Recruiting Update: Braden Hudgins (2021 Forest Grove)

<p>One of the more active unsigned seniors playing this past off-season has been [player_tooltip player_id="855932" first="Braden" last="Hudgins"]. The solid 6-foot-6 forward from Forest Grove has spent his time playing with Elite 24 on a couple of different teams, of which he’s had different roles. He switched back to the first team he was playing with this past weekend and the results were super positive - Hudgins and his teammates captured the H-Town Classic Platinum Tournament title.</p> <p>"This was one of our first national tournaments this year so it felt really good to get off to a good start and win one," Hudgins said. "I think I played good - I just need to keep working on rebounds and defense. My offense has never really been the issue, but I think in this tournament I made strides towards what I think I can become."</p> <p>On this Elite 24 squad - which consists of many of the state’s top juniors such as [player_tooltip player_id="857343" first="Samaje" last="Morgan"] (2022 Churchill), [player_tooltip player_id="855894" first="Grayson" last="Rowell"] (2022 Lake Oswego), and [player_tooltip player_id="964551" first="Mack" last="Wall"] (2022 Jesuit) - Hudgins has been the elder statesman. While he had some games where he definitely scored - most notably from three-point range - his main role was to rebound and defend, which was a bit different on the other Elite 24 squad he ran with in other tournaments.</p> <p>"Things definitely changed with the switch (before) because I went back to being the first option and needing to have 20 points a game," Hudgins said. "But now I’m back on my original team because unsigned seniors got cleared to play."</p> <p>Hudgins has always been known as a shooter with size, but having added bulk and strength the past couple of years he’s become more effective down low as well. From a recruiting standpoint he notes that he’s been hearing from schools at all levels of college basketball, but that he’s staying open with everything as it comes along.</p> <p>"I just want to see what happens with AAU and hopefully my senior high school season," Hudgins said. "COVID definitely slowed things down."</p> <p>Instead, Hudgins is honing in on the rest of the tournaments he’ll be playing with Elite 24 and then his final season of high school basketball with Forest Grove.</p> <p>"My goals are just to keep improving defensively and play consistently well," Hudgins said. "For high school, I’m not really sure what to think yet as it’s going to be very different for everyone but I’m just going to try and treat it like a normal season and get our team to play at the highest level we can."</p> <p>Hudgins currently ranks as the #19 player in the PrepHoops Oregon Class of 2021 rankings.</p>