Diakite Wows With New Hair, Improved Play
Posted on Friday, Mar. 1, 2019, 8:30 pm
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Photo Courtesy UVA Sports Media Relations
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Mamadi Diakite has a new look, but that’s not what has opponents so worried when they face the 6-foot-9 Virginia leaper.
Last week in Louisville, Diakite showed off a new hairstyle, an orange tint covering his tightly cropped hair. His teammates gave him the expected razzing, his coach approved of the look (well, sort of), and his mom gasped when she got her first glimpse.
Still, it wasn’t the hair everyone was talking about. It was Diakite’s game, which appears to have risen to another level.
We all could see it coming, gradual gains, a slow-developing greater understanding of the game of basketball, the off-the-charts athleticism. Even late last season after a game in the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn, UVA strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis, who once worked in the NBA, pointed out Diakite’s strides.
“Even in some of my years in the NBA, it was very rare that you came across an athlete like him,” Curtis said of Diakite. “He possesses some gifts that you don’t see very often.
“In terms of explosiveness, in springiness, mobility, all of those things are at a very high level,” Curtis continued. “We haven’t had an athlete at Virginia [during Tony Bennett’s 10 years] that has had the genetic gifts that Mamadi has. That’s God-given stuff that all of us wish we had at some point, but only a few get.”
Those are eye-popping comments for sure, backed up by what we see night-in and night-out from the redshirt junior from Guinea. Most all of his important career-high statistics have come this season.
Diakite’s three blocked shots in a rout over Georgia Tech a few nights ago extended his streak of games with at least one block to 20, the longest streak at Virginia since Ralph Sampson’s 55 consecutive games from 1981-83.
“It seems like his timing is improving as the year has gone by,” Bennett said Wednesday night. “He’s so quick off the floor. He has a gift on first bounce and second bounce. With his length and his bounce, that really helps us. He has a special ability and is coming into his own.”
Diakite, in somewhat of a playful mood after Virginia’s 25th win of the season, said that he is confident he can guard positions one through five, although we’re not sure if Bennett agrees that the big forward is capable of defending an opposing point guard.
He agreed that his timing is better in a number of areas including shot blocking and rebounding.
“The timing has gotten better since last year, but I also thought I was a good shot blocker in high school (at nearby Blue Ridge School) and my first year here (at UVA),” Diakite said.
Blocking a shot (he has 33 thus far this season) is more satisfying to him than dunking, and he offered a good explanation as to why.
“Because I feel like with Tony Bennett’s way, how we play under him, there is more excitement to block shots or stop someone defensively,” Diakite said. “You can see how the crowd goes crazy. My teammates do the same.”
In addition, there is a certain pride in being the stopper down in the paint, that he’s the Cavaliers’ last line of defense.
“I think my teammates know that someone is there to protect the rim and they don’t get scared of anything,” Diakite said. “They send everything my way. I tell them to trust me and to let me take charge of the game.”
His defense is part of the reason Virginia sits atop the ACC as the Cavaliers attempt to close out another regular-season title with only three games to go, including Saturday’s home game against Pittsburgh. With a veteran team, loaded with what Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner called “multiple NBA players,” Bennett has been a little more animated during this ACC season than in the recent past.
“Yes, he’s pushing us,” Diakite said. “He knows this team can go very far, that we’re more talented than last year’s team. He’s trying to put that fire in us and not take anything for granted.”
Over the last three halves of basketball, UVA has surrendered a total of 66 points, 15 in the second half at Louisville and 51 versus Georgia Tech. Rebounding has been one of the keys, and Diakite has definitely contributed.
He had a career-high eight boards against the Jackets, and at Louisville, his scoring was key when teammates Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome struggled to find their shooting touch. In that game, Diakite had an impressive statline of 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks, not to mention altering other shot attempts.
Oh, and about that hair thingy…
Diakite explained that last week, leading up to the Louisville trip, that his girlfriend got her hair tinted, and so he thought he would give it a try, admitting that he didn’t know how the new look might impact his life.
“My teammates, I just walked in, and wow, they started video taping me,” Diakite grinned.
— UVA Football News & Recruiting (@bigtimehoo1) February 23, 2019
And Bennett?
“He liked it,” Diakite said as if trying to convince himself of that thought. “At first, I thought he would say something about it, and so I was ready to go back and get another haircut. But it seemed he liked it.”
Well, those were his teammates and coach’s reactions. The real test was what momma would say.
“Before the game, I made sure I talked to my parents,” Diakite said. “The first words my mother said was, ‘What have you done to yourself?’ after I had sent her a picture. I told her that’s the new look in America, and she said, ‘OK, no more.’”
His parents, Aboubacar Sidki Diakite and Aminata Kaba, back in Guinea, rarely if ever have an opportunity to watch his games live because of the time difference, although they sometimes catch replays. They are both doctors and remain very busy.
Usually he will give them a phone call the next day if the timing is right. They certainly won’t have any difficulty picking out their son during games on TV because of the new hairstyle.
Someone accused Diakite of trying to steal ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman’s look, to which Diakite playfully recoiled.
“No, no, no, don’t compare me to him, man,” Diakite responded. “This is as far as I can go. That’s it.”
So, no green or multi-colored hair explosions for the Wahoo. For now, orange will do. Whether or not Bennett really likes the look doesn’t matter as long as Diakite keeps the rebounds, points, and swats coming.
