Hail Florida Hail
Fansided

Florida Basketball: Gators land commitment from former LSU forward

By Jeremy Trottier

Jan 26, 2022; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; LSU Tigers forward Alex Fudge (3) dunks the ball against Texas A&M Aggies guard Aaron Cash (0) and guard Wade Taylor IV (4) during the first half at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 26, 2022; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; LSU Tigers forward Alex Fudge (3) dunks the ball against Texas A&M Aggies guard Aaron Cash (0) and guard Wade Taylor IV (4) during the first half at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Gators basketball receives commitment from a former LSU forward

The Florida Gators have received their second commitment of the week, the prior being combo guard Will Richard from Belmont.  Today, they got a new commitment in Alex Fudge, a 6’8″ small forward from LSU.  This addition will be a very solid chance for Florida basketball to get some more depth at the forward position, if not a potential starter eventually with more development.  Fudge committed to LSU in 2020 and played in the 2021-2022 season for the Gators’ conference rival.  While he has not necessarily impressed statistically so far, he has only had one season of play, and only 1 game worth of starting experience in college.  With some development by Todd Golden and some more chances in a rotation, he could develop into his high prospect rating.

In the 2021-2022 season, Fudge did not pop off the stat sheets overall and accrued some relatively pedestrian stats…

  • 3.3 PPG, 0.3 APG, 3.2 RPG
  • 0.6 blocks and 0.8 steals per game
  • .424 FG%, .286 3 point %, .568 FT%

To the casual fan, this would be the end of the discussion and they would move on.  The issue with that mindset is that they would be overlooking his extreme potential, as well as the factors that led to him only putting up a small sample size of stats.  If we look deeper, he played a total of 403 minutes this season for LSU, in 29 games, which means on average he played approximately 13 minutes a game.  While this is a solid amount of time, it should not be expected of him to be producing as of yet at a high level.  Fudge is a 4-star prospect with a .9800 grade by 247Sports composite grading system, so he clearly has the potential to make it in this sport, as you can see by his highlight plays.

The biggest question right now for fans would be, what can we expect out of Fudge long term?  As of right now, there is no definitive answer for this, as we need more time to see him play and develop in the Florida basketball system.  However, in high school,  Fudge was able to score at all 3 levels, which we saw to an extent with him shooting nearly 30% from 3.  While this may not seem great, his game is truly predicated on his ability to get vertical and utilize his athleticism to make transition scoring possible.  If he plays into this potential, he could end up being a starter eventually for Florida, and could truly be rather polarizing if his athleticism and shooting keep developing, which they should.

Home/Florida Gators Basketball