I won’t lie I was one of those guys who questioned whether or not Coach Matta had lost his touch in recruiting. After losing out on several big names to teams like UCLA and Kentucky and Duke I said he probably just lost guys to big name schools. Recently though he lost an Ohio kid to Wisconsin in Nigel Hayes and Noah Vonleh to Indiana I was nervous. It sucks to lose recruits to coaches like Tom Crean and Bo Ryan I can’t tell you with enough fervor how much I dislike those guys. Thad Matta then comes out recently and says that his staff has a plan and knows who they want and not to worry he will get the guys he needs to keep OSU a successful basketball school. I don’t know if I bought in fully to his speech until today where he landed his first recruit for the 2014 season.
Keita Bates-Diop is a 6’7″ 190 lbs 4 star Forward from Normal Illinois. Keita announced from his twitter account @KBD_33 “Official committed to THE Ohio st university!!”. Keita is one of those really special players along the lines of an Evan Turner. He has the ability to do everything on the court. He can score from all over the place and has a wonderful jump shot. Has a huge 7’3″ wingspan that allows him to rebound and block shots with the big men. ESPN ranks him the 27th best player in the 2014 class. Scouts ranks him the 7th best PF in the class. Rivals ranks him the no. 20th best player in 2014. 247sports ranks him the 21st best player. Keita is a huge get for Matta for so many reasons but most importantly because Keita was being pursued heavily by TTUN and many other Natl Heavyweights proving that he hasn’t lost his touch and I was wrong happily. Below you can see his highlights.
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