NC State Forward Mohamed Diarra will not be returning to NC State for his final season of eligibility. Rather, he will give 100% of his focus to pursuing his professional career.
Diarra is declaring for the NBA Draft, and will explore that possibility as far as it goes, but the likelihood of him playing professionally in his home country of France are high.
Diarra was a significant player for NC State all season long, averaging 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds (team high), but his impact in March was tremendous, recording 10+ rebounds in 7 of the Wolfpack’s 10 postseason games, and five of those performances were double-doubles.
Wolfpack fans will always remember the grit and mental toughness that Diarra put on display in the NCAA Tournament, playing game-after-game while fasting for Ramadan.
The Wolfpack’s frontcourt just got a little bit thinner. In the past two weeks, NC State has lost Diarra and Ernest Ross. Ben Middlebrooks is returning, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield transferred in from Louisville. Dontrez Styles transferred in from Georgetown, and while he is more of a Small Forward, in certain lineups, he could play the Small 4 position. With all that being said, I fully expect NC State to try to find another post player in the Transfer Portal with Diarra’s exodus now official.
With Diarra not returning in 2024, NC State now has 2 scholarships available for next season.
Worst case scenario I think we keep Bobby Lutz on the back burner. He’s not the ideal candidate but he’s a solid coach. He would just need some good recruiters on his staff because I hear that he’s not that big into recruiting himself. I wonder where we would be right now had we hired him as head coach 11 seasons ago? I remember his Charlotte squad pounded Sendek’s team years ago.
I hope Yow learned some lessons from her last coaching search. Here are my keys to the search:
1. Stay away from established coaches – for a seasoned coach this may not be an upgrade
2. Don’t allow coaches to use this opportunity to get a raise at current job – if they are not excited about the job walk away
3. Don’t lowball – this cost us a couple of options the last time
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4. Young coaches will show some reverence at the coaches in the triangle/ACC – don’t hold that against them
5. Don’t necessarily have to hire for next 20 years – during the Sidney Lowe search I was high on coach Fisher (formerly of Michigan U and now at SDSU) – ppl kept saying he was too old but guess what? He’s still coaching 11 seasons later
If you are in the midst of a losing streak, play State.
Cavs break out of shooting slump against Gottfried coached team… no surprises there.