Pierce Cughan '27 Recruiting Profile

Growing up basketball has always been a big part of my life. From the time I can remember I've had a basketball in my hand even if it was a little tikes basketball. Coming from a family where both my parents played college basketball and where I had a brother three and a half years older who had already started playing, I was next in line. I have always enjoyed playing the game and had highs and lows throughout elementary and middle school but it came to a point where I questioned where I wanted to go with this whole basketball thing. It was around middle school age that it clicked for me and I wanted to use my God given talent, potential, build, and drive to go as far as I can with it. So from that moment on I've been all in on striving to be the best version of myself. That version of myself will look and has looked different on different teams with different roles. While playing junior high basketball at Next Level Strong and at Columbia County Christian School I've had different roles and different coaches with vastly different styles. I was fortunate enough to play varsity basketball as a 7th grader and start as an 8th grader. Each of my 4 years of high school basketball has given me different roles, different lessons, and different challenges. As a slim, at best, 7th grader my role to shoot and provide some extra ball handling, and given my size and age I feel I did pretty well and others around me would agree. Even then I still knew that there are levels to playing the game and I had to increase and improve on every aspect. I had a similar role in 8th grade, just as a starter. As high school rolled around I was more heavily relyed on to score and assist others. I averaged 16+ points and 5+ assists as a starting point guard and helped lead our team to a first place regular Season finish in our league and taking second place in the tournament. Sophomore year I was relied on more and have a higher volume of everything and take on new defensive challenges I hadn't seen yet. Through these years I've walked through many stages and learned many lessons, whether it was on or off the court. Overall basketball has allowed me to grow as a person and learn valuable lessons such as hard work, dedication, and finding your passion while also staying humble and having humility through it all. I aspire to play college basketball and do so with everything I've got, after all, this only happens once so I plan on making the most of it.

While I do play and watch a lot of basketball I do have some other interests and things to atest to. I've been blessed and fortunate enough to be able to maintain a 3.9 GPA while also being a class president of the freshman class. In that role I helped jump start our fundraising with a couple new and different ideas while also helping plan not only the fundraisers, but some class events here and there. In August of 2024, I started a podcast that covers the Division 3 United East Conference mens basketball. During the podcast, I was able to interview several players around the conference and not only produce an episode but also learn and take what they gave me and use it for myself and my journey. During the season I found the time to post an episode nearly once a week, sometimes twice a week. I will be continuing this podcast for the next two years and am looking for new ways to improve on it and expand its horizons. I have put the link to the podcast page down below. 

https://open.spotify.com/show/448tGwv1U77aUgMblxvgXH?si=oiIPAgp9Tvyzv22ZxG4hxw