Xavier Nation Magazine: Taking the Lead
Junior guard Paul Scruggs is ready to set an example for young Xavier fans— and younger teammates.
Rory Glynn, Xavier Nation Magazine
12/24/2019
The second of Travis Steele’s three summer basketball camps is winding down on a late June afternoon, and dozens of campers—some headed to high school in the fall, others just a few weeks removed from first grade—sit wide-eyed in a rough arc beyond the three-point line, watching and cheering a shooting competition. Steele bounces a basketball to a small boy and asks him: Would he like to have one of the Xavier players rebound for him? “Paul Scruggs,” the boy replies softly.
Scruggs shuffles toward the court. He’s shuffling because he’s wearing slides better suited to the Cintas Center locker room than its basketball floor. He and his teammates are here to sign autographs for the campers, not clean the glass and feed the shooter. But Scruggs doesn’t want to disappoint the young camper, so out he comes and hustles to help his new friend. The boy smiles.
Afterward, Scruggs and his teammates linger to sign autographs for the campers. Scruggs takes extra care to get his signature in the perfect spot.
“Paul’s great at camps,” Steele says. “A lot of the guys are. But Paul really connects with kids in a different way.”
“I just love little kids,” Scruggs says.
Last December, Scruggs’s AAU coach, Mike Peterson, helped set up a visit between Scruggs and a 7-year-old fan from Michigan named Kilian Herppich. “It was really wonderful,” Scruggs says of hosting Kilian. “A blessing.”
Says Steele, “When he’s around kids, you see a different side of Paul than just the player.”
Scruggs, a junior guard, grew up the youngest of six kids in the blended family of Dan and Brenda Scruggs of Indianapolis. He loves cartoons (SpongeBob in particular), silly jokes, and video games.
He wasn’t the type to reach out to his own favorite basketball player—his first love was football. “When we’d travel for AAU games and we’d see some NBA player, I’d be like, ‘Who’s that dude?’” Scruggs says.
He loves being the youngest in the family. “I could get anything I want from my parents,” he says. “My brothers and my sister were always jealous of that. I’m kind of a big kid myself.”
And yet some of the success of Xavier basketball this season will be shaped in part by how well Scruggs and veteran teammates like Naji Marshall, Tyrique Jones, and Quentin Goodin transition to adulting. Scruggs doesn’t shy away from the responsibility of leadership. “It’s a much bigger role for me now,” he says.
“When I’m on the court, I’ve got to make sure I’m doing the right things, following the directions the coaches are giving. Back when I was a freshman, I was looking up to J.P. Macura and Trevon Bluiett. Now it’s like I took their position. The freshmen are looking up to me.”
To that end, Scruggs went out of his way this summer to make sure Xavier’s first-year players didn’t feel like newcomers, whether it was organizing open gyms and a Fourth of July pool hangout at his apartment or just sharing a meal and a conversation. “I don’t put up walls, because we’re trying to build that bond,” he says. If leading by example is required, Scruggs is your guy. His fondness for football shows in his grit and toughness.
He’s a stingy defender who doesn’t take plays off. “He competes in everything that he does,” Steele says. “He’s a warrior. He plays to win.”
But Scruggs says the qualities that make him difficult to beat on the court can sometimes make him a little more difficult to know off the court. “Most people are intimidated by me,” he says.
“I don’t know [why]. I guess it’s just how I hold myself. I don’t really talk to too many people. But I’m a very approachable person. And if you talk to me once, you know that. If you get to know me, I’m very chill.”
How chill? Scruggs can’t remember the last time he got mad. “Like really mad? Want-to-fight-somebody mad? Man, I don’t know. That’s just not me.”
What has defined Scruggs’s Xavier career to date is steady improvement. Last season he was the only Musketeer to start all 35 games, and he made significant gains in scoring (12.3 points a game, up from 4.9 as a freshman), rebounds (4.9 vs. 2.0), assists (3.3 vs. 1.7), and three-point shooting (.375 vs. .304).
Beyond the arc, Scruggs needs to continue that upward trajectory. Though intending to return to Xavier, he went through the NBA’s pre-draft evaluation process last spring to get the pros’ take on areas for improvement, and consistency in the three-ball topped the list.
Scruggs has taken it to heart. “He’s making better decisions, and his shot has improved dramatically since he’s been at Xavier,” Steele says. “He’s definitely taken steps forward in his development.”
More difficult to measure—but no less important—are steps needed to become an effective leader. Steele says Scruggs is aware of that. When former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett spoke to the Musketeers over the summer, he asked the group who their leaders were. Steele was pleased that Scruggs raised his hand.
“He understands that he’s got to be one of those guys,” Steele says. “A lot of times kids don’t want to hold their peers accountable. Not being afraid of confrontation is important. And you have to hold yourself to that same standard. He does.”
