The defining moment, for me, of Mamadi Diakite’s redshirt sophomore year was of him staying high on a hedge, doubling Miami’s Chris Lykes, 40 feet from the basket, and reaching in.  Diakite is 6’9”.  Chris Lykes is 5’7”.  Of course it was a foul.

The defining moment of last year was starting, and then ending, the Dia – Kihei Miracle, and sinking a 10 foot teardrop over the outstretched arms of 7’3” Matt Haarms, and saving the Hoos’ title run.

What a difference a year makes, huh?

{How many times has the average Cavalier fan watched and rewatched The Play?  When you find The Play on youtube or associated with a Virginia story, can you only watch it once?  Of course not.  I just watched it four times.}

But the Purdue sequence illustrates the biggest issue that Diakite had early in his career: fouls.  For his first two seasons Diakite averaged, per 40 minutes, 6.7 and 5.9 fouls per game.   Those are unsustainable foul rates, and even with a coach less foul-averse than Tony Bennett, they will keep you off the floor.  And the first marker of greatness is availability; you have to be on the floor to have any effect on the game. (Well, except for the Monmouth bench, those guys are pretty great.)  By cutting down on the fouls for his redshirt junior year – 2.2 per game – Diakite was able to stay on the court and he was able to bring his considerable array of skills to the fore.

And did he ever bring them in the run to the title: his minutes increased to 32 minutes per game, he scored 10.5 per game, averaged 8 boards and he had 2.66 blocks.  In the Final Four game vs Auburn, when his shot wasn’t falling, he had 5 blocks.  Between him and Huff, Virginia’s going to have some serious rim protection this season. But it also shows just how versatile Diakite can be because he was only called for one foul while amassing those 5 blocks.  

Diakite’s trajectory while on Grounds has been linear:  he’s improved markedly each year and he has answered the questions we fans have had each year.  While he is no doubt disappointed to have been told he would not have been drafted this past year, we should expect to see a focused player who knows what he has to do to improve his stock for next year’s draft.

The word out of training camp is that Diakite is trying to be the leader for this team:  he is more vocal, he is demanding the ball, and as the most experienced player on the team, he is now the first or second option on offense.  Mamadi has been a suspect three point shooter thus far in his career (just 8 for 28, but we’ll be generous and attribute it to  small sample size) but reportedly his 3 point shot looks good and he’s been connecting in practices.  His attitude might be the most important.  Last year, we saw several times where Kyle Guy had to take him aside and whisper in his ear when things were getting emotional and raucous.  It’ just practice and the Blue-White game, but he appears to be fully in the moment, and that may be the second marker of greatness.

What He Brings

Diakite is 6’9” with a long wingspan and pogo sticks for legs.  He is bouncy, he has a quick release, and he adjusts well to the ball when he’s already airborne.  In other words, he’s a perfect guy to finish around the rim on put backs and alley oops. I was looking for the right word to describe Diakite’s defense – I’d read “patrol” in a scouting report and didn’t want to use someone else’s phraseology – but “patrol” is the correct word.  He is fluid in the lane and he is a marvelous help defender and I would hazard a guess that 15 of his 16 NCAA tournament blocks were coming from the weakside.  Diakite has decent footwork – he does sometimes to appear to be the child of one too many basketball clinics at times – and he is comfortable playing in the low block with his back to the basket.  And hey, if that Purdue-vintage teardrop is really part of Diakite’s arsenal, he’s going to be a beast.

Offensively, Mamadi is excellent in the pick and roll and cutting to the basket on the weakside.  He was one of the best players in college basketball as the Pick&Roll Roll Man, converting an excellent 1.425 PPP, which placed him in the 94% range.  Cutting to the basket he scored 1.259 PPP for a Very Good 70% ranking.

What Would I Like to See More

Last year when we previewed Diakite we noted that we wanted to see more face-up drives, blocked shots, rebounds and continued improvement.  Except for rebounds, he succeeded in all four, and rebounds may not matter much because the system allows (hell, encourages) guards rebounding:  the bigs clear out space and the guards get the boards, especially defensively.  Diakite, from a simple reading of the box score did get more boards last year, but his rebounds per 40 minutes and rebounding percentage (of total rebounds available) stayed pretty much the same.

For this year, I want to see Diakite become lights out from the free throw line.  Virginia doesn’t go to the line very often and last year it seems like it could be something of an adventure there as Jerome, Hunter and Diakite all hit lower percentages from the charity stripe.  Diakite’s form at the line is perfect, and he has shot 80% for stretches at a time, but he was just 70% last year.  I expect we’re going to be in more dogfights this year.  Every single foul shot will matter.

But these are secondary matters, to some degree.  In life in the post-Big Three world.  I want to see more points.  We’re going to need them.  That means a lot of P&R with his old friend Kihei.

What I Would Like to See Less

For two years Cavalier Nation has wanted to see fewer fouls from Diakite.  He rounded the corner on that particular bugaboo. This year I would like to see fewer post ups far from the basket and fallaway 15-foot jumpers.  His post-up offense was woefully inefficient, at 0.623 PPP he graded out as “Below Average” at 19%.  He was also 1-9 on mid-range jumpers.  He doesn’t work hard enough in posting up to establish a good post position with at least one foot in the paint, instead settling for a spot outside the lane, and far too often a simple face up jumper.

Expected Role

Diakite is the “face of the franchise”.  He’s going to be the first one to touch the ball each game – I’m expecting him to win most of the jump balls – and the first entry pass is going to go to him.  He’s got impossibly big shoes to fill, but the talent he possesses is boundless.  If he has the maturity to shoulder the burden of repeating – a big “if” for any player in any sport – the future is still bright.

Final Analysis

I would bet that every player in Division I hoops this year saw the Dia–Kihei Miracle. Multiple times.  I have written a couple times that I think that play is going to relegate the Hill to Laettner shot from NCAA montages.  But here’s the thing:  Laettner made that shot in his senior season and he didn’t have to defend that One Shining Moment every time he stepped out on the court.  Diakite has the bullseye squarely on his back.  It should be a lot of fun to see how he responds.