Transfer season is in full swing for the college basketball world and enough players have found new homes for The Athletic to take a crack at ranking the best pickups based on how well players fit their new squads. Two incoming Gators made the list, Belmont transfer [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] and LSU transfer [autotag]Alex Fudge[/autotag].
Richard is the higher-ranked of the pair at No. 4 and is described as “the perfect test case to find out what this Florida staff is capable of.” He’s got three years left of college eligibility and the tools to turn into one of the conference’s best wings after a year of development.
Richard has all of the tools to be a potential pro wing down the road. He’s the kind of player as a two-way wing that is really hard to find in the portal, and the kind of guy you can build just about any type of team around. He might not average 16 per game next season, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as a Day 1 starter averaging 13 points, four rebounds, a couple of assists and a couple of steals while providing a great impact as a winning player.
That’s as strong an endorsement as you can get as a transfer, but Richard will have to live up to the hype in an SEC that only figures to get stronger with time.
Fudge is a bigger project player than Richard is and lands at No. 13 on the list. Defensively, Fudge is an asset for any program, but his offense is questionable at this stage and there’s [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] on the floor to worry about.
The fit here could also depend how he pairs with Colin Castleton. If they develop chemistry where Castleton learns to find him in the dunker spot when his man goes to help on Castleton post-ups, maybe it works out. But if those two log a lot of minutes together. [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] is going to need to surround them with shooting.
Gambling on Fudge is worth it for the Gators because he’s considered one of the transfers with the highest upside in the cycle. His block numbers translate to first-round pick level, but the scheme at LSU wasn’t quite right. If Golden can bring in the right pieces around him, Fudge’s untapped potential is there for the taking at 18 years old.
The Golden Era of Florida basketball appears to be off to a promising start with strong transfers coming in early. There are still a few more scholarship spots on the roster open too, so Golden can still add a few more names to the list.
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