Why On3 is betting on five-star Isaiah Collier

Isaiah Collier came in at No. 2 in On3’s latest 2023 rankings update. This is ahead of the industry standard, but in the overall rankings discussion, our national team was in lockstep with this decision.

The On3 national basketball team spent most of June and July racking up our frequent flier miles. Our team traveled to events across the country and back to evaluate and talk with prospects. When we got on calls to update the 2023 rankings, a lot of information was discussed.

In this June/July time frame, the landscape experienced two scholastic NCAA live evaluation periods, two travel ball NCAA live evaluation periods, Pangos Camp, NBPA Top 100 camp, Peach Jam, USA u17 training camp, and a few other notable events. The list of players and their notes was long as our team saw most players multiple times and in multiple settings.

The 2023 class has not been an easy one to evaluate. On top of the class being down, talent-wise, as a whole, there has been a lot of movement with players reclassifying. In our discussions, one name continued to pop up, Isaiah Collier.

This was interesting because Collier was injured at the u18 USA training camp in May. By all accounts, he was a standout – if not the standout – performer at the event. Collier was also a standout for The Skill Factory on Nike’s EYBL Circuit throughout April. The hesitation in our conversations was Collier had not played in the two months since the USA training camp.

Collier missed all of the events we traveled to in June and July, but everyone on our team had seen him in the high school season and/or April.

Collier averaged 18-points, 7-rebounds, and 5-assists per game for his 25-and-5 Marietta (GA) Wheeler High team this season. He led his high school team to an undefeated region championship and into the third round of the Georgia 6A playoffs.

In his eight EYBL games with The Skill Factory, Collier averaged 15.1-points, 6.0-assists, 4.4-rebounds, and 1.4-steals. He was second on the circuit in assists, but his shooting stood out. The strong-framed point guard was shooting 52.5-percent from the field and a staggering 44.8-percent from three on 3.6-attempts per game.

Collier’s steady play stood out in a class with many questions. In our mind, he is the unquestioned best point guard in the class, and he was thriving in the things you want point guards to do, winning, defending, and creating. Add in the 44.8-percent three-point shooting, which was the icing on the cake.

Collier’s recruitment

On3 broke the news that Isaiah Collier was down to a final four schools; UCLA, Michigan, Cincinnati, and Southern Cal. He wrapped up his Michigan official visit this weekend, meaning he has visited all four programs.

There is no official date or timeframe for a commitment yet. However, one would assume that with a final group and visits wrapped up, one could be around the corner.