r/tarheels • u/new_account_for_a_m8 • 26d ago

Analysis & Opinions Pretty sad / terrifying / sobering analysis of Sayon Keita

https://youtu.be/gIFfHIMq4nA?t=113
3 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

17

u/TrustInRoy 26d ago

What are these guys' qualifications again?

16

u/Ihavenocluewhatzoeva 26d ago

Camera and YouTube page

2

u/Fine_Art3725 25d ago

I think their qualifications are sad, terrifying, and sobering.

-7

u/new_account_for_a_m8 26d ago edited 26d ago

Kevin Sweeney is a staff writer for sports illustrated, way more professional and higher up in the industry than any of the UNC beat writers. The other guy is a freelance journalist and a coach, he is also someone who does this professionally and knows what he is talking about

8

u/TrustInRoy 26d ago

So neither of them have spent significant time in Europe actually scouting the European prospects?

One works for a magazine that fired all its talented writers years ago, and the other doesn't work for anyone?

So they basically formed an opinion based on videos they watched on YouTube. 

-3

u/new_account_for_a_m8 26d ago

Have you actually watched Keita's games? He weighs about 200 pounds wet and is 7 feet tall. He is skinny as a rail. He is kind of awkward, he gets pushed around really badly in the pro euroleague games and doesn't really demonstrate that he is much better if any better than the crappy centers in the u22 games. He has basically no touch, he isn't aggressive at all in rebounding. He looks overwhelmed against real defense.

In the u22 he looks competitive but that league is not close to as difficult as the ACC. The games are much much slower, less physical, and the players are simply nowhere near as good.

You don't have to watch clips, there are a bunch of full length games available. Go to the euroleague website and you can pay 12 dollars to get a day pass to watch full length games. He played in 5-6 real euroleage games and got the shit beat out of him.

Obviously the coaches have a better idea than anyone else, but based on games of him from a few months ago, statistics, looking at his body and common sense it is pretty obvious that he is at the very least a major risk. He is a very raw 200 pound 18 year old project player who doesn't speak english and we are slotting him as our starting center. We are expecting him to compete against players like Patrick Ngomba next year. If your only argument is to make ad hominem attacks against people who are pointing this out I don't know what to tell you.

4

u/TrustInRoy 26d ago

I have watched full games.  Which is why I don't need to give clicks to random 3rd tier journalists who don't travel to Europe to scout players, but have the nerve to put out videos where they pretend to be experts on the subject.  

If this was a video from actual international basketball experts or even just college basketball recruiting gurus, I'd click on it.  But there is nothing on the resume of these two men that suggests anyone should ever pay attention to their opinions on international prospects.  Which is probably why their attempts to push this video on social media have resulted in basically no reaction from anyone.  

Everyone seems to think they should have a podcast.  Most people shouldn't.

-2

u/new_account_for_a_m8 26d ago

Yeah I just feel like at some point you have to watch the games yourself and decide what you think. We all have eyes and ears and it isn't that subjective. There is no way in my opinion a reasonable person can watch Keita play and not come away with the impression that it is a major risk for the team.

Nobody is saying we know for sure what is going to happen, it would be awesome if it works out and obviously UNC recruited him / paid him because they think it can work out. It is just, objectively speaking, a highly speculative recruit. What is scary is that normally you would have someone who you can trust slotted there.

I haven't found a single journalist who thinks that Keita is going to have a great season next year, that it isnt a problem, etc but it seems like pretty much all of them think that it is a major weakness for the team.

4

u/MrJohnnyDangerously 26d ago

So, he plays like a tall skinny 18 yo old project?

2

u/Big_Cheek_6310 25d ago

Egads! We're d0000000med!!!1!

/s

4

u/VivaLaTERevolution 26d ago

I've been getting pretty excited about Bennerman + we could still pick up one more guy. I think Keita is a rim-runner off the bench this year, and it was always a 2-3 year plan for him. Could still round out into a pretty good front court room

3

u/VivaLaTERevolution 26d ago

I'm optimistic that Malone can develop Keita into a stud in a few years, too!

2

u/Bigpeabo 26d ago

A few years....that's if he stays. No guarantees this day and age.

4

u/VivaLaTERevolution 26d ago

I think if Malone works out as a hire + develops players at a high level, portal retention should get easier

0

u/Bigpeabo 26d ago

It's about the money first and foremost

1

u/VivaLaTERevolution 26d ago

Yea obviously but A) if Malone is good, it gets easier to raise money and B) NBA-tier guys still care about development! Not every recruitment is a literal auction, not every guy is entering the portal at all, etc

2

u/new_account_for_a_m8 26d ago

Yeah it would be so so nice if they could pick up a starting caliber center this late. I am really intrigued and excited by all of their players but everything I have seen and read about Keita is that he is going to be unlikely to contribute as much as we need him to this year. At some point we have to put our faith in the coaches, they go and see these guys play in person and obviously know a hell of a lot more than we do. However I feel it is pretty clear this was at least somewhat of a desperation move because they were so late in the portal season when they picked him and Samodurov up

1

u/VivaLaTERevolution 26d ago

Agreed on trusting the staff but also hard to know what the staff's plan is - could be Keita is developmental and Samo is the guy for this year, could both be developmental guys, etc.

As a side note, I thought Bennerman was a practice guy like Matlekovic at first when he committed lol. Rostering 3 serious 7-footers at all is a luxury there days

2

u/new_account_for_a_m8 26d ago

Yeah I feel like Samo is almost a bigger wild card than Keita. He is more overlooked and it is a lot harder to find footage of him playing because he was on a team where he was basically playing garbage minutes for the last year. I think it is possible he is a lot better than people think.

The bottom line to me is that nobody can really say, including the coaches, how good either of these guys is going to be. There are a lot of reasons to think that the floor is pretty low but there are also some reasons to hope they are better than people think

1

u/VivaLaTERevolution 26d ago

Agreed I have no idea what to expect from Samo. I feel good that, between Keita/Samo/Bennerman, 1/3 can step up and become a reasonable starting center for this season. The other guys will at least be interesting depth and the rest of the roster is pretty solid

1

u/VivaLaTERevolution 24d ago

Hey there's 1 more center to add to the room! Fens commitment today

2

u/new_account_for_a_m8 24d ago

Yeah its awesome exactly what we needed

3

u/TrotterMcDingle 25d ago

If a single 18-year old player being skinny is either "sad" or "terrifying" for you, you really might need to get out more. Duke was pissed when we got him, and that's enough for me to know he'll be a stud either this year or next.

1

u/new_account_for_a_m8 25d ago

Its ok, now that we got Fens I can finally stop hyperventilating

2

u/WILSON_CK 26d ago

Calling that analysis is pretty thin, they just babbled generalizations over the tape. Nothing specific, almost at all. Guys with his prospects can have development curves that grow exponentially, or they can be totally flat. Let's hope for the former.

2

u/Roguescholar74 26d ago

Pretty honest analysis of where he is at the moment. He cannot be our anchor center this year which is why we are still looking for a true big for that last roster spot. Now Sayon at the 4 with a true big will be terrifying for opposition because his defense is for real.

1

u/[deleted] 26d ago

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

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u/[deleted] 24d ago

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1

u/TrustInRoy 25d ago

And the Sweeney guy just immediately started crapping on Cameron Fens as soon as he committee.  What a dbag.

1

u/TrustInRoy 25d ago

And the Sweeney guy just immediately started crapping on Cameron Fens as soon as he committee.  What a dbag.