Keita Bates-Diop Receives Another Big Ten Scholarship Offer

By Roy & Harv Schmidt

October 29, 2011

7:15 P.M. CST

Keita Bates-Diop, a 6'7 2014 forward from Normal U-High in Normal, IL received a scholarship offer today from Northwestern University and head coach Bill Carmody while on the Evanston campus for an unofficial visit.  Bates-Diop's offer was confirmed by Illinois Wolves CEO Mike Mullins and this past season's Illinois Wolves 15-Under head coach Dave Kleinschmidt.

This was the second weekend in a row that Bates-Diop has taken a visit to Northwestern.  He was also on campus last weekend to watch the Wildcats practice.  The Northwestern offer represents Bates-Diop's third from a D1 school to date, with the other two coming courtesy of DePaul and Purdue.  He is also receiving strong interest from Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Bates-Diop is a highly athletic wing who has a 7'0 wing span.  He excels in the open court with his ability to put the ball on the floor and finish in transition.  In addition, Bates-Diop is also a consistent mid-range scorer.  He is continuing to work on getting stronger and expanding his shooting range, but there is no question that Bates-Diop ranks among the top ten prospects in Illinois from the talented 2014 class.

Getting back to Northwestern, Carmody and Associate Head Coach Tavaras Hardy are also showing interest in a couple of other prospects from the Wolves' 15-under squad, those being 6'6 2014 wing forward Amanze Egezeke from Huntley High School in Huntley, IL and 6'0 2015 guard Jordan Ash from St. Joseph High School in Westchester, IL.  Both Egekeze and Ash visited the Northwestern campus along with Bates-Diop last weekend.
Editor's Note: Since we published this entry Mike Mullins has confirmed that Bates-Diop, Egezeke and 6'6 2013 2G/WF Nathan Taphorn from Pekin High School in Pekin, IL will all be taking unofficial visits to the University Of Wisconsin this coming weekend (November 5).

Additional Notes

... While we reported it earlier today via Twitter, it is also worth mentioning here that 6'4 2014 shooting guard Peyton Allen from Chatham-Glenwood High School in Chatham, IL received a scholarship offer from Oklahoma State University and head coach Travis Ford today while on the Stillwater,OK campus for an unofficial visit.  Allen's offer from the Cowboys represents his second D1 offer to date, the first coming courtesy of Bradley.  Like Bates-Diop, Allen also ranks among the top ten prospects in Illinois from 2014. 

... In addition to Allen, 6'2 2-guard Kendrick Nunn from Simeon Career Academy in Chicago (our #2 ranked prospect in Illinois from the class of 2013) visited Oklahoma State today.  And to no one's surprise, Nunn also walked away from Stillwater with a scholarship offer from Ford and the Cowboys.  Nunn's offer from Oklahoma State is his second since he decommitted from Texas A&M back on September 28, the other coming courtesy of Marquette University.  Other schools who have previously offered Nunn include Illinois, DePaul, Arizona, Florida State, Memphis, NC State, Ohio U, Providence, St. Louis, Tennessee and Xavier.