Ranking the contenders for four-star Brandon Williams

Brandon Williams is On3’s No. 70 ranked player in the 2023 class. On3 has Williams ranked higher than the three other major recruiting services.

The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 13.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.0 steals at Peach Jam. He shot over 40 percent from the field.

Andrew Slater announced this week via Twitter that Williams would announce his decision on September 19. UCLA and St. John’s are his final two schools.

With all the information laid out, let’s go through all the intel and rank the contenders.

1. UCLA

Williams told On3 he first visited UCLA, unofficially, in December of 2021. He has consistently spoken about the climate in California and how it is a winning program.

Mick Cronin’s system has had a lot of players like Williams, and that note has perked up the four-star’s ears.

UCLA’s chances: 90 percent

2. St. John’s

St. John’s is the hometown school; there is a familiarity with the area and the program. Williams talks about his relationship with the coaches and the level they have recruited him throughout the process.

Recent St. John’s commitment, four-star Brandon Gardner also transferred to Queens (NY) Christ the King with Williams.

St. John’s chances: 10 percent

Final thoughts

Brandon Williams has been able to visit UCLA a couple of times. Intel shows that he came away impressed each time by the visit.

Of course, St. John’s is Williams’ hometown program. They have been recruiting him longer than UCLA; he is familiar with the campus and knows players on the team.

When talking with Williams, the tradition of UCLA and its lineage of pros are common topics. “I feel the coaches are great people…and they can get me where I want to go.”

While Williams speaks highly of UCLA’s climate and atmosphere, intel suggests that Cronin’s success with bigger, two-way wings played a significant role.

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine

I have placed my expert pick in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) for Brandon Williams to choose UCLA. I set my pick with 90 confidence.

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.