Sedee Keita is the key to Providence’s 2016 recruiting class. No offense to committed point guard Maliek White but that previous statement is a fact. White was a big-time get for Ed Cooley and his staff because they were looking to replace Kris Dunn — the former McDonald’s All-American is expected to jump to the NBA after his redshirt junior season in 2015-16. Had Cooley and his staff not landed White they would still be chasing other guards but if they didn’t find one they wanted in 2016 it wouldn’t have been a massive blow. The current roster has two or three players who are capable of handling point guard duties for stretches, including sophomore Kyron Cartwright who started some games alongside Dunn a season ago and could very well do the same this season. The class of 2017 — especially in New England — is loaded with talented guards and the Friar coaching staff is already heavily involved with a number of them.

Providence’s frontcourt situation is a bit different. Ben Bentil is the lone player above 6’8 on the roster with other big men being redshirt sophomore Rodney Bullock and freshman Quadree Smith — both listed at 6’8. All three are much closer to power forwards than centers and while modern college basketball in 2015 doesn’t necessarily require 7-footers to be successful it certainly helps to have a rim protector or two. Enter Keita.

The Putnam Science Academy big man is a 6’10 specimen of an athlete who has the ability to run the floor well and also shoot the ball out to the free-throw line. He is versatile and long which means he’s a very good projection of a modern big man. The knock on Keita has been that he’s still too much potential and not enough production, which is why he has stayed towards the lower end of most top 100 lists. He has grown about 9 inches in the last 4 years and needs to continue to fill out his frame. Watching him play at Providence’s Elite Camp in August 2015 — even in limited action that day — he showed some impressive traits and fit right in with the likes of Bentil when running through drills directed by Cooley. He and Bentil both played for the same grassroots program — WE R1.

Landing Keita means Cooley will bolster his frontcourt with a legitimately tall and long rim protector while also landing a top-100 player that has a very high ceiling. It also means he and his staff won’t have to dip further down their lists of other big men recruits — a list that isn’t all that impressive on paper beyond Keita. Keita is scheduled to visit Providence the weekend of October 16th and will attend the annual Late Night Madness festivities while on campus. He is also considering LSU, Penn State, South Carolina, Temple and UNLV. So far the only official visit he’s taken is to South Carolina in late September and he is also scheduled to visit Temple this upcoming weekend. No other visit dates have been set.

Follow me on Twitter @pcbb1917