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 Wolfpack stats…. Bart Torvik currently gives State a 45% chance to make the tournament. A loss (to Duke) projects to drop them to 9%
I fell off the Keatts bandwagon on New Year’s Eve when I read the result of the Clemson game. He had a week to prepare for that game and his players were not ready to play. As Papajohn said, Keatts does not sound like a dead man walking, but he is. He has to be. I cannot imagine us going .500 in the remaining games, much less getting to .500 in ACC play. Maybe he is just counting the payout $$$$ that will bankrupt State and set the program back another 5 years. Not sure I’ll live even long enough… Read more »
Ok. Maybe I am just a fair weather fan. I have had all the frustration I can stand for twenty years. Then
THE PACK BEATS DOOK BY 24!
What a roller coaster ride.
Maybe he just doesn’t share this stuff in public, but I can’t believe he doesn’t realize that every game is a must win at this point. He should be in crisis mode 100% of the time. Every loss becomes an indictment of his coaching. It’s going to take an unbelievable turnaround at this point to save his job. We’ve got 16 regular season games left, we probably need to win at least 10 – including 3 or 4 Q1 wins – to even be considered for postseason. WF was left out with 13 ACC wins last season. I don’t think… Read more »