Cheick Diallo
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Football is such a numbers game. You’ve got to have 44 terrific football players plus a kicker to be a serious threat. Something like 60 buys the injury insurance to compete year in and year out. It appears over the past 10-20 years that few newcomers crack those kinds of numbers without infractions, or XTReme Plausible Deniability.
KU has to weigh the cost of committing infractions to join the elite programs with the blow back of that kind of recruiting behavior on basketball. In the status quo, if KU doesn’t try to steal recruits from the football majors, everyone leaves KU alone in basketball. But if KU starts trying to steal the lifeblood recruits from the football majors, a lot of hard nosed operators in football will begin sifting through the KU dumpster for incriminating stuff.
If KU is really clean, then they will invent stuff.
It is a big risk to basketball to try to get really good in football.
You have to attract so many bodies that you are bound to ruffle some feathers along the way.
K-State’s pursuit of football has been very successful, but it was a long time coming and it started a long time ago, and their basketball program essentially imploded but for a few brief spurts, when they were hiring guys like Huggins and Martin, who were about the farthest thing from choirboys you could get.
And KSU football has not appeared pretty below the surface, from what little I have been able to glean.
The most realistic hope for KU is getting to .500 for awhile.
If we seriously challenge for titles on a regular basis all hell will probably break loose.
The money is just too big anymore–the revenues and sunk costs and licensing relationships too crucial–to tolerate any sudden changes in the regime of winners and losers in power conferences.
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@Statmachine I don’t think Bragg will be nipping at Ellis. He has a ways to go. He might get there, but I would be pleasantly surprised if it’s in 1 year.
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@Statmachine Its gonna be a tough field again this year to be certain. Duke will be good, Michigan St will be good, UNC will be good, UK? Im not sure of considering how much turnover they had. We gon beat that kitty butt when they come to AFH.
Maryland will be good. I hope Larry makes it to the second weekend in the big dance. I hope Coach Haase does too with UAB.
Virginia will probly be good again and so will Gonzaga and AZ.
BUT, KU can beat every single one of those teams, right now. Right Now.Come The Madness, I have high hopes for this KU team indeed. I do not say expectations though. I wont expect anything. But I have an idea, a dream, that KU will Rock Chalk well into April '16. The sun will shine down upon the KU faithful of Lawrence and all will be good.
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@Statmachine Great article. it seems JoJo may have given him some inspiration. Either that or he is just another tall kid from Mali who loves to play the game and does not have a single ounce of primadonna in him. Kid is all heart and all motor. He better be tough skinned though cuz Coach Self will treat him like a marine or navy recruit going into boot camp. First, they break you down mentally and physically then they build you up. If he can handle the pressure Coach puts on him, he has a chance to have a better season at KU than JOJO did.
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Can’t read now, I’ll cheick it out later.
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Is Chieck going to qualify academically? Anyone know how much of an issue this is/will be?
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I don’t know about how that works… but I believe he is already enrolled in fall classes and he has been accepted and started his grant in aid.
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“He’s still going through all the stuff,” Self said of Diallo needing to file paperwork to qualify academically to play this season. “It’s good to have him here. Hopefully that stuff will go well with everything (and he’ll qualify). He’s a great kid and terrific talent. People here will love him.”
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It is great if players like Hunter raise the competitive stakes for post minutes. It will only help the team and will push players like Cheick to compete harder.
I’m pretty sure Cheick will get lots of PT before conference play because he is expected to be a big time contributor by conference play. There just won’t be a way to keep him out of the lineup.
This is a guy who is going to raise the level of play of our entire team because of his rare level of scrap and energy!
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@drgnslayr he’s taking classes but hasn’t been cleared by clearinghouse.
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It also sounded like they would have taken him if he would have been cleared.
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Many players, particularly those that have changed schools often have to wait longer to cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse; not every player is a Valedictorian like Ellis. Having said that, the school he attended, Our Savior New American School in Centereach, New York, like most faith based schools is considered to be very good academically, and if he graduated from there, he will likely qualify academically
UK recruit Skal Labissiere has not been cleared either, although his situation is related to his “guardian/handler” asking for money. He might end up taking Mudiay’s place in a Chinese team.
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EYBL Defensive Player of the Year: Cheick Diallo
http://www.d1circuit.com/news_article/show/395248?referrer_id=790853
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Cheick Diallo wins MVP @ NBPA Top 100 Camp
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http://courtcred.com/event-coverage/cheick_diallo_wins_mvp_at_nbpa_top_100_camp/
If you read this he won the MVP over the #1 draft pick Towns.
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Just putting him on the court with his defensive prowess paired with Ellis is a 1-2 combo!
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Jordan Brand Classic: Cheick Diallo, Allonzo Trier named co-MVP
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CHEICK MATE: Diallo shines at Nike Big Men Camp
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@Statmachine I think our fans are going to be shocked how good Diallo is going to be. This team has national championship potential.
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@KUSTEVE Best player in the class IMO and is a perfect fit for this year’s KU team. I’m putting my money on them this year!
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Diallo was mentioned in every tournament and every summer team he played on with high regards because he plays like the MVP every practice and every time he is on the court. HCBS said Check may play harder than any of the guys they have ever had 7 minute mark.
I wish they could hold another camp and scrimmage so we could all have some video of Diallo squaring off against Withey or Aldritch.
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@Statmachine does the lack of offensive ability scare you from making such predictions? From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t possess any face up game and lacks a consistent back to the basket move.
Granted, he could be a ten rebound and 2 blocks a game type of player. But don’t we need more than a slightly better Sophomore Thomas Robinson to be a championship contender?
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@JhawkAlum I’m on the same page as you. And people that keep bringing up the 2 MVPs. I’m not sure they even watched those games. He was the only one who played real D and rebounded. It was streetball, not real basketball. I love the motor, but is that enough? If you don’t have to guard him arent we just back where we were with Cliff? (Except Cliff could actually hit a 12’ jumper). Just saying, they both have a similar skill set. The difference is Diallo comes with a motor. But as I said, is that enough?
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I am not sure where the idea that he cannot score came from. While not a polished scorer due to his short time playing the sport, Cheick has shown he can score. He averaged 17.6 PPG and 10.5 RPG in HS, 16+ PPG anf 10+ RPG with his traveling team, 18 and 10 at the McDonalds All American game and 26 and 11 at the Jordan Classic. These numbers look pretty decent to me and I am curious why you think he does not have “offensive ability.” Please note that his HS number are for a 34 game season and his traveling/AAU team played 16 games and I am not just citing his 2 All-Star games but season long averages.
As far as physical ability, Diallo is fairly similar to Alexander in build except all the scouting reports consider Diallo to be a superior athlete and a lot more athletic than Alexander.
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@JayHawkFanToo Upvote +1000. I’m watching him in these all-star games show all kinds of abilities to dribble to the hoop, make short jumpers, etc…and I keep scratching my head hearing he can’t score.
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If UK would have landed Diallo the UK faithful would be saying he will average 20ppg 15rpg. KU fans hear the hype but never really see it on the court in HCBS system. Wiggins and Jojo had decent numbers during their one year stop. Diallo will be fine.
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It has more to do with his tools in a half-court setting where scouts and such have said he needs work on the offensive end. And they are right, he is not polished on offense but he does find plenty of ways to score. If he was a polished scorer he’s the consensus #1 player in the country.
His HS team which had plenty of prospects (Dilliard Yakwe among others) didn’t have the PG to further help him produce. He would try a lot of shoot jump shots and he’s inconsistent with that. His FT form is solid though so it does bode well for development. Thankfully at KU he’s got plenty of guys to give him the ball in the right spots.
In some of the higher profile games he played in they would get behind and Diallo would try his best to keep them close. He’s not the typical ISO situation big but if he has good position he will power it home.
What is special about him is when play is in the open court. NO other big his size has the combo of Size, Speed & Athleticism when trailing a play or getting out and running with the guards. To say he has a knack for the ball around the basket is not giving him enough credit. He simply gets everything off the rim. His Defense is well spoken of, he’s an elite shot blocker straight up & weak-side.
Self should plan on a lot of Lobs for him. The guards should feel good about being aggressive to the hoop because he’s like the clean up specialist. If he can avg around 8-10 pts a game its going to be a fun year.
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“If UK would have landed Diallo the UK faithful would be saying he will average 20ppg 15rpg.”
Hard to make those numbers when running a platoon!
Hey Cal… how is that platoon working out for you?!
When those “UK perfection” tshirts go on sale for $2.95, I’m all over it! I need more work shirts for gardening…
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After watching some of the Diallo highlights, I have two thoughts:
- Here’s a guy who will never be too tired to dunk.
- I have a new fantasy for 15-16: Diallo posterizes Georges Niang with such ferocity that Niang suffers a complete mental breakdown and immediately retires from basketball.
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@SportsWithGerg we finally got a guy that can guard Niang, and somebody Niang can’t keep up w/!!! Love it!!
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That is a great observation.
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@JayHawkFanToo from what I’ve seen, all his points are because of his motor. When you use all athleticism to score in high school, it becomes very obvious at the division 1 level.
Now I hope I’m wrong. But I can’t imagine him scoring more than 10 ppg.
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Like I said, he scored fine at the Nike Hoops Summit where he played for the International team against the US team and it was a very competitive game. He also scored well at the All-Star games…I grant you that scoring at those games is wide open for the outside shooters as they are really not covered that closely, but the inside game is a lot more contested as players go against each other and they do not like to be embarrassed by the opposing player. Again, these are just my observations and I could be wrong but I suspect he will put figures comparable to Embiid, 11 and 8; we will know for sure in a few months…
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@JhawkAlum He won’t score more than about 10 ppg at KU because he’ll be the 4th option at best behind Ellis, Mason, and Selden.
Diallo’s value on offense will come when playing with Ellis and Ellis faces double teams. Diallo may not have the tools to create his own shots yet, but he will score a lot of easy baskets when Ellis is double teamed, back cuts, lobs, and offensive rebounds.
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“…we finally got a guy that can guard Niang…”
I know he can quickly learn to guard Niang… but what about the first time? Second time? Etc.?
Surely Niang can help school the young man initially. My bet is that Cheick is an extremely fast learner!
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You guys don’t think that Diallo guards McKay during the ISU games?
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You guys don’t think that Diallo guards McKay?
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@Kcmatt7 probably right.
