Diakite’s passion, leadership is something Virginia will lean on in the postseason
Posted on Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2020, 7:10 pm
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By Jerry Ratcliffe
Mamadi Diakite wrestles a loose ball away from FSU’s Wyatt Wilkes earlier this season (Photo by John Markon).
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Tony Bennett loves the way Mamadi Diakite plays with such fire that it inspires everyone around him.
When Virginia takes the floor at the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday night in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, the Cavaliers will need Diakite’s fire for their postseason run. After losing at Louisville on Feb. 8, UVA’s players made it their goal to “win out,” and that’s exactly what they did, reeling off eight straight victories.
How long that streak continues may depend highly on Diakite’s fiery presence.
Where does that passion, that burning desire for success come from? Diakite said it blossomed in his youth when he was a successful soccer player growing up in Guinea.
“Soccer is very big back home and when I was in the heart of soccer, when I loved it, every time you step on the field you were representing your country,” Diakite said this week. “You don’t want to lose. You would rather die on the field instead of losing. I know that sounds crazy but you have to give your heart up on the field and live with the result.”
He brings that warrior mentality to the basketball court now while competing as a graduate student for UVA, his fifth year with the Cavaliers and his seventh year in the area after spending his last two years of high school at Blue Ridge School.
“Man, that is a long time to have been here,” Diakite said.
Clearly, it was not his intention to have spent that much of his young life in one place. He wasn’t ready for the sophistication of ACC basketball when he arrived at Virginia. His athletic ability was well ahead of his knowledge of the game, having switched from soccer to basketball once he began to grow.
Diakite actually explored leaving after last year’s national championship as part of the mass exodus of De’Andre Hunter, Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy to the NBA. Pro scouts deemed Diakite not quite ready for prime time, which prevented him from advancing from G-League Camp to the NBA Combine, but he did manage to work out for some NBA teams.
“The main thing I brought back from [the tryouts] was leadership, trying to become a better leader,” Diakite said. “I learned some other things involving my shooting, moving faster. Leadership was the main thing I could improve.
“We lost several guys like Jack Salt, who was a big part of our leadership. Ty, Kyle, and even De’Andre were [leading] in their own ways, but were all leaders. Coming back and leading a young team, I had to find ways to do that. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but with the help of the staff and some of the teammates, it was going to work.”
Diakite brought back more than just leadership qualities from his NBA workouts. He brought back ideas.
One of those was a full-court, 3-on-3 defensive drill, which Diakite deemed popular in NBA camps and much more challenging, something he thought would help Bennett prepare the team for the season ahead.
Bennett has been impressed that Diakite used the whole NBA exploration as a true learning experience.
“I think his leadership has evolved,” the Virginia coach said. “It has gotten better and better. Sometimes it’s just, play your heart out … play so hard that it’s contagious. That’s where it starts. Talk is good to an extent, but without action and without fight it means nothing in the sports world in my opinion.
“Mamadi’s desire to try not to let his team lose and his effort and energy has been significant. He has improved his efficiency in being continuous. You can see he’s still got improvement in a good way for his future. Some of the plays he’s made scoring in the post, his post moves, and he’s improved his outside shot, getting better at guarding on the perimeter.”
Still, there’s that fire.
“Guys talk about emotional intelligence because Mamadi is so fiery,” Bennett said. “May it’s a call you don’t agree with or something happens. You can bring it back and get back into the moment. All those things have improved as he’s been here for a while, and that’s been a big key in our progression.”
Those notions haven’t been lost on Diakite’s teammates either. Frontcourt teammate Jay Huff said he has improved by observing how Diakite handles his business.
“His mentality is really focused before games, which I think is really good,” Huff said. “He plays really well, especially in high-pressure situations down the stretch. He’s really gotten a lot smarter as a player, which has been really cool to see.”
Because he has more responsibility and understands the amount of work necessary to win, he has helped young players get acclimated to the workload and expectations from the coaching staff.
Still, there is pressure to deal with. The pressure of winning games, the pressure of being the leader in tight situations. Diakite has handled it well.
“Pressure was there last year, and even the year before,” Diakite said. I think we got over that. If we expected no pressure after our championship, we were fooling ourselves. It’s even harder work after winning the championship because people are trying to step on you.
“You have to be prepared every time. You have to prove that you want to step on me. Well, you can step on me but you’re going to feel it.”
Diakite uses that emotional intelligence Bennett pointed out, but that doesn’t mean he backs down. Remember that notion from the soccer fields of Guinea? You’d rather die than lose.
You think that guy is gonna back down on a basketball court? Think again.
That’s the kind of fire Bennett likes to see from his leader, a fire that can be contagious. A fire that can spark a winning streak in the postseason.
