Nebraska Basketball: Potential impact of landing transfer Keyontae Johnson
By Bryan Mauro
Low Risk, High Reward
Over-signing with a player like Johnson is a low-risk, potentially high reward. Johnson was one of the best players in the country in 2020 before his health problems. Over his career, he averaged 11 points per game, 7 rebounds, and 1 assist per game. He is a career 38% shooter from deep and shoots about 60% from inside the arc, is deadly from the free throw line, and can take over a game. Those were the reasons he was the 2020 SEC preseason player of the year. He was healthy and was ready to dominate the league.
As mentioned earlier, Johnson has yet to be cleared so over-signing him might make some sense to see if he can get cleared, and then once he gets cleared to practice just look and see what he has. If he is 75% of what he was he is going to be worth the flyer for Nebraska. The Huskers do not have a deep roster and they could use the added scoring punch.
To be honest the depth at Nebraska this season remains a question and how they play together is still to be seen. They are building good chemistry, but the team still has over 80% of their team made up of either freshmen or transfers into the program. A healthy Johnson will alleviate a lot of that especially if he regains his form quickly.
Don’t be fooled and think that Johnson has played no basketball in two years. He has probably been playing and keeping himself sharp, if he goes to a rec center and plays by himself, he doesn’t need a doctor’s clearance to do that. If he does want to play in college, he will need to get cleared by the team doctors and a few independent ones just to decrease the amount of liability to the school.
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This is a low risk due to his ability when healthy and even if he doesn’t get cleared there is still time left to adjust with the prospects of him not playing. It’s also a high reward due to his ceiling and his ability to step right in and have enough ability to be one of the best players in the Big Ten. If he does choose Nebraska it will be interesting to see how everything plays out and which players get left in the wake of the Johnson commitment.