NCAA Basketball: Pros and cons of No. 1 recruit Isaiah Collier final 4 options

Cincinnati Bearcats

Pros

Right now, the Bearcats aren’t in as good a conference as the other three programs. However, a year from now, they’ll be in arguably the toughest league in NCAA Basketball in the Big 12. That puts them in a position to grow the program into a perennial contender and out of the AAC.

For Collier, he’d be the undisputed lead guard of the offense. Both David DeJulius and Indiana transfer Rob Phinisee will be gone from now. They did add a four-star point guard commit in Jizzle James, along with a top-40 shooting guard commit in Rayvon Griffith. It’ll be a young core but a talented one that’ll have an impact in the Big 12. And if they can somehow get both the commitment of top-10 center Flory Bidunga to commit and then reclassify to the 2023 class, then the Bearcats will be a preseason-ranked team for next year.

Cons

Cincinnati is indeed going from the AAC to the Big 12 but the current roster has struggled to compete at the top of the league. Imagine what’ll happen a year from now with a young core of players? There’s going to be a transition process for the program and compared to the other three contenders, are least likely to make and win in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

This is also an assumption that Collier is a “one-and-done” player in the NBA. Would he be willing to be on a semi-rebuilding team going to the Big 12? Griffiths and James are talented players but more for the long-term. Unless the Bearcats kill it in the transfer portal to surround him, Collier will have a lower ceiling with this option.