INTEL: Ranking the contenders for 4-star Cody Williams

Cody Williams is the 2023 On3 Consensus No. 26 player. The 6-foot-7 wing averaged 14.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.3 steals for his Vegas Elite team that finished 11-and-16 on the Nike EYBL Circuit.

Williams is the younger brother of 2022 NBA Draft lottery pick Jalen Williams, who played at Santa Clara. The four-star wing picked up close to 25 offers along the way.

He took junior year official visits to Santa Clara and Loyola-Marymount. Williams’s senior year officials have been to Southern California, LSU, and Colorado. He moved his visit to Arizona up to this weekend.

Things have been quiet around this recruitment as Williams does not do many interviews. With the recruitment winding down, let’s go through all the intel and rank the contenders.

1. Arizona

The University of Arizona is an hour and a half away from Williams high school in Gilbert, Arizona. Tommy Lloyd has let it be known Williams is a priority recruit. Lloyd has been to see Williams multiple times since the Fall live evaluation period started.

Arizona also has the last scheduled official visit set with Williams.

Arizona’s chances: 70 percent

2. Loyola-Marymount

Assistant coach Greg Youncofski has built a strong relationship here. LMU was the second offer, behind Santa Clara, almost a full year ahead of Arizona. The staff has visited Williams multiple times during the open period and held zooms with the family.

Loyola-Marymount’s chances: 10 percent

3. Southern California

USC was Williams’ first power five offer. The Trojans got the second senior season official visit from Williams. SC does not have any players committed in 2023 yet, but that should soon change.

USC’s chances: 10 percent

4. LSU

LSU got Williams second to the last visit. The staff put forth their plan for Williams, and Cody Toppert’s NBA background and connections opened their eyes.

LSU’s chances: 10 percent

Final thoughts

Cody Williams has maintained that he wants to play fast at the next level. In Tommy Lloyd’s first season at Arizona, the Wildcats averaged 84.0 points per game, ranking third in D-I. Arizona made it a point to make Williams a priority; they have seen him multiple times since the Fall live recruiting period opened, including sending Lloyd to Gilbert (AZ) Perry High on the first day.

Williams grew up close to the Arizona campus, and even if they were late to offer, Williams knows about the program. The staff did a good job of making up for the lost time.

Southern California is in the mix to get multiple other guys soon. LSU put their best foot forward, but they were always playing from behind with the local program. Loyola-Marymount gave it a puncher’s chance.

Williams’ last visit was to Arizona, and he recently moved that date forward a week to this weekend. His trip to Tuscon is the last visit he has scheduled.

As things stand, this one is looking like a one-team race, Arizona, with the other schools still trying. With the intel gathered from around this recruitment, when pressing ‘publish’ on this article, Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats are trending to land their second four-star in the 2023 class.

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine

I have placed my expert pick in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) for Cody Williams to choose Arizona. I set my pick with a 70 confidence level.

The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. Starting from the ground up, On3 built an entirely new product that utilizes data, human expertise, and machine learning.