The article does not specifically mention it but Walt is the first basketball player from UF to win the award. Also the first SEC basketball player to win the award since Antony Davis in 2012.
That is the coolest thing ever... I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed that our own Walter Clayton thoroughly outplayed the SEC Player of the year when they met head to head in the Final 4.
Surprised they didn’t give it to Broome after Pearl has tried convincing the world he is the best thing since sliced bread.
While I am very biased I honestly think this was intentional... Competition for SEC Male Athlete of the year is incredibly intense as it involves all sports and all teams. A track athlete can get it just as easily as a basketball player. In fact last year our own Parker Valby (a distance runner) won SEC female athlete of the year. USCe won the b-ball natty title, but their star didn't win this award. NO- it was the UF track athlete. The big sports are treated equally with the lesser known when it comes to this award. So the fact that whomever picks this award would look across ALL sports and ALL teams and pick a guy who didn't even win SEC POY in his own sport... To me it feels like rectifying that wrong... Not that Clayton didn't deserve this honor. Of course he did. But I would bet you the person/ committee who picked this was a different crew than the person/ committee that picked the SEC b-ball player of the year, and this was an intentional push back against those jokers. Again- I'm biased. But that's what this feels like to me...
Broome was beat up after a very physical SEC schedule this year. Also he was thinking he was invincible and Pearl wanted him on the floor with the ball in his hands against a very physical Gator team. Big mistake! His team could have helped at times when he was forcing the ball trying to be the hero against us. Auburn had great experienced team and Pearl made the decision to let him be the man at all times. Got him to the final four but no cigar. How sweet it was for us as Johni was mocking us at the year before SEC tournament they won when Handlogten went down. This bit them in the butt both games this year. Team ball won us a couple of championships.
Parker Valby absolutely dominated distance running in track, not just in the SEC, but nationally. That's one person against a large field of competitors...and she destroyed them all. She won 4 individual titles nationally last year (indoor 5,000, outdoor 5,000, indoor 10,000, outdoor 10,000). And the races weren't close.
Oh I remember...She was also the National champ in cross-country the previous fall. And as you say it wasn't close... I'm a UF track and cross-country alum (class of 87) so I follow this pretty closely... The point is that the award Clayton won involved all sports- not just the major ball sports. That's a lot of athletes, a lot of teams, a lot of absolutely incredible individuals... It's a "major award" as the old man would say...
Everyone one of us on here knew when TG said he’d start at PG that we’d win the NC and he’d win this award But seriously, what an incredible achievement…in the best conference for all sports in the country
This is >> than BB POY! I saw her run a bit, plus she's good looking so that should have gotten her a few votes.
