Wednesday afternoon, it was reported that transferring small forward [autotag]Alex Fudge[/autotag] is Florida-bound. The Jacksonville native was convinced to come home after spending his freshman season with LSU and entering the portal on April 1.
Coming out of high school, Fudge was rated as the 57th prospect in the country by 247Sports. He underperformed that billing on the offensive side of the ball last season. The scouting report praised his ability to rise at the rim and keep defenses honest from all three levels, but he was an 18th percentile scorer and he struggled to make good on his putback attempts. Going into his age 19 season, it’s impossible to say that he’s a bust, but there’s work to be done to draw out his true talents.
By bringing Fudge into the fold, head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] is reinforcing the defensive identity of the Gators’ frontcourt. Standing at 6-foot-8-inches with a trim frame, the sophomore uses that physique well. He was one of the best defensive players available and particularly shone on the perimeter last season, where he was roughly a 70th percentile defender by points per possession.
Driving into Alex Fudge and Tari Eason must be nightmare fuel for SEC guards pic.twitter.com/BS0tPp09nd
— Mark Schindler (@MG_Schindler) January 5, 2022
Playing alongside [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] will be a bonus for Fudge, who was effective as a cutter last season and has the athletic abilities to continue that with Florida. Castleton is such a well-known and dangerous scorer in the low post that many teams ignore his ability as a passer, which is nothing special but definitely workable for outlet passes. His gravity in the post will create some free looks for Fudge as a slasher.
Fudge was also an effective rebounder despite being a little slim. His 3.2 rebounds per game don’t jump off the page, but he only played 13 minutes per game. I was curious what he would have done if he had a bigger role on the Tigers, so I scaled up his time on the floor where he would have shot 211 attempts. (That was the average for an SEC rotation player in 2021-22) Assuming all the other shooting, scoring and rebounding rates remain the same, he would have been a 7.5 rebounds per game player in 31 minutes per game.
The LSU Tigers must have known their basketball team was in for some roster churn after changing coaching staffs, but they can’t have imagined what wound up happening was the likely result. All 15 players from the 2021-22 roster either declared for the draft or entered the transfer portal following the hire of Matt McMahon.
Fudge isn’t a star right away, but he provides excellent bench depth for the time being and could be a draftable player if he unlocks another level. The Gators’ new staff couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to prove themselves by unlocking that next level.
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