Walter Clayton is at the center of Florida Basketball's hopes and dreams in 2024-25

It feels great that Florida Basketball hasn't made it past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2017, and yet when you think about past seasons, it feels natural. Even as expectations have risen for the 2024-25 season, Florida's preseason rankings suggest they are facing a second-round exit.

If Florida wants to surpass its preseason rankings, Walter Clayton Jr. will be front and center of the campaign.

Clayton was named to the Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year watch list on Wednesday. He is one of 50 players on the watch list for the award, which is given to the country's best player at the end of the season.

He was also named to the SEC Men's Basketball Coaches Preseason All-SEC First Team, the only Gator to be named to an SEC preseason team.

Clayton scored 633 points last season, the 44th most in the country, and averaged 17.6 points per game. He shot 87.7% from the free throw line, 56th best in the country, and also made 255 three-point attempts, 37th most in the country.

The hope for Clayton in the 2024-25 season, which could also determine Florida's fate this season, is to improve the accuracy of his three-point attempts. While he made 93 attempts, the 41st most in the country, his shooting percentage of 36.5% was outside the top 500 in the country.

Ball security will continue to be a big issue for Clayton this season. He had 80 turnovers, just six shy of being in the top 100 for most turnovers in the country, and his assist-to-turnover ratio was just 1.2.

If Clayton puts it all together, he will be surrounded by enough talent for Florida to fulfill the prophecy and make its first deep run since 2017.

And who knows, maybe he just has some personal hardware.