Plenty of recruiters explained to Assane Diop how he could develop his game in the forthcoming years.
He said there was only one that took a wider view of Diop’s college experience.
Part of a 2023 recruiting class that has arrived on the Colorado campus to go through their first team practices, Diop boasts the rare blend of being an international recruit (he’s a native of Senegal) with local ties (he moved to Colorado in 2020). What stood out to Diop about Colorado during the recruiting process wasn’t so much the potential on the floor as it was the opportunities opening for Diop off the floor.
The education aspect is as important to Diop as basketball. And it’s a subject that came up repeatedly in his conversations with CU associate head coach Mike Rohn.
“They’d been tracking me since my freshman year,” Diop said. “Coach Rohn, every time he reached me he’d be talking about class. I really like what I’m doing in class. I like basketball, don’t get me wrong. But class is something I take pride in. Of all the colleges that recruited me, CU was the best that just talked about the classroom and doing the work there. I feel there’s more to my success than just basketball.”
Cody Williams, ranked as the No. 4 recruit in the 2023 class by 247Sports, highlights CU’s incoming class, while Courtney Anderson and newcomer Bangot Dak could be ticketed for redshirt seasons. In between is Diop, a 6-foot-10 forward whose defensive ability could help him find a role in the rotation.
Among the few rotation spots up for grabs going into the 2023-24 season will be the backup post position behind TCU transfer Eddie Lampkin Jr. Diop and Joe Hurlburt, who redshirted last season as a true freshman, will likely compete for that job.
“My freshman year, I just want to help out and just try to make sure I’m not left behind,” Diop said. “I’m trying to do my work early. My whole goal right now is to make something happen here. Right now, it’s very obvious I need some weight on. I’m feeling better and I’m getting more and more every day.”
After arriving from Senegal in January of 2020, Diop helped lead Belleview Christian to the Class 1A state title in the 2020-21 season before playing the following year at Denver Prep Academy. Diop spent last season competing for the Accelerated Prep club program.
Basketball has allowed Diop travel halfway around the world to pursue his dreams. But he admits it was a journey that didn’t always unfold easily.
“Coming to the United States, my first year I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t really want to play.’ I was feeling like it would be better for me to just go to the next level,” Diop said. “But I knew if I kept doing the stuff everyone was telling me to do, I’d end up here.”
U19 update
The Tad Boyle-coached USA Basketball U19 team avoided an upset on Sunday, rallying past Slovenia 77-72 in the second game of pool play at the World Cup in Hungary. The Americans opened the tournament with a 136-69 rout of Madagascar on Saturday, with Williams coming off the bench to go 3-for-7 with nine points and seven rebounds. The US completes pool play on Tuesday against Lebanon.
