) about the troubling future of college athletics:

“Something akin to the psychological concept of diffusion of responsibility is killing college athletics. When nobody is accountable for antisocial behavior – such as discreetly destroying and/or destabilizing conferences – bad things go unchecked. The entire industry is crying out for help, but nobody in the crowd is willing to act. Everyone is waiting for someone else to do the first right thing, and none of them are moving a muscle.

“The NCAA is powerless to make its member conferences cooperate in a mutually beneficial way. President Charlie Baker said in a statement last year that he is concerned about realignment, but concern doesn’t equate to actual authority to do anything about it.”

Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN) responding to Florida State fans:

“Ya know I’ve been taking personal shots from guys like you for months. “I know there’s nothing I can say that will satisfy you but I would like to respond… “Just want you to know I’m sorry we had a disagreement about teams at the end of the year. I’ve never been a guy that tries to intentionally upset fans with my comments – I’ve always tried to be very professional and respectful to everyone with my thoughts. I do a lot of prep and just give my thoughts. If you agree or disagree it’s all good. Nothing has ever been personal towards any team or conference. Just give my opinion.”

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Since 2001 Danny Hurley has signed one 5-star prospect at UConn, Stephon Castle, who was a major contributor as a freshman in the Huskies’ run to the NCAA championship. When Zach Edey signed with Purdue in 2020, he was a 3-star prospect out of Canada and IMG Academy. The most recent (2024) signing class is ranked 13th and the first top 20 class Painter has recruited since his 2012 class was ranked 15th.  

Florida fans should pay attention to both Hurley and Painter, who are living proof that winning big has more to do with recruiting players that best fit your system whether high school recruits or from the portal. If it was simply about who signed the most 5-stars then Kentucky and Duke would win every national championship.

There will probably come a time in the near future in which Todd Golden will sign his first 5-star recruit to Florida. The Gators are going to win a lot of games and their high-scoring style is going to be very attractive to very talented high school kids but don’t expect Golden to deviate too much from the system he has working. Florida is never going to be a magnet for the 5-star kids. They’ll choose the blue bloods like Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina, but ask yourself this question. Did Kentucky, Duke or North Carolina make the Final Four? Alabama did and results tell you Florida was a better team than the Crimson Tide.

It's worth mentioning Golden’s system and approach to recruiting because the portal is wide open and Florida will indeed load up on players that are good fits to be Gators.