INTEL: Ranking the contenders for 4-star Zayden High

Zayden High is the No. 55 player in the 2023 On3 Consensus. The 6-foot-10 forward averaged 12.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks playing for the JL3 program during Nike’s Peach Jam. He also knocked down 1.0 three per game during the event.

High seemingly burst out of nowhere in April during EYBL Orlando. It was there he averaged 21.7 points while shooting 57 percent from the field. He also went head-to-head against the No. 1 player in 2023, GG Jackson, and finished with 27 points.

Now a senior at Chandler (AZ) AZ Compass, High started high school as a guard, around 6-foot-1. He is now a skilled 6-foot-10 forward. His growth, physically, has been consistent, as he finished his sophomore year of high school around 6-foot-6.

So while it may have seemed that he came out of nowhere, it had more to do with Zayden High being a late bloomer. At 6-10, he maintained the shooting touch and the fluid dexterity of a guard, which is another reason why he is a consensus four-star.

Throughout his process, High picked up close to 25 D-I offers. He added 15 high-major offers since that April event. In early October, High announced his final five schools; Michigan, Villanova, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Texas. Word came out that the four-star will be announcing his college decision on Sunday at the Border League.

The AZ Compass post has taken three official visits, Villanova (6/23), Michigan (7/26), and UNC (9/30). So as we go through this intel to rank the contenders, we will start with those three schools.

North Carolina

UNC was High’s last visit. He has also been public about him having the best time on that visit. There is a system fit and playing time available.

North Carolina’s chances: 90 percent

Villanova

Villanova got High’s first official visit when he and his dad went up just before the July live period. High speaks highly of the system fit and the relationship with the coaching staff.

Villanova’s chances: 5 percent

Michigan

Of these schools, Michigan was the first to offer. Juwan Howard was the central figure in the recruitment. The visit went well, and there is a lure with Howard’s success with bigs.

Michigan’s chances: 5 percent

Final thoughts

If you read my recruiting update last week on Zayden High, you saw that UNC was in a good spot unless High takes the Arkansas visit. Well, that visit has been canceled, and High will now commit on Sunday.

High was very candid when speaking about his UNC visit, saying on record that it was his best. There is a very clear path to early playing time, and there is a stylistic fit with the Tar Heels.

UNC first started with High in April; when he went for 27 against then, UNC commit GG Jackson. However, they did not offer him because they did not have a scholarship open. Once Jackson de-committed, UNC turned full force toward High.

UNC is showing High film of Brady Manek, when Manek show 16-of-24, 67 percent, from three in the Tar Heels run through to the NCAA Tournament finals. Manek averaged 18.3 points and 8.1 rebounds in those six games. High spoke highly of the tradition and the facilities around the UNC program. With Pete Nance set to graduate, High could come in to compete for playing time right away.

Villanova gave the High’s some reason to think. The tradition of the program and the way they used players like High opened the family’s eyes a bit. However, on Villanova’s end, they could not commit to early playing time, even bringing up a possible redshirt season. This visit was also the only one of the three the whole family did not go on, as High’s dad was the only one to accompany him to campus.

There was mutual interest with Michigan as well. The whole family went on the visit, and Juwan Howard personally was in charge of the recruitment. However, as things moved along, Michigan became comfortable with where they are at with four-star Papa Kante and cannot take both.

With High canceling the Arkansas visit, things are clearly pointing in one direction. Recruiting is never over until the ink dries. However, as of pressing ‘publish’ on this article, Zayden High is trending heavily toward North Carolina.

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine

I have placed my expert pick in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) for Zayden High to choose North Carolina. I set my pick with an 85 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.