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.
Which ever team gets out to a quick start will break the will of the other. Hopefully our three point shooting will not kill us early.
PackJunky Well, honestly speaking if the Pack gets by the 1st tourney game can they really lay an egg? It’s only an egg if you really expected this team to make a deep run. I know this team has the potential to make a deep run but my realistic expectations are a 1st or 2nd round exit. Because a few weeks prior to the end of regular season if someone had told me that this team would be in the NCAAs I would not have believed it. So anything past the 1st round at this point is just icing. To… Read more »
How can ANYONE make ANY prediction with ANY semblance of confidence for this team. They could lay an egg Thursday, they could lay an egg Saturday, they could lay an egg next week. I think one thing is almost certain, they WILL lay an egg between now and next week. Heres to blind hope… Go Pack!
Other than State, I am looking forward to the following potential matchups:
wisconsin vs unc
duke vs gonzaga
kentucky vs nd
If the Pack brings their A game then we can beat LSU, Vill, and Louisville. Can a Gottfried coach team beat an Izzo coached team? I don’t see it happening. I have the Pack either going out in round 1 if they play like they did against duke in the tourney or elite 8 if they play like they did in the many games leading up to the duke game.
If I am a top seeded team in the tourney, I would not want to see the Wolfpack on my bracket.