After a busy summer evaluation period, our Arizona Preps' staff traveled around the West to cover Arizona's best basketball talent and discovered and followed numerous prospects that college coaches need to take a hard look at. In Arizona's 2023 Class, one prospect that emerged and consistently had strong performances throughout the month of July was Campo Verde High School's talented 6-foot, 160-pound junior point guard Isaiah Kai. Kai was a very nice find by our staff and is among the best pure talents in the class.
Kai burst onto the basketball scene last season, after helping lead his Campo Verde program to an 8-8 overall record during the COVID-stricken basketball season. In the process, Kai averaged solid numbers as a sophomore - putting up 10.6 points, 3.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds per/game. Kai also shot an impressive 49% from the field on the season. These numbers should improve a great deal this upcoming high school basketball season, as he enters his junior season. Kai will be much stronger physically and much more explosive as he enters his junior season.
Kai, while a lesser known prospect, has already received Division-I offers for himself, as a couple of college programs have seen his immense talent and potential for the future. Kai has reeled in offers already from Houston Baptist and the University of Hawaii-Helo. He is already receiving strong recruiting interest from numerous college programs as well, as such schools as UC-Irvine, San Jose State, Hawaii, Portland, Montana State, New Mexico and Colorado State have each shown serious interest already in him.
Kai is a unique guard prospect very seldom seen, especially so young. Kai is a pass-first point guard prospect that sees plays before they happen on the basketball court. He has a very unique feel for the game and enjoys having the ball in his hands and also loves to make his teammates better. He advances the ball up the floor with the pass and is an asset to his team, as he plays very hard and competes hard on both ends of the court. He plays with excellent passion and has good overall toughness for his smaller size. Kai is a floor general with the basketball in his hands and loves to get others involved. He also has a pure shooting stroke with excellent range on his shot, and a quick release. He is very crafty with the basketball and can score in a variety of ways, including using floaters in the lane and also scoring from mid-range, an area of his game which should really develop over the next two years. Kai drives very hard to the basket and is a very strong finisher in the lane and over and around defenders. He does not mind physical contact, and often draws fouls and gets to the free-throw line.
This young man has a good ability to get defenders off balance with his drives and hesitation dribbles, and has some extra stuff in his bag, which makes him very different from most other guard prospects. He is also a very good defender with quick hands and feet. He is capable of playing passing lanes and deflecting passes at a high rate, which will benefit him nicely at the collegiate level. He has the ability to become a very good defender over time.
I really enjoyed watching Kai play this summer, as he led his club program, Team Arizona, to numerous strong finishes over the summer months. Led by Kai, the Team Arizona group, filled with many East Valley top prospects, more than held their own against the top talent in the West. They had numerous big wins in the Pangos Sweet 16 in Los Angeles, CA, and also the Summer Championships (Hoop Circuit) in Las Vegas, Nevada. His strong performance throughout the summer was impressive and should lead to advanced college recruitment.
Isaiah Kai definitely emerged this summer as one of the top overall prospects in Arizona's 2023 Class. I look forward to watching him grow and develop over the next year, in preparation for another big spring and summer in 2022. But first, I look forward to watching him lead Campo Verde to a much stronger season this year in the state's 5A Division.
