NCAA Basketball: Predicting best player from top 2021 recruiting classes

13. LSU Tigers

Recruiting Class: Efton Reid, Alex Fudge, Brandon Murray, Jerrell Colbert, and Bradley Ezewiro

Defense wasn’t a particularly strong suit for LSU last season. In the bottom third of the country, the Tigers still managed to approach a 20-win season by lighting up the scoreboard. Led by freshman sensation and recent NBA draft pick Cam Thomas, this program hung tight with Michigan in the round of 32 scratching at the door of a Sweet 16 appearance. However, this summer has resulted in a complete overhaul of the roster heading into the Fall.

Losing 9 of the team’s 13 players approaching double-digit minutes last season, the Tigers have heavily relied on the transfer portal to revamp the roster. Landing Adam Miller (Illinois), Xavier Pinson (Missouri) and Tari Eason (Cincinnati), head coach Will Wade sought experience outside of his high school recruiting class. Departures from last year’s team leave ample opportunity for these players, as well as the incoming freshman group of Efton Reid, Alex Fudge, Brandon Murray, Jerrell Colbert, and Bradley Ezewiro, to re-establish themselves at the collegiate level.

This year’s recruiting class is very heavy on frontcourt talent in an effort to build depth at the position. Wade has done a good job of utilizing frontcourt pieces, that he’s recruited, to ignite large improvements on the defensive end of the floor on previous occasions. He is likely to see those as a result of this year’s additions, specifically in Reid and Colbert, however the addition of Fudge on the wings should be the team’s biggest incoming freshman asset next season.

Fudge carries a long 6’8” frame with him to Baton Rouge, as well as a barrage of ways to score the ball. As showcased at the Pangos All-American camp earlier this year, he is a gem waiting to be discovered on a national scale. Fudge’s ability to match the rebounding productivity of nearly any frontcourt player is a bonus to his consistent ability to put the ball in the net. He creates his own shot off the dribble, has range on his jumper to be a reliable perimeter threat, and will elevate at the rim to convert tough layups and put-back attempts.

While guys like Reid and Colbert are going to be invaluable on the interior for next year’s roster, Fudge carries more immediate upside on both ends that will help provide LSU with a reliable freshman threat defenses must gameplan for.

Prediction: Alex Fudge