Recruiting Report: Isaac Phillips (2017)

The Mountain Vista Golden Eagles have been known to soar in recent years.Since the start of the 2010-11 season, the Continental League powerhouse has posted records of 20-5, 18-9, 23-3, 25-2, and 20-6 and reached the Final 4 twice during that stretch. The stats back up the notion that Vista is elite in Class 5A, but their style of play, as much as anything, has not only fueled wins, but also become their trademark. The Golden Eagles love to be aggressive. They press, push the pace, and attack the basket constantly, a style that has allowed them to be one of the highest scoring teams in Colorado in recent years. But, headed into this season, rumor had it that Vista might be missing a sparkplug. Well, Isaac Phillips, a 2017 point guard with the demeanor and the physical attributes to rev the Mountain Vista engine, didn’t end up leaving the state to play elsewhere. He’s still in Eagle green and yellow. Phillips was productive last year while averaging 7.2 points, 5 assists, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.5 steals for a Great 8 team. “I thought he had a really good sophomore season for us,” Mountain Vista coach Bob Wood said. “He’s an aggressive defender and he made a lot of steals and a lot of plays on the ball. He took care of the ball for us and ran our offense well. He really set up our leading scorers, both Brady (Subart) and Ray (Beresford), so we were really happy with the way Isaac played.” Phillips is a playmaker able to break down defenses with equal parts speed and vision. “I think I can finish pretty well,” he said. “I feel like my ball handling is pretty good. I draw a lot of double teams and I get my teammates wide open for some easy plays.” Both Phillips and Wood agree that he will need to take on a bigger role for a team that returns two starters in Phillips and 6-foot-8 force Jake Belknapp, both of which are juniors, but are youthful and a bit unproven otherwise. “Along with his playmaking, he’s going to have to hit perimeter jumpers,” Wood said. “He’s great at attacking the basket and finishing at the rim with either hand. He does a nice job in transition of distributing the ball. I think with the makeup of our squad, with how young we are, he’s going to have to be one of the guys who scores the ball too.” Phillips added that he wants to step into more of a leadership role for the Golden Eagles, as well. As far as recruiting goes, the point guard is slight at 5-foot-10 and about 140 pounds, so gaining strength, along with improving his scoring touch, will be keys, but he’s only a junior. Phillips says he wants to play at the Division I mid-major level, at least. He’s gotten some interest from Division I and Division II programs so far. “I think he can definitely play college basketball,” Wood said. “Right now I don’t know exactly where he would play. I think he would definitely have potential to play at the Division I level though. He’s an excellent player for us. We’ve had several players go on to play college ball and I don’t see any reason why he can’t.”