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Mohamed Diarra Coverage

99.9 The Fan's Dennis Cox breaks down Mohamed Diarra's decision to declare for the NBA Draft and what it means for NC State basketball.

I'm legitimately surprised by the breaking news. I just read during that commercial of the North Carolina State Wolfpack men's basketball team put out a statement saying that he w is 100% pursuing his professional career and declaring for the NBA draft. The statement reads this last season at NC State with my teammates and coaches was incredible for me. It has been more than I could have imagined and I will always cherish my time with NC State in our run to the AC C championship and final four. But my dream has always been to play in the NBA and now I'm going to turn my focus 100% to pursuing my professional career to my teammates at NC State. You guys are my brothers for life to my coaches. Thank you for your guidance and your belief and my abilities and finally to the fans. Thank you for all your support this season, the support you showed last the last month of our season was amazing. I will always be a member of Wolfpack Nation, but at this time, I am, I am officially declaring for the NBA draft. That's why I did not expect this to happen. I'm legitimately surprised like I'm caught off guard. Um One, I hadn't seen anything saying that the NBA was super high on Darra not to say they wouldn't ever be. He brings a certain skill set and if, especially if his shot continues to develop, that does translate to the NBA. Um 610 can rebound. But at the same time, I thought he was gonna have an opportunity to be a more featured player this upcoming season. Um and, and being featured might lead to a better draft or, or NBA profile. Um I don't think NC State was this. Here's what, here's what it is and here's what the show is about college basketball. I don't think NC State was planning on needing to replace Mo Dr this off season. But what did I say? And I said this, I forget which team I was talking about maybe Duke uh earlier this off season, you have to go through with your team, meaning head coach and with your, your support staff, your recruiting staff, your assistant coaches and literally look at every single person on the roster and say, how do we pivot, what is our plan if this person decides to leave? Whether that's the portal, whether that's going pro, whether that's anything else? What do we do of this person? Even if it's someone who you don't think is gonna leave in a million years, even if it's like, why would they leave actually know who this was about. This. Ironically was about Seth Trimble for UN C. We had this conversation because Seth Trimble when he went into the portal, which he has now withdrawn his name and gone back to UN C I said RJ Davis hasn't said he's coming back yet. Why in the world would Seth Trimble say he's leaving, but UN C had to have a plan and obviously their plan was to continue trying to get him to come back. But, but so I guess that could be the plan for NC. Stay with Diarra is he's declaring that he's going to the NBA draft, but he still has eligibility. You can still get him to withdraw that name, but it's, you have to look at every player on your roster and say if they decide to transfer or if they decide to go pro, what is our plan? And that way when this happens, it's not full panic. It's opening a drawer in your desk, going through a file cabinet and saying, uh Diar Diarra, Diarra. All right, here's what we do. These are the guys we like in the portal uh to play the, the 45 position, the four or five. Here's the guys we like coming out of, uh you know, here's our recruits and which ones might be able to play there. Here's Ben Middlebrooks. Do we like Middlebrooks stepping into the starting lineup and, and be playing a bigger role? All of that has to be part of the discussion. But I, I assume they have to take 45 minutes to just be flabbergasted by this one a little bit. I am, I am legitimately surprised. Is there. Do you think this is part Costanza in? Right? And with the, the legendary Seinfeld episode where George Costanza realizes when he tells a good joke, he should just walk off the stage like a comedian, right? You, you, you have a good joke. Everybody laughs. Thank everybody. Good night. And he starts doing it like at work he's in the conference room tells a funny joke. Everybody laughs. Thank everybody. Good night. And he just goes home for the day and everybody's like, hey, that George, he's a good guy. Do you think this is Diarra just recognizing we, we won the AC C championship. We made a run to the final four. Thank you, everybody. Good night. Always remember me as the guy that played through, through, uh Ramadan fasting on a way to a final four and had all those clutch rebounds. Good night, everybody. And then you just, you just sail off into the sunset. Like, remember how awesome I was in the postseason. Maybe it's, maybe it's like a sell high. I don't know. I, I'm surprised because it seems like with how he played at the end of this year on that run we just talked about that would be setting him up to build off of that momentum and be dependent upon more by NC State. At the beginning of next year, there were, there were moments in this season, he was not playing huge minutes, he was playing 1012 minutes in some games and, and kind of a role player and that would simply wouldn't happen next year. He's proven that he's too valuable to not be on the floor for massive amounts of minutes. Mo Diarra announced just moments ago, we're looking at, you know, 18 minutes ago on his social media that he is uh entering into the NBA draft live reaction in real time. My live reaction can be described as surprised. I'm not gonna lie. I did not see this one coming, did not see this one coming at all, but like you said, he does have a year of availability left depending on what he does in terms of signing with the agent. Uh he played two years of Juco, then he had a year of Missouri the Juco years and then obviously at NC State. So you know what? But also here's the thing as well if you wanna go pro and it's an option for you and it's what you want to do, go for it, go for it. I I don't knock people for going to make their money. I do think some people in, in retrospect look back and go, I wish I would have would have hung around. Uh but, but you're an adult, you make your own decisions. I will not knock you for chasing that back. Hey, go for it. You know what? But here's the thing, if NBA doesn't work out, that guy can play overseas, easily, easily, can have a career overseas. If you want to start being a pro, go be a pro. He's done four years of college already and he was also, he was born in France. He was that, that actually helps you out even more with overseas stuff. If you have a European passport, uh, because some leagues have rules on how many Americans you're allowed to have, you can only have two or three Americans if, if you were, were born over there and you can, uh, use that, then there's, there's usually even more openings for you. So it's a lot easier to get deep in the weeds. Like, just get a work visa, you know, those kinds of things because guess what? That's the kind of stuff you have to have. Yeah, let's just, let's just dive into some, some paperwork that he has to file. Let's, let's make sure he's, he's dotting his, I's and crossing his TS around here. And plus as well. I mean, we've heard, I've talked to people who have played internationally from the United States and they said it's a really, really difficult adjustment because you don't know a language. It's a completely different culture. Some very much struggle with, some struggled mightily with it. I know some basketball players from that I was friendly with, from my time at Delaware that played all over. Like, we're talking Russia Japan, like every, every different kind of place and, uh, the stories, they are, they are stories. The stories are definitely stories.

Breaking down Mohamed Diarra declaring for NBA Draft

Mohamed Diarra

Mohamed Diarra played one season in Raleigh, averaging 6.3 points a game during a 2023-2024 campaign that saw State reach the Final Four.

NC State's Mohamed Diarra declares for NBA Draft

Duke NC State Basketball

NC State's defense helped propel the team to nine straight wins and a Final Four appearance.

Holliday: Defense saved NC State's season

Mohamed Diarra is observing Ramadan, when Muslims forego food and drink (other than water) between sunup and sundown.

<p>ABOUT MISSUS, WOLF, TOMORROW IN OUR 6 O'CLOCK NEWS. BUT SWITCHING GEARS TO ANOTHER WOLFPACK PLAYER, MUHAMMAD DR. HIS ROAD TO THE FINAL 4 BEHIND THE SCENES. IT'S PROBABLY TOUGHER THAN ANYBODY'S, BUT HE HANDLES IT WITH GRACE WRAL'S PAT WELTER JOINS US LIVE FROM PHOENIX TO EXPLAIN THAT PAT. &gt;&gt; CHRIS MCGEE ARE HAS AN INCREDIBLE STORY. I MEAN, HE GREW UP IN FRANCE PLAYING SOCCER STAR PLAYING BASKETBALL TO LOSE 15. SO HIS COLLEGE CAREER BEGAN AT GARDEN CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE. HE TOLD ME HE COMES FROM NOTHING IS WHY IT'S SUCH PEOPLE THAT. &gt;&gt; RON COOPER KNOWS HOW TO FIX AN ANKLE IS BEHIND THE SCENES STUFF THAT NOBODY EVER GETS TO SEE. FASTING WAS SOMETHING NEW. YOU KNOW, MY EXPERIENCE FOR IT'S BEEN A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR SURE. NC STATE DRA IS OBSERVING RAMADAN, WHICH MEANS HE ISN'T EATING OR DRINKING FROM SUNUP TO SUNDOWN SINCE THE START OF THE ACC TOURNAMENT, YOU GET. &gt;&gt; WE'RE HUNGRY DURING THE SOMETIMES AT THIS POINT, YOU KNOW, THESE 4.24 DAYS NOW HOME. HE'S ALMOST DON COOPER IN TEAM DIETICIAN. JESSE MCGINLEY ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE DRA IS AT HIS BEST TRYING TO LIKE MAXIMIZE THOSE. &gt;&gt; CAR STORES AND HYDRATION STORES LIKE LEADING UP TO THE GAME. SO LIKE 48 HOURS PRIOR, 24 HOURS PRIOR CASE IS LIKE YOU TO LIKE CHILE PACKET ME JUST LIKE REHYDRATE. HIM HAS BEEN INSPIRING IN A WAY TO SEE SOMEBODY SACRIFICED SO MUCH FOR THE 3, OH, YEAH, NO, IT'S IT'S BEEN AMAZING TO SEE REMARKABLE. HUMAN JUST MEANT MENTALLY AND WHO HE IS AND YOU CAN YOU CAN TELL FROM THE GROUND AND IT IS IN THE STATE. &gt;&gt; SO ROBIN IS EXPECTED TO END THE DAY AFTER THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. BUT WE ARE TOLD ME HE'S BEEN DOING THIS ENTIRE LIFE FOR ALL OF MARCH MADNESS.</p>

Wolfpack training staff supports Diarra through Ramadan

Mohammed Diarra is fasting during March Madness

Mohamed Diarra had 11 points and 15 rebounds in NC State's 67-58 win over Marquette in the Sweet 16.

I'm just like doing these every day till like I got 12 years old, like I said, like multiple times. Yeah. Yeah. You talk about bringing energy with your, with your dunk. Do you try to bring energy with grabbing the rebounds first? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My teammate talk about like Mo quadra ball every time you gonna get rebound, they don't block it out. Like go get some of us rebound. The coach say that every time too. So I don't count that. I just go and cross the ball and 11 rebounds, impressing the first out, but I think I finished with 15. So I got just like, how do you conserve energy when you, uh, when you can't drink anything all day? Is there, is there a particular strategy you have you really at all? I just sleep a lot before the game. I, I sleep. I get rest like use the boots and, uh, ice my knees, everything like to give me energy before the game and during the game for the first time, you're familiar with them. How are you? Oh, you don't matter who we've been playing like we gonna play eight. So we just proud and take the team, we're gonna win the tonight. What?

Mohamed Diarra Coverage

Breaking down Mohamed Diarra declaring for NBA Draft

NC State's Mohamed Diarra declares for NBA Draft

Holliday: Defense saved NC State's season

Wolfpack training staff supports Diarra through Ramadan

Mohamed Diarra discusses NC State's Sweet 16 win against Marquette