Top international prospect Sayon Keita will visit Kentucky today

Sayon Keita is considered by many as the top international prospect at the high school level. He’ll be in Lexington today to check out the Kentucky men’s basketball program.

Keita is in the midst of visiting six schools in six days, a tour that started on Monday with a trip to Kansas and continued on Tuesday with a stop at Indiana. After spending Wednesday at UK, the seven-foot native of Mali will wrap up his visits at Duke (July 31), North Carolina (August 1), and UConn (August 2). Keita, who currently plays for FC Barcelona in Spain, is a member of the 2027 recruiting class right now, but a possible move up to the 2026 cycle is on the table.

The expectation is that Keita is in no rush to make a college decision. He scheduled six visits in six days due to time constraints with the recruiting dead period and his upcoming season with FC Barcelona. Rivals has him rated as a four-star recruit.

Notably, Keita is a former Barcelona teammate of shooting guard Dame Sarr, who is an incoming freshman at Duke and was considered a top 20 recruit from the class of 2025.

Keita was recently a top participant in the NBPA Top 100 Camp, which took place in Rock Hill, SC, back in June. Kentucky staffers, including head coach Mark Pope, were at the event to get eyes on him. On his way to being named Defensive MVP, Keita posted per-game averages of 13 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks on 67.5 percent shooting at the camp. The 17-year-old big man also recently suited up in the NBA Academy Games earlier in the summer in Atlanta, where he averaged 13.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 4.0 blocks per game. UK coaches were in attendance for that event, as well.

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