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.
This season has been brutal. Not that I expected any miracles in this game but man, at least a space to breathe with a win but nope, not gonna happen. And honestly, I want that breath of air for the players because they need something to latch onto. Oh well.
Yea, would love to see some positives so the players have some enthusiasm for next season. If we lose out – a definite possibility since we couldn’t even beat Pitt – it would be the worst season in Pack basketball history by a lot. Corrigan may decide to burn it down.
I dread the idea of starting over once again.
Corrigan stated he supported Keatts and seemed strong on the idea of keeping him. While things can change, I personally think it’d be a bad idea to let Keatts go at this point. Starting over would require so much more momentum than going forward with what we have, especially if we can hold onto the major pieces. But who knows?