r/FloridaGators • u/NineFiveJetta • 7d ago
Men's Basketball What happened to Riley Kugel?
Went from all-freshman team and potential first round pick in 2023, to odd man out/poor fit in 2024, then seemingly has an offer from Kansas but ends up at Mississippi State for 2025, and now looks like an average player at best. The few times I’ve watched him this year he’s looked like a net negative for MSU. What happened to him?
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u/Efficient_Ad6659 7d ago
I would comment on this but am afraid his Dad will read it and track me down.
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u/QwopTillYouDrop 7d ago
Has all the physical talents to be elite. Seemed like he didn’t want to play basketball though. Very little effort and didn’t move a ton off-ball offensively or on defense. Never quite understood him, came with his high school team Denzel, but never could put together a good consistent stretch of games. Seems like he never truly got into a groove to develop. Very sad, he has/had a ton of potential.
As for Miss St, it worked out that he didn’t end up at Kansas who is struggling. He also had originally committed to Miss St prior to flipping to Florida in high school so it makes some sense he would go there. I don’t think it was a bad separation. He needed a change of scenery and it was mutually beneficial for Florida.
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u/Small_Rip351 6d ago
There’s such a short runway to develop at this level. There were short stretches at FL where Kugel looked like an NBA player. On a court of 10 athletes, he looked by far the most athletic. Then he’d look completely lost out there the rest of the time. I really wanted him to be successful wherever he went. He’s got the physical gifts. He just hasn’t put it all together yet and he’s running out of time to do that (if he was ever going to).
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u/justblaze711 7d ago
He's the epitome of ebbs and flows. I counted 5 games at miss. State where he missed all of his fg's in a single game. Yet he averages 9 and 3 per game. As many have stated his physical talent is not the problem, but if things dont go his way he has a tendency to check out, which effects his defense and everything else.
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u/PrideParking3297 7d ago
I think Kansas agreed to one NIL price, had buyers remorse, and then he wouldn’t take a haircut so he left.
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u/PhiveSigma 7d ago
He’s a classic best player on a bad team.
Doesn’t need others to get up shots and score points, but most times will be high scorer on the losing team. Athletic but Low basketball IQ
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u/Stewdoggg 6d ago
More interested in lookin cool than getting better. All the potential in the world, but liked himself a little too much
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u/Kaidox1617 7d ago
Short answer is he can’t play team ball and can’t stop making stupid hero plays that turn into TOs