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.
What I see in these numbers is progress. Plenty of room for improvement, but a fine season to learn from and build on. The NCAA Gottfried crap is behind us, we have an excellent inbound freshman class, the best assistant coaches we’ve had, we have returning talent next season – and three scholarships (so far) to fill in next season’s starting lineup. I’m optimistic.
I hear compliants about our low assist numbers. There are 3 key things to factor in. One is that when a good part of your offense is feeding the DJ on the post and letting him back down the defender, you won’t get any assists from that, except maybe an occasional pass out of the double team to a cutter or shooter. But DJ is supposed to keep it most of the time. Second, when your point guard creates a lot of shots for himself you won’t get assists. Third, when you have a player like Smith who can be… Read more »
The numbers that I care about most right now are number of players entering portal. No new entries past few days I suppose is a good sign.