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Recruiting - 2021


Pistol

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I'll be tracking the two DeSmet bigs from Mali, Sekou Gassama and Yaya Keita. Here's a primer:

-They're both big: each 6-9 or slightly over, each 205-210 lbs., and each is pretty strongly built for their age. Gassama is probably leaner and has a narrower frame but he's still pretty young. Keita looks like a college player physically.

-Keita played his freshman season at DeSmet on the varsity squad and averaged about 10 and 10, but Gassama must've either played down a level or didn't play at all. He was here; he's been in the US for about 15 months.

-Despite that, Gassama appears to be the higher-level recruit right now. He's got an LSU offer, plus interest from Purdue, Iowa, and Mizzou. I don't have any offer or interest info for Keita. Both are definitely on SLU's radar, since Ford's son was there last year.

-Gassama definitely just drew a ton more interest last week at the Pangos All-Midwest Camp, where he was named to the top 30 "Cream of the Crop" team. He went head-to-head with 2021 top-3 national player Patrick Baldwin (he's either 1 or 2 in most rankings, with Terrence Clarke as the other), and more than held his own. He barely registered at last year's camp and everyone was scrambling to figure out who he was this year, from what I read.

-Gassama is the better offensive player, although he's strong on both ends. Keita is an elite shot blocker already, showing a natural instinct for disrupting and blocking shots, and he rebounds hard. He's super raw on the offensive end, though.

-They both play their AAU ball for Gateway. Keita suffered a leg injury in July during AAU play, but I'm not sure of the severity of it.

-Here's the tough part: Keita's mother died on Christmas Day last year, and Gassama's father died two months ago. Their families are still back in Mali.

Again, I can't confirm SLU interest so far...but I know we're interested. Two sophomores of this stature playing where Ford's son graduated from earlier this year, I'm certain the staff is well aware of these guys and following closely. I have bios up for them in the Recruiting Lists thread, 2021 Interest.

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  • 1 month later...

Did a full refresh in the Recruiting Lists thread, and here are some 2021 notes:

-Keita is now playing along Gassama but isn't putting up the same numbers quite yet. Gassama is averaging 11.6, 9.4, and 3.7 blocks, while Keita is at 4.3, 4.0, and 1.0.

-Kendall Brown is well on his way to being one of the top players in the class, a 5-star with pro potential.

-Terrence Clarke is the top-rated player in the class and it doesn't seem like SLU will be involved based on the schools he lists as recruiting hardest (Indiana, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Syracuse, NC State) and the five getting involved that he'd like to go see (Pitt, BC, Cal, Texas, FSU).

-KHSAA punted Zion Harmon's eligibility case to the federal court in Paducah after his family sought an injunction to force their hand.

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On 12/17/2018 at 3:00 PM, Pistol said:

Did a full refresh in the Recruiting Lists thread, and here are some 2021 notes:

-Keita is now playing along Gassama but isn't putting up the same numbers quite yet. Gassama is averaging 11.6, 9.4, and 3.7 blocks, while Keita is at 4.3, 4.0, and 1.0.

-Kendall Brown is well on his way to being one of the top players in the class, a 5-star with pro potential.

-Terrence Clarke is the top-rated player in the class and it doesn't seem like SLU will be involved based on the schools he lists as recruiting hardest (Indiana, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Syracuse, NC State) and the five getting involved that he'd like to go see (Pitt, BC, Cal, Texas, FSU).

-KHSAA punted Zion Harmon's eligibility case to the federal court in Paducah after his family sought an injunction to force their hand.

Saw the two bigs from Desmet yesterday.  I like both of them.  Great rebounders.  Very good at sealing their man for offensive positioning.  High motors.  Can step out and guard on the perimeter.  They even have good form on their FTs.  I expect a big summer from them.  

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On 12/12/2018 at 10:46 AM, Pistol said:

Has anyone seen DeSmet play yet? It looks like Gassama is having a nice season but Keita hasn't played yet.

checked out the desmet wg game.  The skinnier one looks slightly better.  They dominated WG inside until the 4th, and all of a sudden WG guards had very little problem with them down low.  Have to wonder if fatigue was setting in and WG knew it. 

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Any info on this Jordan Nesbitt?  Saw him post a video on twitter so I looked him up.  24/7 and Rivals has him as a 4*.  Looks like he started at St Louis christian before going to Lutheran North.

 

This is the video he posted 

 

https://twitter.com/jneszz/status/1080904096276713473

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2 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Any info on this Jordan Nesbitt?  Saw him post a video on twitter so I looked him up.  24/7 and Rivals has him as a 4*.  Looks like he started at St Louis christian before going to Lutheran North.

 

This is the video he posted 

 

https://twitter.com/jneszz/status/1080904096276713473

-I saw him as a frosh and his game was very impressive but he showed some attitude I wasn't a fan of, if he loses that or gains maturity he could be a very good college player

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50 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Any info on this Jordan Nesbitt?  Saw him post a video on twitter so I looked him up.  24/7 and Rivals has him as a 4*.  Looks like he started at St Louis christian before going to Lutheran North.

 

This is the video he posted 

 

https://twitter.com/jneszz/status/1080904096276713473

Nesbitt actually started at Lutheran North and transferred to St. Louis Christian.  He's their leading scorer.  Shoots free throws under 50% so I'm skeptical of him just based on principle 😄.  They've got a game at Vashon on 2/15 if you want to check him out against top flight competition.  Coincidentally Nick Kern, (man do I feel old) is another highly regarded 2021 small forward prospect who will be on the floor that night.

 

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21 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Nesbitt actually started at Lutheran North and transferred to St. Louis Christian.  He's their leading scorer.  Shoots free throws under 50% so I'm skeptical of him just based on principle 😄.  They've got a game at Vashon on 2/15 if you want to check him out against top flight competition.  Coincidentally Nick Kern, (man do I feel old) is another highly regarded 2021 small forward prospect who will be on the floor that night.

 

And he also reclassified.  He is suppose to be in the 2020 class with Love and Fletcher.

Young Kern will be a major player for Vashon next year

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  • 3 weeks later...

Doing a full refresh on the Recruiting Lists thread, and here's the update on Zion Harmon: He'll stay enrolled at Marshall County HS (KY) but play on weekends for Bella Vista Prep out of Arizona. He is eligible to play again for MCHS on 3/5, because that marks a full year from the end of their 2017-2018 season, but they'd have to go on a playoff run without him to get to that date. His dad says he wants Zion to stay at MCHS for next season, but I'd have to think that BVP is letting him do this in the hopes he'll enroll there. This is one of the weirdest situations I've seen in the years I've been closely following HS recruiting. Story here.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
11 hours ago, SLURadioBoy said:

Thanks for the heads up, Coach. Does anyone know how his game compares to his dad’s?

I only remember his dad in his upperclassman years at Vashon, when he was about 6-8. He was active and athletic, long and lean, springy, all limbs, strong finisher, not much of a shooter, decent rebounder at both ends, could block some shots. The younger Kern is about 6-5 at this point and looks like he's on his way to developing the better all-around game. Really curious to see how he grows and develops. I like this offer a lot, especially right now. I expect him to get a lot of attention this spring and summer.

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For those talking about the DeSmet bigs in the 2020 thread, I would expect Gassamma and Keita to receive offers soon. Total guess on my part - it just makes sense.

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24 minutes ago, Pistol said:

I only remember his dad in his upperclassman years at Vashon, when he was about 6-8. He was active and athletic, long and lean, springy, all limbs, strong finisher, not much of a shooter, decent rebounder at both ends, could block some shots. The younger Kern is about 6-5 at this point and looks like he's on his way to developing the better all-around game. Really curious to see how he grows and develops. I like this offer a lot, especially right now. I expect him to get a lot of attention this spring and summer.

Thanks, Pistol. For some reason I remember his dad being a really good 3 point shooter at the time for someone 6’8”, but I could be wrong. I only remember reading about him and watching his team win the state tournament on TV with Jimmy McKinney.

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58 minutes ago, SLURadioBoy said:

Thanks, Pistol. For some reason I remember his dad being a really good 3 point shooter at the time for someone 6’8”, but I could be wrong. I only remember reading about him and watching his team win the state tournament on TV with Jimmy McKinney.

The Kern Pistol remembers is from his junior year.  The Kern with the much improved shot that you remember is from his senior year.

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8 hours ago, 3star_recruit said:

The Kern Pistol remembers is from his junior year.  The Kern with the much improved shot that you remember is from his senior year.

Thanks. I really didn't remember him taking this leap, but then again, I'm relying on a fuzzy memory from 18 years ago.

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Romar was excited about Kern coming. After missing out on the Peoria forward, Marcellus Somerville, that shot Bradley into the Big Dance, Romar thought Kern would be even better. Of course, Kern never qualified, Polk blew his knee out, Ryan Hollins never came, and Romar left for UWashington.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/25/2018 at 5:28 PM, Pistol said:

I'll be tracking the two DeSmet bigs from Mali, Sekou Gassama and Yaya Keita. Here's a primer:

-They're both big: each 6-9 or slightly over, each 205-210 lbs., and each is pretty strongly built for their age. Gassama is probably leaner and has a narrower frame but he's still pretty young. Keita looks like a college player physically.

-Keita played his freshman season at DeSmet on the varsity squad and averaged about 10 and 10, but Gassama must've either played down a level or didn't play at all. He was here; he's been in the US for about 15 months.

-Despite that, Gassama appears to be the higher-level recruit right now. He's got an LSU offer, plus interest from Purdue, Iowa, and Mizzou. I don't have any offer or interest info for Keita. Both are definitely on SLU's radar, since Ford's son was there last year.

-Gassama definitely just drew a ton more interest last week at the Pangos All-Midwest Camp, where he was named to the top 30 "Cream of the Crop" team. He went head-to-head with 2021 top-3 national player Patrick Baldwin (he's either 1 or 2 in most rankings, with Terrence Clarke as the other), and more than held his own. He barely registered at last year's camp and everyone was scrambling to figure out who he was this year, from what I read.

-Gassama is the better offensive player, although he's strong on both ends. Keita is an elite shot blocker already, showing a natural instinct for disrupting and blocking shots, and he rebounds hard. He's super raw on the offensive end, though.

-They both play their AAU ball for Gateway. Keita suffered a leg injury in July during AAU play, but I'm not sure of the severity of it.

-Here's the tough part: Keita's mother died on Christmas Day last year, and Gassama's father died two months ago. Their families are still back in Mali.

Again, I can't confirm SLU interest so far...but I know we're interested. Two sophomores of this stature playing where Ford's son graduated from earlier this year, I'm certain the staff is well aware of these guys and following closely. I have bios up for them in the Recruiting Lists thread, 2021 Interest.

@TJHawk and @Franchise_08 - This is my post about them from six months ago and remains the best info I have on them (aside from having Gassamma's name spelled wrong) heading into the AAU season with Gateway. The only thing I can add is their HS averages from this season at DeSmet:

Gassamma: 9.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.6 blocks, 0.6 assists, 0.4 steals, .591/.000/.508

Keita: 8.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, 0.6 assists, 1.0 steals, .544/.333/.516

Keita missed the first several games with the leg injury I mentioned previously; Gassamma ended up playing 2 more games than Keita over the full season. I spotted Gassamma at a SLU game this season. Never spotted Keita but I'd be surprised if both haven't been on campus.

I get the idea they're pretty close. The experience of being a Malian immigrant living in St. Louis and going to DeSmet is pretty specific, so to have someone your age with your exact experience is probably going to make you allies no matter what. Everything I've read about them so far indicates they're friends. I don't think that will have any impact on their college decision - i.e. I haven't seen that they're looking to be a package deal, although they also haven't ruled it out.

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