Walter Clayton Jr.'s NBA Draft stock keeps rising as Florida-Houston title game looms

New York Times

07-04-2025

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No spoilers on the season finale of 'The White Lotus,' but whether or not you liked this season, we can all agree that Duke coming out and essentially speaking out against the memes being posted after they choked Saturday night is objectively hilarious.
Florida takes on Houston for the men's title
Tonight, we're going to have the Florida Gators and the Houston Cougars playing for the men's national championship (8:50 p.m. on CBS). After one of those historic, all No. 1 seed Final Fours, I'm not sure how many people expected this matchup. The Gators play an extremely fun brand of basketball, as they showed off in battling Auburn on Saturday. Houston ran off an improbable and historic comeback to take out the favorite, Duke. Let's get you ready for tonight's title game.
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How did Houston get here? The biggest comeback in Final Four history. (Read more about it here. It's worth your time!) The Cougars were down 14 points in the second half to the best team in the country. The Blue Devils, sporting the player of the year in Cooper Flagg, were rolling against a very good Cougars team who just couldn't match the firepower of Duke. Flagg was on his way to a 27-point effort, and Duke led 59-45 with 8:17 left in the game. Then, Houston started chipping away.
Duke was up six with the ball with 74 seconds left. Kon Knueppel got blocked on a layup by JoJo Tugler with 47 seconds left. Emmanuel Sharp cut the deficit to three with 33 seconds left. Duke turnover. Tugler scored on an offensive rebound with 25 seconds left to cut it to one. Tyrese Proctor missed the front-end of a one-and-one, and a weak foul was called on Flagg on the rebound. J'Wan Roberts, a career 59 percent free-throw shooter, knocked down both of the biggest free throws of his life to give Houston a one point lead with 19 seconds left.
Then, Flagg (remember just barely 18 years old) came up short on a mid-range jumper, LJ Cryer made two free throws and Duke was stunned in defeat. They had a 92.5 percent chance of winning with 47 seconds left and will not play tonight. When informed the 14-point comeback was the biggest in Final Four history, Kelvin Sampson said, 'Good thing it wasn't 17.'
How did Florida get here? Going into halftime, I remember thinking that Florida seemed a little lucky to be down just eight points to Auburn It felt like the Tigers were controlling the game, but the outside shooting wasn't there to bury the Gators. Then, in the blink of an eye early in the second half, the Gators went on an 11-0 run to take the lead. Now it was a party, and it was going to come down to which star for each team was going to step up and make plays.
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Luckily for Florida, they have Walter Clayton Jr. to do that. He's been a star of the tournament, and I have to imagine his draft stock is shooting way up the charts. He scored 34 points in the game on 11-of-18 shooting. The 22-year-old looked like an NBA player. He composed himself like an NBA player, and he was just better than everybody else. That wasn't some young team he beat either. The average age of the Tigers' starting five is around the same as the Oklahoma City Thunder's.
By the end of the night, everybody was raving about Clayton and wondering how Houston is going to stop him if they hope to win the national championship. Let's break it down.
Outside of Clayton, who needs to step up for the Gators? Alex Condon is going to have to be big on the boards and control the paint. Alijah Martin had some exciting dunks, and he has to galvanize this team with his energy and play.
Is it on Cryer to keep up with Clayton? He had 26 points against Duke, and he's more than capable of knocking down 3-pointers all night long. Terrance Arceneaux was scoreless against Duke, and Milos Uzan shot poorly. This may come down to which guard gets hotter.
Key to winning? Houston had 18 offensive boards against Duke. Florida is the third-best rebounding team in the country. The boards could decide this.
Florida last won it? Back-to-back in 2006 and 2007 with Billy Donovan at the helm.
Houston last won it? Never. Lost back-to-back national title games in 1983 and 1984.
Who is the favorite? Florida is favored by 1.5 points.
Who is the pick? Chomp chomp. 🐊 (I know it's a crocodile emoji, but just work with me here)
We have a star-studded 2025 Hall of Fame class
🏀 Newly elected. The 2025 Basketball Hall of Famers have been announced. Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Sue Bird and the Redeem Team are in.
🏆 LeCo-Sign? Everybody is trying to figure out if the Warriors are title contenders. LeBron James seems to think so.
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🤝 Who is he? Everybody wants to know this new mystery Grizzlies coach. Meet Tuomas Iisalo.
🌍 Globalization. The new proposed league in Europe is big for the NBA's future. Here's why Adam Silver believes in it.
🎧 Tuning in. Today's NBA Daily examines Giannis Antetokounmpo's future with the Bucks if the team has a short playoff run.
📺 NBA TV game. Kings (38-40) at Pistons (43-35), 7 p.m. ET on NBA TV or Fubo (try it free!). This is a good warmup before the national title game.
📺 League Pass game. 76ers (23-55) at Heat (35-43), 7:30 p.m. ET on League Pass (get it here). You really must love Quentin Grimes or Kel'el Ware to watch this.
Paige Bueckers gets her ring as UConn returns
We thought we were going to get an epic showdown between the UConn women Huskies and the South Carolina women Gamecocks. UConn's women haven't won the championship since 2016, when they finished off a 4-peat. South Carolina had won two of the last three titles and were looking to establish themselves as the new dynasty in women's college hoops. Instead, UConn obliterated South Carolina and made it a frustrating blowout for the Gamecocks by the end of the third quarter.
It was a passing of the torch, too – but not from South Carolina to UConn. But as Paige Bueckers finally delivered the championship so many people assumed she would bring the Huskies program when she first started playing for UConn back in 2020, a new star was born for the program. Bueckers had 17 points, and her backcourt mate Azzi Fudd was tremendous with 24 points. However, it was Sarah Strong, the freshman forward, who finished her historic season.
She had 24 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals in a dominant performance. Bueckers is going to be the top pick in the WNBA Draft on April 16. Maybe a couple years from now, Strong will follow in her footsteps as another top pick. She's going to be a terror for college basketball for at least two more seasons.
Staying out of West Play-In has these teams hot!
Hey, not all stock reports are terrible! Some are hopeful! This week's NBA Stock Report should provide plenty of hope for some teams trending in the right direction in the final week of the season.
📈 Race for the 5 and 6 seeds in the West: I couldn't choose between singling out either the Warriors (46-32), Timberwolves (46-32) or Clippers (46-32). The Warriors have won five of their last six games. The Wolves have won six of their last seven games. And the Clippers have really been streaking, winning 14 of their last 17 games. Two of these teams could avoid the Play-In.
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📉 Suns (35-43): Since Kevin Durant turned his ankle, the Suns have been free-falling. They've lost six straight games, and face Golden State and OKC in their next two. They're 2.5 games behind Dallas for the No. 10 spot in the West with four games left to play. The Suns are 2-14 when Durant doesn't play, 33-29 when he does. That is the difference right there in why they're about to miss the Play-In.
📈 Rockets (51-27): Since losing three straight at the beginning of March, the Rockets have been blasting off. They've won 15 of their last 17 games, and are just about to secure the No. 2 seed in the West. Alperen Şengün continues to play All-NBA level ball. Jabari Smith Jr. has been excellent since he shifted to coming off the bench. This Rockets team is tough, plays defense and is a little hot shooting away from a deep playoff run.
📉 The Hawks (37-41) are still struggling lately. They've won just two of their last seven games, and it's why they've currently relinquished home court in a potential 7-8 matchup with Orlando in the Play-In Tournament. They play Orlando twice in their final four games here. But their defense has been the fifth-worst in the NBA over the last two weeks.
📈 Knicks (50-28): New York has won seven of its last nine games, putting to rest any idea that it might lose the No. 3 seed in the East. The majority of this nine-game stretch happened without Jalen Brunson, who missed 15 straight games with an ankle injury. The Knicks got some good news, though. He returned Sunday in the win over Phoenix.
📉 The Nuggets (47-32) have now lost four straight games, which isn't a total disaster until you realize they had a chance at the No. 2 seed like a week and a half ago. Now they're trying to stay out of the Play-In Tournament. They're not sure if they'll get Jamal Murray (hamstring) back on the court before postseason action begins.
Just to update you on the absurdity of the West playoff race, let's take a look at Playoff Picture (via the NBA):
Graphic design is my passion.
The Clippers, Warriors, Wolves and Grizzlies all have the exact same record. When it was just the Wolves, Grizzlies, and Grizzlies, the tie-breakers pushed the Wolves ahead of the other two. With a four-way tie including the Warriors, the Clippers now get pushed up to fifth. Denver is a half game ahead of them, and the Lakers are two games ahead of this madness.
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