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.
Nonsense. Miami is 3-4 in January with one of those losses being a Q3(Ga Tech) yet still ranked. We go 6-1 in January with our lone loss being a Q1. I like not being ranked but that’s a bit of a head scratcher there.
We are not there yet. Must keep focused. Beating FSU will protect our current standing. We are I the unusual position of having a target on our backs as opposed to being the underdog. Jarkel and Morsell are key to our success. I am not dissing Terq or Burns. But JJ is our rock and Morsell is the glue.
FSU is a trap game. This is one we should win and if we lose, it could hurt us in my opinion. From here on out, at best, I feel we must win the ones we’re supposed to (easier said than done in the ACC) and steal a couple we shouldn’t.