Top 5 takeaways from Florida vs Auburn as Walter Clayton Jr. sets new scoring milestone

The Florida Gators moved on to the national title game with a 79-73 win over the Auburn Tigers. The longest two days in college basketball remain the 48 hours between the semifinals and the NCAA title game.

For Florida backers, what did the Auburn win show us all? Here are five takeways from Florida/Auburn.

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Top five takeaways from Florida vs Auburn

Twice a recruiting afterthought, Walter Clayton was a star on college basketball's biggest stage. (Photo Credit: IMAGN)

#5 It's not how you start, it's how you finish

The first half wasn't particularly impressive for either of semifinal Saturday's victorious teams, but for largely different reasons.

Florida allowed 46 points to Auburn in the first half, which seemed like a deal-breaker, but Florida simply readjusted and won a game where the Gators led for only 11:45.

#4 Credit Todd Golden for playing Broome largely one-on-one

An audacious decision in game-planning was one of the keys to victory. Playing Johni Broome one-on-one could have been a failure. After all, Broome trailed only Cooper Flagg in terms of Player of the Year candidacy.

However, Florida harassed him into a so-so game (15 points, 6-for-14 shooting) and didn't let the Auburn guards control the game off of Broome influenced double-teams.

#3 Down the stretch, Florida's guards did a great job on Auburn's

Florida's guards had a brilliant game defensively. Broome was ho-hum, but the real difference was shutting down the guards.

Denver Jones, Miles Kelly and Tahaad Pettiford were the only three players identified as guards on the box score, and the three shot a combined 7-for-25. That made all the difference to Auburn's second-half swoon.

#2 Using the defense to create offense was key

Florida committed more turnovers than Auburn, 16-14. The difference, though, was that Florida turned those 14 Auburn turnovers into 16 points, while Auburn turned the 16 Florida turnovers into just six points. The 10-point gap off of turnovers was pivotal in a six-point win.

#1 Walter Clayton Jr. is proof that recruiting rankings are meaningless

Walter Clayton Jr. was the best player on Saturday, with 34 points on 11-for-18 shooting. Clayton has taken the honest way there. The former Iona recruit was a nobody in the high school recruiting world. As a transfer, 247sports ranked him No. 69 in the portal rankings, between Arkansas guard El Ellis and Stanford guard Jared Bynum.

Ellis scored 6.5 points per game in his one year at Arkansas. Bynum scored 6.9 points per game at Stanford, while Clayton led his team to the national title game.

Could it be that after all the ranking and re-ranking and even after seeing a player play college basketball, all evaluators are still guessing at projections of skill and talent into a finished product? Clayton makes one heck of an argument that anybody who thinks they know anything about ranking recruits, even portal recruits, is basically delusional.