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making both the All-Conference USA First Team and All-Defensive Team last season, Clanton was taken aback by the attention. "I was surprised at that point to be truthful," he says. "To be honest I didn't know I could transfer right away and play and then everyone was hitting me up." UCF's Jones made his own pitch, and it began with hometown sentimentality: "He's got a chance to be the hometown hero." Calling their time together a "two-year home visit," the head coach wrote up 25 reasons to stay on a white board in front of Leeks and Clanton. They included the coaching staff's familiarity with his game, and how that would help him reach his ultimate goal, the NBA. The clincher was one part brutal honesty about the state of the program and another part an appeal to Clanton's Association dreams: Go somewhere else and win as a role player, or stay and be the undisputed star. Leeks says she did her own research, finding what it would take for him to graduate from a new school (he's studying criminology) and evaluating potential new coaches and teammates. She knew she would still likely see many of his games but also considered their distance apart. "I had to trust that he was maturing," Leeks says. "… Basketball's a very big part of his life but he had to look at all the compo- nents. Was it close? Yes, because in a sense we were very impressed with the Florida State program and coaches." All along she told her son he'd be the one to choose. Clanton heard some talk that staying was a beacon of hope for a NCAA wracked by a lack of loyalty, but doesn't buy it. Some may see a personal decision and draw conclusions for a broader trend. He says he was just looking out for his future. "I feel like I have everything here," says Clanton, who uses small-school star Kenneth Faried as an example of a player who grabbed the attention of NBA general managers without playing in the spotlight. He also leans on Jones' experience coaching David Lee, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Al Horford while an assistant at Florida. "Coach Jones has enough NBA players to know how it is to get to the next level, he's going to work for me and push for me and has the best interests for me in mind." To be a second-round selection, where Clanton believes he could be picked, he'll need all of the spotlight he can get. Ranked as the 57th-best senior by DraftExpress, he'll likely be seen as an undersized forward like Faried, needing work on his jump shot outside of 10 feet. His three-point shooting has regressed this season. In between the recruitment this summer, he worked to be more aggressive facing up on the block. 23 Jones is calling more isolation plays for Clanton down low, with his numbers edging closer to the vaunted 20-and-10 mark. Jones' program will move to the Big East in 2013-14, a leap that doesn't look as daunting with its best player back to preparing the classes who will be a part of the transition. "This is the most important time in the history of our program right now," Jones says. The comparison to Faried works but it isn't without its faws. At Morehead State, deep in the bluegrass shadow of Kentucky and even Western Kentucky, Faried was a double-double machine whose success placed himself and the Eagles into the national view. Knocking off Louisville in the frst round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament only heightened the buzz. But this March, Clanton won't be playing. The school's postseason ban also even includes the Conference USA tournament. However, in Clanton and Jones' eyes, a March absence doesn't preclude the opportunity to grab national headlines earlier — for the right reasons. "We're just as good, we just have younger guys to contribute now," says Clanton of his team's 20-11 record. What the Knights also have is a one-man senior class out to prove both he and his team have staying power.