Florida Gators' Riley Kugel trending up as NBA Draft prospect
Back in April, Gators guard Riley Kugel announced he was returning to the University of Florida for his sophomore year.
The Orlando native started in 17-of-32 games played during his freshman year, averaging 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. That earned him a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team.
It also provided him with the opportunity to test the NBA waters; however, returning to Gainesville for a second season allows Kugel to be drafted even higher. Many currently view him as a first-round selection, possibly in the lottery, for next summer’s draft, while he did not receive the same projection for this year.
Jamie Shaw, On3 National Basketball Recruiting Analyst, has high expectations for Kugel going forward as well.
When recently discussing the top-10 NBA Draft prospects who returned to college, Shaw inserted the Gators guard at No. 2 overall. Only UConn center Donovan Clingan is ranked ahead of Kugel.
Here is what Shaw had to say about Kugel’s success and overall game:
“During the last third of the season, Kugel showed that he can carry an offense.
“In the 14 games after his Jan. 25 start against South Carolina, Kugel averaged 14.6 points while shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from three. He has good length, plays with good balance, and is a smooth athlete.
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“While he is comfortable handling the ball and creating his offense, he will need to show his processing ability while being the focal point of an SEC offense.”
Todd Golden sounds off on Kugel as a draft prospect
“Obviously if he gets in the position where he’s a first-round pick, he should go. You know, first round, it’s hard to turn that down, right? But if he’s not, he shouldn’t. I think it’s that simple,” Golden said.
“I think he has a chance to be an incredibly high selection next year, if that’s the route that he wants to go. But Riley’s a great kid. He’s a great young man, and a guy that obviously did a great job navigating the freshman year.
“The jump he made within the SEC play was remarkable. Like you don’t see that very often. I think the last eight or nine games he was averaging close to 20 points a game. Just pretty, pretty impressive stuff and he’s proven the capacity to do really, really well. And my goal is to just help him get better in all the areas, you know, to make him more complete player and give him a better chance to be successful at the next level.”
Stay tuned to Gators Online.
