Recruiting Report: Mahamadou Diawara (2019)

One of the biggest shakers in the 2019 rankings was Massanutten big man Mahamadou Diawara who transferred in from Hamilton Heights in Tennessee. Originally from Somalia, Diawara is a massive young man standing 6’9” and weighing in around 240 lbs. of pure muscle. He has massive arms and hands, good footwork and a high motor, and he’s only beginning to scratch the surface of how good he’s going to be. Diawara debuted in the Vantage Hoops rankings at #6, but he could end up rising the more we see him play. At a military school like Massanutten they eat, sleep and breathe basketball, and if they continue to work with him the sky is the limit for how good he could possibly be. “I didn’t have as much time at Hamilton Heights to play, and my day one goal is to get better so I know that’s already happening at Massanutten,” Diawara said about the transition. “I like it a lot  because I know I’m getting much better under Coach Chad [Myers].” He isn’t just coming onto our radar, he’s also taking off in the recruitment circles as well. Diawara currently holds offers from VCU, UMass and Penn State but he’s been contacted or seen by coaches from Florida, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Auburn, Oklahoma, LSU and Mississippi State, among others, ever since he got to Massanutten. The high motor he exhibits in the games isn’t a facade. All he wanted to talk about was getting better, and how much they work at Massanutten, which is a scary thought because he’s already dominant in the post. “We work on everything, and we work like three times a day,” he said. “I have a workout in the morning from eight to eleven, then I go to class, then we come back and workout together. I’m getting better both on the court and in my school work.” There’s no telling how much better he’ll get, but giving Massanutten an inside presence is big for them as they plan to compete for a national championship on the Prep level. Despite being just a junior in high school, he will be playing against grown men every day that are college ready, and they are going to help him improve both on and off the court to be ready for that. It isn’t much of a stretch to say that we could see Diawara somewhere in a high major conference in a few seasons.