Gainesville is about an hour from Orlando. Florida Gators fans are throughout Central Florida. It was easy for them to be wrapped up in the excitement of their national championship run.
The Venn diagram of Orlando Magic fans and Florida Gators fans is not quite a circle, but it is a pretty wide oval. And so it was no surprise that the hero of the Gators' national championship run has quickly shot up the fan-favorite draft board.
Indeed, among the draft prospects I get asked about on social media, even before they lifted the championship trophy, Gators senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. is near the top.
It is not hard to see why.
Clayton is a dynamic scorer who can create his own shot, hit from three and lead a team. The point guard on a national championship team is not a player to look past. Especially considering where Clayton came from, how long it took him to reach the top and the consistency he played with in three years in Gainesville.
As Clayton's draft stock rose through his NCAA Tournament run, it became impossible not to link the two teams together again. Clayton has the exact skills the Magic need.
That interest appears not just to be fan matchmaking. There appears to be some water behind it, as Gators coach Todd Golden explained on Run It Back on FanDuel TV.
"The jump that he's made over the last 12 months, I don't think has been appreciated," Golden said. "Obviously, he was the darling of the NCAA Tournament and put us on his back at times and finished games for us and deserved to win Most Outstanding Player. I think he is a remarkable basketball player. He can shot-make with the best of them.
"One of the teams that always wins will figure it out and take him. I know the Magic really like him, and they have two picks in the first round. One of those teams that really values a winning player, a guy who has a really good attitude and has won at the highest level in college, I think someone will figure it out in a big way and hopefully select him close to that lottery."
Todd Golden compared Walter Clayton to a more dynamic Payton Pritchard. Former Gator and host Chandler Parsons agreed with that comparison.
There is definitely something to that. And the fact that Golden thinks the good teams will see the intangibles that make Clayton so interesting is a good sign that he will interview well. That could help clinch Clayton going wherever he ends up this offseason.
Who could blame him after Clayton averaged 18.3 points per game and 4.2 assists per game for the Gators? Clayton was also an efficient and ruthless shooter, making 38.6 percent of his 7.8 3-point attempts per game and 44.8 percent from the floor. He posted a 56.0 percent effective field goal percentage and 60.2 percent true shooting percentage.
Those are some elite numbers for a high-usage player.
Clayton made his mark in the NCAA Tournament, rising from a solid second-round pick to a clear first-round selection and potential Lottery pick.
He averaged 22.3 points per game and 3.3 assists per game in the tournament. He shot 47.4 percent from the floor and 20 for 46 (43.5 percent) from three for a 60.5 percent effective field goal percentage and 69.6 percent true shooting percentage.
Clayton closed the tournament with just 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting against Houston. But he made his mark in that game despite how quiet he was offensively, scoring a late flurry in Florida's comeback win.
That is what he did throughout the Tournament, hitting huge shots down the stretch and leading several comeback wins throughout the tournament run.
Clayton has all the skills the Magic need right now. He is an excellent shooter (making more than 70 percent of his shots in the combined drills at the Combine), a strong on-ball creator and an excellent shooter. Fans have picked him as their favorite prospect. That his coach is reporting the Magic have shown interest in him should only increase the excitement.
Of course, now comes the annual draft warning.
The Magic are notoriously tight-lipped about their draft intentions. Everyone takes whatever trickle of information they can get from the Magic to figure out what they are interested in. And the Magic are typically pretty good at misdirection on draft night with whatever ends up leaking out anyway.
That this morsel escaped is manna from heaven.
But, considering Clayton measured at 6-foot-2 without shoes and a 6-foot-4 wingspan, he does not fit the Magic's typical type of drafting for length and size. There is still that hurdle to overcome.
But with his shooting, he might be able to overcome it.
For now with six weeks still remaining before the Draft, the Magic are likely finishing up their Combine study and lining up the players they will work out and interview (again, the Magic are extremely quiet about who they work out and even where they meet with players). They are probably not ready to make their selection today.
Clayton though is a natural fit to be on their radar and on their draft board. Clayton's coach seems to confirm that the Magic and Clayton are a potential match.