KU Basketball: Blame NCAA For Diallo Entering NBA Draft

Following the early and unexpected end to the 2016 season of KU basketball, Cheick Diallo has decided to enter the NBA draft.

On Monday, freshmen Cheick Diallo declared for the 2016 NBA Draft. Upon hearing this news, those close to KU Basketball cannot help but feel that Diallo will be leaving Lawrence, Kansas with some unfinished business.

Although Diallo might have excelled if he stayed longer with the Jayhawks, one cannot help but empathize with his reasons for leaving. His story starts with his high school career.

Coming out of high school, Diallo’s resume was quite impressive. The following facts alone speak for themselves.

• Five star recruit according to 247 sports
• MVP of Jordan Classic (26 PTS, 11 TRB, 75.0 FG%, 17 MIN)
• McDonald’s All-American Game MVP (18 PTS, 10 TRB, 57.1 FG%, 17 MIN)

Despite these stellar performances, his only year playing KU basketball was quite unspectacular. The following are his freshmen year stats for KU basketball.

• 7.5 minutes per game (11th on team)
• 3.0 points per game (9th on team)
• 2.5 rebounds per game (T-7th on team)
• 101.2 points per 100 possessions (12th on team)

Although efficient in his few opportunities, the NCAA bureaucracy is to blame for his low statistical output.

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Diallo entered the United States from the west African Republic of Mali in 2012. Midway through his freshmen year of high school, he enrolled in a private school called Our Savior New American in Centereach, New York.

After attending this high school for three and a half years, the NCAA delayed the start to Diallo’s KU basketball career.

The NCAA had apparently placed Our Savior New American under review in 2012, and, as a result, Diallo’s high school coursework was in danger of being nullified.

Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger, Bill Self, and Diallo were less than pleased with the NCAA’s mishandling of the situation.

On November 10th, Zenger sent a six page letter to Oliver Luck, Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for the NCAA.

This letter, in which Mark Emmert, Gary DeCastro, Todd Leydon, Mike Massa, Bob Bowlsby, Bernadette Gray Little, Sean Lester, David Reed, Bill Self, and Geoff Silver were listed under “cc:”, detailed the extent of NCAA’s ineptitudes.

“I am concerned also because the role NCAA staff has played during this misfit process has been that of investigator, not collaborator,” Zenger said in the letter.

“There is still no closure for Cheick Diallo. It is the University of Kansas communicating openly and uncovering facts that we could have discovered together all in the spirit of reaching conclusions and closure for Cheick.”

Later that month on a Saturday, Self decided to air his grievances as well in a conference call with ESPN and CBS Sports.

“We still haven’t been told anything definitively in any area,” Self said.

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“We’ve made six visits to Our Savior, and the NCAA has made zero.”

“Our Savior was placed on review by the NCAA after Cheick arrived. He had no idea when he got there. The policy sucks in that kids aren’t notified.”

“This kid left his family in Mali to live out a dream, and he was never made aware of anything. This is a situation where he should be playing immediately.

“We gave it to the NCAA, and we know it’s a weekend. I think the weekend qualifies as a workday in this case.”

Finally, on November 25th, the NCAA finally made a ruling.

“Based on the amateurism review, the NCAA concluded that Diallo received a limited amount of extra benefits,” said in a statement by Stacey Osburn, NCAA Director of Public and Media Relations.

“Therefore, Diallo is not eligible to play for five contests, including the four games Kansas has already played.”

It appeared Zenger was glad the situation reached a conclusion without major penalties.

Zenger said in response to the ruling, “I really want to thank the NCAA staff for guiding this process to a fair conclusion in what was a very complicated situation.”

Although this punishment could have been far worse, this fiasco and subsequent ruling continues to have consequences on Diallo’s career. His frustration justifiably lingered after the ruling.

“I mean, I’m kind of mad because I’ve been suspended for five games,” Diallo said.

“I don’t even know what I did. I don’t even know, so that’s the kind of thing. I still play to my game. I don’t know why they said I was suspended for five games. I don’t know what I’ve done. I don’t know.”

“Diallo also told ESPN that he received an A and a B in two summer courses he took at Kansas. He is currently enrolled in 15 units in the fall semester.” – Jeff Goodman, Dana O’Neil, Andy Katz

This quote (appearing on right) from a November 22nd ESPN article gives even more context to Diallo’s frustrations.

All of this served as the precursor for Diallo’s past season with the Jayhawks where his production fell way below expectations.

His season never recovered from this five game suspension, so at the end of the season Diallo reevaluated his place in KU basketball.

After going through all this, can you blame Diallo for not wanting to risk his career playing at Kansas or NCAA basketball in general?

Despite Self’s defense of Diallo during his investigation, Self failed to find a place in the rotation for Diallo.

In fairness to Self, replacing a player who was present all along with Diallo who missed his first five games ever would have been unfair to the formerly mentioned player.

Even if Diallo wanted to play, and Diallo was unjustly suspended, Self’s hands were somewhat tied. So where does this leave Diallo?

Diallo could have stayed with KU basketball, and maybe he would have entered the rotation and maybe even the starting lineup. This would be no guarantee though.

Diallo could have also transferred elsewhere to a school in need of a player with his skill set.

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This normally would have been a good move if not for two reasons.

1. By this point, Diallo has had quite enough of dealing with the NCAA’s red tape
2. Another college basketball’s promise of playing time is not always a smart thing to bank your career on

This leaves us with Diallo’s final option, entering the NBA Draft.

Even if Diallo doesn’t get drafted in the first round, an NBA paycheck and the exposure his career needs are more than enough reason for him to leave Kansas.

Plus, if Diallo goes undrafted and fails to stick to an NBA roster, he is more than talented enough to play overseas where he could truly prove his worth to the NBA while receiving a decent wage.

Although Diallo would have been a nice player for Kansas to have in the rotation, I can’t really blame him for declaring for the NBA Draft.

Given the series of unfortunate circumstances surrounding his KU basketball career, I probably would have made the same decision if I were him.

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Despite the loss of Diallo, KU basketball has more than enough pieces to make another run at the NCAA Tournament next year.

Do you think Diallo made the right choice? Are you mad that he’s entering the NBA Draft? Will KU basketball feel the loss of Diallo next season?