BREAKING: Norse MBB Lands MUCH NEEDED Transfer
Keeyan Itjere (Also known as 'Player C' on the podcast from Monday) will provide Norse with much needed size and ungodly skill in years to come
Article by: Kyle Craven
Graphics by: Kyle Craven
It was a busy weekend for NKU, playing host to at least three transfer portal players as covered in this week’s Monday Morning Commute podcast. We’ve been writing for weeks now that the Norse have a really solid core group of players returning with our “big 3” ranking amongst the top teams in the league in combined PER (player efficiency rating). However, it comes as no surprise to anyone who follows this team closely that there were going to be tangible holes that need to be filled for all of us to feel comfortable with this team defending their recent Horizon League title. Among these holes were that of POINT GUARD and CENTER / BIG MAN. Rarely on this site will you see us refer to players by their position, as we focus more on the role that a player plays, but these two roles are pretty easily defined. We need an experienced ball handler who has a high basketball IQ and can make the right plays within the context of our offense. And with losing Chris Brandon, we had to get a player down low who can block shots, get rebounds and shoot at a high percentage. I am confident that the Norse landed at least one of those two things in receiving a verbal commitment from Keeyan Itjere (Marquette). We gave you all some info on him (and other) guys earlier in the day with our latest podcast but we can provide a little more context in this post.
KEEYAN ITEJERE
If there was a polar opposite to being “slept on” out of high school, it would be the 6’9” forward Keeyan Itejere. Hailing from Grace Christian School and growing up in Knightdale, N.C. Itejere is no stranger to the spotlight. In high school, Itejere was an all-around impact player, averaging 11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists per game under DeShannon Morris. The obvious draw to a player like Itejere is his potential. He’s a 3-star recruit, NARROWLY missing out on a 0.9000 composite score from the recruiting and scouting consortium 247 Sports.
While there isn’t much to go off of based on his stats in college (not alot of minutes under his belt), the fact remains that this will be the highest ranked player the Norse have EVER gotten (2 spots outside of the top 200), especially from a “big man” perspective. The relationship with Shaka Smart seems to have really paid off for Coach Horn (and his staff) as well, as our sources have told us that Coach Smart recommended Northern Kentucky to Itejere personally. Itjere had originally committed to the University of Texas to play for Smart, but quickly de-commited and changed signed his LOI for Marquette shortly after Smart was hired there.
And Norse fans, if you needed a reason to get a little excited about this — take a quick look with me:
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE NORSE?
Y’all — this is good. The future is bright. Along with Keeyan Itjere, we fully expect that the Norse will be signing a few other players over the next few weeks. The Norse have 4 freshmen guards/wings committed and signed for next year, so the future looks great from that perspective. They have two returning bigs that can continue to grow and develop as they also undoubtedly will see an increase to their role next season (LJ Wells, Cesar Tchilombo). And they of course have their “Big 3” of Marques, Sam and Trey coming back. All that’s left to do is continue to grind. Be on the lookout for the Norse to be signing a PG pretty soon! They know it’s a need just as the rest of us do.
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