NCAA Basketball: Where will free agent forward Keyontae Johnson land?

Keyontae Johnson was once a top player in the SEC at Florida. Is there a chance that he’ll play this upcoming NCAA Basketball season?

It feels like forever ago in this pandemic era of sports but one of the biggest moments of the 2020-21 season was when Florida star forward Keyontae Johnson collapsed mid-game and was down for quite a while. Due to the heightened concerns of heart issues that reportedly came with Covid, it was potentially the end of the season.

Yet college basketball moved on, but without Johnson. After a breakout sophomore campaign of 14.0 ppg and 7.1 rpg, he was averaging 16.0 ppg in the first four games of that season before getting shut down after being diagnosed with a heart condition. It looked as if it was going to be the end of Johnson’s playing career since the Gators were never going to clear him.

Instead, the 6’7 combo forward entered the transfer portal early in the offseason. As expected though, the process has been very slow to play out. It also didn’t help that there were reported sexual assault allegations this Summer during his time in Florida, though they have been dismissed.

Now, it looks like there are two programs mainly in the mix for his services.

First-year head coach Jerome Tang has rebuilt the entire Wildcat roster, landing seven transfers. None of them have much starpower, especially in the frontcourt. David N’Guessan and Abayomi Iyiola are solid role players but not focal points on the offense. Johnson can be that for Kansas State and get back on the national radar as a prospect. If he’s cleared to go and plays at an All-Big 12 level, he could be a pro prospect to watch since his offensive skillset was never a question.

Rick Stansbury and Western Kentucky always like to add talent in unique ways and have an interesting roster that should compete in Conference USA next season. They return 7’5 center Jamarion Sharp and he and Johnson would be an elite frontcourt duo on both ends. There’s also Kentucky transfer Dontaie Allen, who could be a breakout star as well.

Both teams could use Keyontae Johnson but it’ll ultimately depend on if he’s cleared to play next season. He’ll certainly be rusty so expecting 14 and 7 out the gate will be too much. It’ll be interesting to see how this ends up and what kind of impact he’ll have.