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Chaminade center going pro

Gib Arnold’s office at the University of Hawaii is lined with framed NBA jerseys of players he formerly coached or recruited.

The next one could come from a player down the street at Chaminade.

Mamadou Diarra, a 7-foot center, has declared for early entry into the 2011 NBA Draft and will leave Chaminade after his junior season. Diarra said he has already hired an agent, so there is no chance of him returning to college.

“The main reason why I really left is Division II is I don’t think it’s a good school for me,” he said.

Diarra averaged 13.3 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.9 blocked shots per game this past season for the NCAA-II Silverswords. He was a first-team All-Pacific West Conference selection, and won the conference’s Newcomer of the Year award.

Diarra was originally recruited by Arnold to USC in 2007, when Arnold was an assistant coach there. Diarra was at USC for two seasons (including a redshirt year) before transferring to Chaminade.

The NBA Draft is set for June 23, and Diarra’s name is so far not appearing on any mock drafts. If he is not drafted in the two rounds of the draft, he could still sign as a free agent. Diarra said he has already been invited to pre-draft workouts with the New Jersey Nets and Atlanta Hawks.

Chaminade head coach Matt Mahar recently left the Silverswords to accept another coaching job at Assumption College, but Diarra said that had nothing to do with his own decision.

Photo by Brandon Flores/www.brandonfloresphotography.com

6 Comments

  1. He should have transferred to Hawaii…. Too late.

  2. He couldnt transfer to UH. Coach wouldn’t release him from his scholarship so he would have had to sit out another year. Two years straight he would have not played. He would have only been left with one year

  3. Yes, Mamadou used a medical redshirt year at USC, and then a transfer redshirt year at Chaminade, so he was basically out of options.

    Interesting, though, that he said if he still had a year to play right away he would have strongly considered transferring to Hawaii. He of course has the ties to Gib and also seems to have formed friendships with several of the Warriors.

  4. Hey Dayton , I gotta ask , why dosen’t the football team have a site like this , it would be really cool with the football lol knowing the clowns on that team doing videos like on the road trips haha……So why don’t the football team have one?

  5. Mana our football team should hire Dayton to do a site like this. His has the expertise & know how to do a site like this.A site like this is very good for the fans.

  6. Good luck to Mamadou. Hope he does well. But, I think he needs to put on some weight. He looks skinny. I see him a lot walking on Waialae Ave. He looks like a good person.

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