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.
Dusan is transferring. Seems likely he and the coaching staff had this in mind all along, just waiting for the medical redshirt.
Best of luck to him.
Makes that big man from Missou seem like the obvious next target.
Yes, best of luck to Dusan. I enjoyed his play while it lasted. I’m not sure who would pick him up with his injury, but maybe a school that finds themselves with an extra scholly near end of portal season might throw him a bone. I suppose he still might be able to sit out a year then play the following, but he’s getting a bit old for that.
I thought the same thing, who would use a scholarship on him? He’d be brought in for depth and insurance, I suppose.
Congrats to women’s tennis for beating the evil ones and winning the ACC Championship.
Looking at the potential lineup … With Dusan’s redshirt getting approved, we have 13 committed scholarship players. Maybe we try to finagle another player, maybe not. Only time will tell. but if these are our guys. Probable DAY ONE starting lineup: (all transfers) PG Horne SG Taylor SF Morsell PF Rice C Burns Experience – Two grads, a SR, a JR, and a 5 star SO Talent – Horne, Taylor, Rice classified as 4 star transfers this season, Burns and Morsell are also 4 star players Depth – I’ll bet we play 13 guys often before Christmas PG Pass should… Read more »
I”m happy for Dusan. I still wonder about the NIL/Walk-on possibilities vs taking a scholly. It may all just be rumor/conjecture. But while he is allowed to play, he still may not be 100% when the season starts.
As we stand today, we’ve got a pretty nicely loaded team. So maybe its all done?
Dusan’s medical redshirt was approved!!! Great news
The proof will obviously be in the on court performance, but I think we can feel good that we’ve gotten higher quality players from the portal this year than last. And so, expectations should reasonably be higher. PI lists the transfer rankings above, based on their performance at their previous schools which is probably the best gauge of expectations. However, if you look at a couple of other metrics: Comparing HS rankings (using the 247 site), last season’s class was Clark (2 star, #508), Joiner and Mahorcic had no ranking, Burns was the highlight. (4 stars, #108) Burns and Clark… Read more »
Let’s get Bradley and lock up the top spot.
We are down to fifth place.