Isaiah Briscoe Decision: Odds for Contenders to Land Top 2015 Recruit

While most players have a short list of five or six schools, Isaiah Briscoe, the No. 9-ranked player in 247Sports.com's 2015 composite rankings, has just three. Briscoe was three-exclamation-point happy to announce his finalists:

Without knowing it—or maybe he does know and he's really tipping his hand—Briscoe wrote down St. John's first, Kentucky second and UConn third. That could be the order of preference. 

So because Briscoe, in his own words, decided to "shut interviews and media down," we're left to speculate which lucky school will stand out above the fray. 

And no matter who he chooses, he won't sign his national letter of intent on Thursday, so the three schools shouldn't start embroidering uniforms just yet.

Without wasting too much time, let's take a quick look at the Big Three and the odds that they'll land this 5-star guard.

Connecticut: 25-1

Kevin Ollie recruited Briscoe himself. Ollie wasn't about to put his faith in an assistant to land this top-10 recruit. 

Briscoe is a 6'3" point guard, and who better to learn the craft from than a coach who played professionally as a point guard. 

Briscoe wrote for USA Today:

"

Then with UConn you’ve got Coach (Kevin) Ollie who has played 13 seasons in the NBA as a point guard and I would love to learn from him because of that. 

Who wouldn’t want to learn from a guy who’s been there; we’ve got a great relationship too. Then the whole staff there played point guard at UConn and I love the campus.

"

Yes, there's that. A good relationship is key, but these coaches could charm a scorpion into thinking it's a lady bug. An entire staff of point guards? What's next? Ice cream has no calories? 

Despite those finer points, and even though UConn can boast that fresh-off-a-national-championship swagger, Ollie and Co. are lukewarm at best to land Briscoe.

Kentucky: 4-1

Look at that, 4-1 on Briscoe to Kentucky? Bet, bet, bet! You're not going to get better odds. When John Calipari gets his Wildcat incisors into a recruit he doesn't let go. This is Discovery Channel viewing here.

Heck, even Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv sees a world divided between UK and St. John's:

So what is it? George Briscoe, Isaiah's father, told The Courier-Journal's Steve Jones, "You can't say enough about Kentucky. It is what is. It's the model. What else do you want me to say? Facility-wise, coaching-wise, preparation, it's the model, and it speaks for itself. They have, what, 19 draft choices since (John) Calipari (was hired)?"

That's a strong endorsement for Calipari and UK, but as Jones wrote, "Although Isaiah Briscoe has never publicly stated a favorite, the Cats were seen as the likely leaders for much of the last two months. The past few weeks, however, there's been buzz in the recruiting media that St. John's could be the team to beat."

Geography is often an overlook factor. Click those heels; there's no place like home.

St. John's: 2-1

St. John's and Steve Lavin have been in the running for Briscoe for years now. Briscoe hails from Newark, New Jersey, a little over an hour away from St. John's. That's a bonus Lavin loves to lavish on a recruit, especially one as talented as Briscoe.

Lavin, now entering his fifth season for the Red Storm, has put all his eggs in Briscoe's basket.

Zach Braziller the New York Post writes, "The two are interlocked, because of how much time and effort St. John’s has put into the star New Jersey lead guard—they’ve recruited him since his freshman year—and what his commitment would mean to the program’s future."

Braziller also noted that St. John's has seven open scholarships and not a single commitment. What does that spell? It means Lavin better sign Briscoe or he could end up back at ESPN. What does Briscoe see in this situation? He will undoubtedly be the focal point of Lavin's system, but will he have any help? Maybe that doesn't matter to Briscoe. He wrote for USA Today:

"

With St. John’s, first off, just staying home and having my family and friends and fans around and being able to watch me play all the time is great. Then, playing in The Garden, it doesn’t get any better than that; plus it’s New York City and that’s the biggest market in the world! I’m cool with the coaches and I think it would be a great fit.

"

Maybe it's more of a push between Kentucky and St. John's. Maybe that would be the case were the two schools closer geographically. There's something to be said for playing ball at Madison Square Garden instead of in land-locked horse country.