Now that the NCAA Tournament has reached the Sweet Sixteen, programs around the country are working diligently to fill coaching vacancies. The hire of a coach at one university usually has a domino effect, leading to an influx of players in the transfer portal from multiple programs, including the one they just left. That was the case on Tuesday afternoon.
Shortly after Rick Pitino was officially named the next men’s basketball head coach at St. John’s, one of his best players at Iona hit the portal.
According to a report from college basketball insider Jamie Shaw of On3 Sports, Iona Gaels guard Walter Clayton, Jr. has entered the transfer portal.
This is not exactly a surprise after Pitino left to take the head coaching job at St. John’s, but it’s still a major blow for the Gaels, who are reportedly set to hire Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Tobin Anderson to succeed Pitino at Iona.
Clayton, who was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Player of the Year in 2022, is one of the more prolific scorers in the country. He helped the Gaels reach their second consecutive regular season title, as the sophomore guard averaged 16.8 points/per game, which led Iona and ranked third in the conference. Clayton also led the nation in free throw percentage (94.4%).
Coming out of high school, the Lake Wales, Florida, native was a multi-sport athlete and a highly-rated recruit at that. He drew interest from schools like Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Tennessee, as a quarterback and wide receiver. But, he ultimately chose basketball and committed to Iona over programs like Nebraska, South Florida, Florida Gulf Coast and East Carolina.
We’ll have to see if he follows Pitino to Queens, but he’ll undoubtedly be one of the top-recruited players in the portal.