Keita Bates-Diop Michigan Visit

First, a quick personal side-note. I've been a bit behind on some of my basketball coverage and I wanted to give a little bit of an explanation. I've been studying for the LSAT in order to get into law school and didn't have enough time to get around to doing some posts. Fortunately, I took the test yesterday and will now have ample time to cover Michigan basketball and its recruiting. So, Michigan has had some big recruits visiting campus as of late, especially at it's Elite Camp, which took place over last weekend.


Arguably the most important visitor of last weekend was Keita Bates-Diop, who is rated as a 4* recruit by ESPN and #44 on the ESPN100. Needless to say, at 6'7" and 190 lbs, he is a big-time player that could be an impact player for Michigan. He hasn't received an offer from Michigan at this point (Michigan's coaches will offer the 2014 recruits on June 15), but he's almost guaranteed to receive one and seems to be very interested in the Maize and Blue.



As with almost any recruit, other schools are pursuing Bates-Diop as well. He recently visited both Purdue and Louisville and both visits seemed to go well for him. He's not very far in his recruitment yet, so it's pretty hard to make predictions on his destination, but I really think Purdue and Michigan are in good shape. I think we'll get more of an inclination once Michigan makes an official offer to Bates-Diop in the coming weeks.


He's a great recruit and if he decided to come to Michigan, it would be a tremendous addition to its 2014 class. I could definitely see him playing well with some of Michigan's 2013 commits such as Derrick Walton and Mark Donnal. He's #8 at his position, according to ESPN, and his size is something that's going to be a major advantage for him at the collegiate level.


Bates-Diop seems to be a little light for his position, he weighs 190 lbs, but I think it's pretty likely that he will bulk up over his remaining high school years and turn into a very physical power forward. Michigan is really never going to have the absolutely huge big men, since Beilein's offense focuses more on shooting, but I think he'll easily be big enough to compete at the Big Ten level by time he arrives on a college campus in 2014.


As of now, I think the most important thing is to keep June 15th on the calendar. Once Michigan starts offering its 2014 recruits, I think there will be a few commitments in the following weeks, given Beilein's track record. I don't think Bates-Diop will commit that quickly, but Michigan is in great shape with him and I think his recruitment will take shape in the next few weeks.