Utah’s Keba Keita Enters Transfer Portal — What are BYU’s Chances?

After former Utah Assistant Chris Burgess was hired by BYU Wednesday as an assistant, Utah forward/center Keba Keita entered the transfer portal right before the midnight eastern deadline.

A graduate of Wasatch Academy and native of Mali, Keba played two seasons at Utah and will be a junior this coming season. Keita started in 13 of 35 games for Utah this season, averaging 8.3 points, 5.4 boards, and 1.1 blocks in just 16 minutes per game. According to KenPom, Keba was second in Pac-12 play in offensive rebounding percentage, 10th in defensive rebounding percentage, 5th in block percentage and 8th in fouls drawn per 40 minutes. Keba average just 16 minutes per game in part due to foul trouble; he averaged 5.3 fouls per 40 minutes.

Keba is an uber-athletic big man that is great on the glass, a fantastic secondary rim protector, and a very good rim runner. Jump shooting is not part of his game, but he excels at the other stuff.

What are BYU’s Chances?

I don’t think it’s coincidence that Keba entered the portal after the Burgess news. Burgess was his position coach for two years at Utah. Keba is very close with Fouss as both are natives of Mali, and he knows many of the current BYU players. He’ll surely get good NIL offers in the portal, but I anticipate BYU would be right at or towards the top of the list if they aggressively pursue him.

Keba does a lot of things really well, but he is a 6-foot-8 center. He has the athleticism where you could maybe put him at the four to guard on the perimeter at times, but he is primarily a 5 man. Fouss is already undersized as a 6-foot-6 five man, and Keba doesn’t help BYU’s size deficiency despite the things he does well.

I don’t know what Kevin Young is thinking, but I would not be surprised if he is looking to add a 5 man with more traditional size. Ideally, I’m sure BYU would like to add Keba and another talented 5 man, but adding Keba could limit the quality of big men BYU could add; would a quality 7-footer want to come to BYU when Fouss and Keba are already there? would Keba want insurances that BYU wouldn’t add another big man to play over him?

All are questions to consider. I’m just a dude, but if it was up to me I would make a push to bring in Keba. Him and Fouss are both undersized and may not be able to play on the floor a lot together, but Keba is talented and bring a different skill set than Fouss. If BYU were to add Keba and another stretch big that can play both the 4 and the 5, those would be great additions to BYU’s front court.

We’ll see what Kevin Young has up his sleeve in the coming weeks.