Cudjoe appeared in our last rankings update, but like Arrington, was done so being careful until we got live eyes on the 6-foot-8 New York native. It took about five minutes of game action to realize he’s easily a top 100 prospect in the state and currently at No. 78, could significantly climb the ladder if he takes care of business at West Nottingham this season. He’s coming off a knee injury that sidelined him for a chunk of time, but you wouldn’t be able to tell with his above the rim tendencies. Cudjoe has the ability to put on some highlight reel dunks not only in the open floor, but also in the half court on straight-line drives and isn’t afraid to put defenders in the rim. When given space on the catch from beyond the arc, Cudjoe can size up three’s and looks fairly comfortable letting it go, but his bread will be buttered as a lob threat, catches in the mid-post to face up and running the floor for transition or second chance buckets.

I’ll have my first live viewing of Cudjoe tomorrow at the CBG FInale and I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t on my shortlist of prospects I’m most intrigued with seeing. From the early signs this fall, Cudjoe is a springy forward who will fill time at the five for West Nottingham and likely exploit some mismatches when opposing bigs with slow feet match up against him. He’s mobile, fluid with good coordination and looks to tear the rim off whenever he finishes over top. Obviously, we started out introducing Cudjoe to the backend of the rankings once he moved here from New York, but he’ll easily find himself within the top 100 when the update drops in a little over a week.

-Cudjoe’s explosive play REALLY stood out throughout the afternoon as the combination of vertical leaping ability and motor impacted the game pretty heavily on both ends. Cudjoe blocked at least 5 shots off the backboard as a helper, finished lob dunks off of both one and two feet, and served as a versatile defensive presence on the back line for a West Nottingham team that has a ton of new faces to integrate into the mix. Loved his intensity defensively as a guy that guard second and third chances around the rim and took pride into showing hard on opponents until his teammates could fight over screens. Cudjoe knocked down his only 3 point attempt of the afternoon and was pretty effective at the line. If he can prove that he can space the floor with his perimeter shooting, I’d expect his recruitment to see a nice jolt of activity as a small ball 4 prospect that can be an effective 3+D weapon at the next level.

The flashes were all there throughout the winter, and heading into the summer Cudjoe continues to offer glimpses of his long-term upside while sticking to the confines of his defense-first role. Now a member of the 2027 class, he covers ground with a level of grace and twitchiness that’s nearly unmatched among sophomores his size, consistently deploying his physical tools effectively on both ends. Cudjoe profiles as a valuable and versatile defender up to the high-major level, with his offense continuing to come along as an efficient play-finisher with a foundation to build on off the dribble. The upside is high with Cudjoe’s ability to stay on the court as a valued glue-guy while developing the rest of his skillset.