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.
From everything I’ve seen on LSU it appears that it will be a battle of their Front Court vs our Back Court. If our interior guys play smart we can match up fairly well on defense but not sure how much scoring we’ll be doing from the paint? It will be an interesting matchup.
Just remember one thing Wolfpack… when they press, attack, attack, attack. Hopefully we’ve learned this by now having played half a dozen pressing teams this season.
I’m Ok with this team basing everything around their bigs. If we can effectively double team their big and rotate back on D well we should be able to shut down to a degree their bigs. Anya has the power to battle down low and a second defender should take away that drive. Then we have Freeman and Abu who can matchup with the other big. If Ralston isn’t hitting I expect to see alot of the twins.
Their bigs can get their points. State needs to stop Hornsby. If he get 15 or more, we are in trouble.