The NCAA Tournament has always been a great avenue for college players to boost their NBA draft stock, and that has been the case in the 2025 edition of the Big Dance for Florida basketball star Walter Clayton Jr., who led the Gators to a national title.

On Monday, Clayton and the Gators defeated the Houston Cougars, 65-63, at the Alamodome in San Antonio to take home Florida's first NCAA Tournament championship since 2007. At the same time, Florida's victory capped Clayton's unforgettable March Madness run, one that seemingly propelled him up many mock draft boards.

“He's had the best six weeks of any player in the country and has taken himself from a late second round pick to a no brainer first round pick,” said an anonymous scout (h/t Adam Finkelstein of CBS Sports).

From another scout: “He's multiplied his draft stock significantly. What he's showing with how dynamic of a shot creator that he is and not just a shooter and play finisher, it's going to put him in a spot that we have to talk about him as a lottery level talent.”

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Clayton did not exactly have an explosive performance in the title game versus the harassing defense of the Cougars, scoring just 11 points on a 3-for-10 shooting from the floor and 1-for-7 from behind the arc. But he already made a great case for his NBA draft outlook in the games leading up to the national championship game. He scored 23 points in each of Florida basketball's first two games in the tourney, including in the second round, where the Gators ended the three-peat hopes of Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies.

After a 13-point outing to help Florida oust the Maryland Terrapins in the Sweet 16 round, Clayton went off for 30 points on 7-for-14 shooting with three 3-pointers in the win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Elite Eight. He did not stop there. Clayton smoked the Auburn Tigers for 34 points on 11-for-18 shooting with five triples in the national semifinal round, becoming just the first player since someone named Larry Bird in 1979 to have back-to-back 30-point outings in the Elite Eight and Final Four.

Clayton is a genuine scorer, and while the 6-2 guard is considered by many as undersized, he's a terrific shooter, who shot 38.6 percent from 3-point range in four years in college, including two with the Iona Gaels.