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.
Coach Gott,
Everyone knows you can produce great guards. Work on getting our big me above average.
#GETEMRIGHTCOACH!
The big kid coming will not solve this team’s problem. Gottfried does not know how to integrate our bigs into the offense. No rebounds, no defense. What a disappointment. Need to stop drinking the Kool Aid I guess.
Well it won’t be worse with Yurt7 but he’s not a cure-all.
Yeah, all he will do is set picks for the four guards. Useless. We need a team with a true PG, SG, SF, PF, and C. Not four guards playing zero defense and not rebounding. I’m also tired of making excuses for Gott’s teams. Let’s try using the Wisconsin’s and Virginia’s approach at recruiting and keep kids three or four years.
We tried that already, his name was herb sendek. His team’s had great defense, but incredibly boring offense. That didn’t suit anybody either. You can’t please all the people all the time.
When are these people going to learn how to play defense. Lazy asses and poor coaching. This team has no patience. Getting blow out by Illinois. What a pitiful sight. Bring on baseball. Dennis Smith and Henderson are useless on defense. Hurts the team.
Can’t be too safe with a head injury. TJ has been out for a couple of weeks now for a minor head injury.