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The Scout: Look, the numbers don’t tell the full story here on Fudge, who is considered one of the highest upside transfers by coaches due to some of his athletic tools. Still just 18, he averaged only three points and three rebounds in 14 minutes per game. But some of his good tape moments are among the best you’ll find of any available player. Particularly, his defensive numbers and help moments are strong. He posted nearly a 6 percent block rate and a 4 percent steal rate. The track record is strong for players at the high-major level who have played at least 10 minutes per game as a freshman and notched his numbers. It’s Fudge, Zion Williamson, Nerlens Noel, OG Anunoby, Tari Eason last year at Cincinnati, and Chris McCullough at Syracuse. That’s five first-round picks and no one else until Fudge just did it, which goes to showcase how high-level his defensive tools have potential to be if he’s allowed to be aggressive, read the play, and react to what’s happening around him. Offensively, things are absolutely still a work in progress. I don’t really trust him to make decisions on the move, his jumper is viable but still hitchy, and he largely operated from corner to corner last year, waiting for cuts or dunker spot opportunities. Fudge is a project, but it’s hard to find players with this kind of upside. Again, he’s only 18. If things go right for him developmentally over the next two years, he has a chance to be a first-round pick. The downside here, though, is a bit lower than for most of the players listed here, given how raw his game is.
The Fit: Defensively, he fits just about anywhere. The fit offensively could be dependent on what the roster eventually looks like. “He needs to be surrounded by shooting to open up scoring cuts at the rim. That would be huge for him,” an SEC coach said. “It wasn’t necessarily an ideal fit for him offensively last year at LSU just because they had a lot of guys like him, guys that were great athletes that couldn’t space the floor.” In addition to waiting to see how the roster develops, 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. Todd Golden is going to need to surround them with shooting.
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