1. This kid is more skilled than I thought. He's still raw in areas such post moves and a consistent mid-range jumper but his motor makes up for some of his lack of skill. He does have good touch around the rim. He is very good in the open court and has show he can maintain a handle in the open court although I don't want to see him do that very often. The most impressive thing to me about his skill set though was his passing ability, most notably his outlet passing. He is probably the best outlet passer I've seen in this class. The second he gets a rebound he's looking down court and many times can fire a pass immediately to a player on the break. That is an exceptional skill and a weapon we could very much use with Mason at the point.
2. His recruitment took a lot of twist and turns to end up at Kansas. The beginning of his recruitment saw a lot of teams not showing interest because it was strongly believed that Diallo wouldn't go anywhere from Pittsburgh. But then Slice left Pitt for UK and people saw a chink in the armor of Diallo's recruitment. KU shortly after made Cliff a major priority. Went hard after the kid. Many thought a KU-UK battle. But then UK right at the end of the early signing period went hard after and signed Labissiere and that seemed to push Diallo down a little bit on the priority ladder for UK. Then when Maker announced he was reclassifying that really seemed to push Diallo even more down the ladder for UK (pushed Bragg completely off). Seemed to be the only coach in contact with Diallo from UK was Diallo. All the while KU was keeping Diallo a priority. Really seemed to be an ISU-KU battle until a month ago when St. John's hired Mullins. The ISU assistant left for St. John's then Slice left for St. John's and everyone and their mother was predicting Diallo to St. John's. UK missed on their big targets and all of a sudden scrambled to get back in on Diallo. In the end though KU stayed strong and there consistently and won out. A fascinating recruitment to take a step back and look at.
3. Which brings me to the job Self did on this recruitment. Self was the difference in this recruitment. Self made Diallo a personal priority. When UK was leaving the recruitment to Slice or ISU was using just their lead assistant to recruit Diallo, Self was there making Diallo a priority and never backing away or waivering. It played a huge factor. When Sllice left UK Calipari had to step in and be the lead recruiter for Diallo but the problem was Calipari had left Diallo on the backburner and wasn't a major player in his recruitment until the end. St. John's had the 2 assistants but Diallo had no relationship with Mullins to trust or build upon. In the end it was all Self's personal recruitment and relationship with Diallo that won him over and secured his commitment. Really and outstanding job of recruiting Diallo by our coach.
Can't wait to see him in Crimson and Blue next year.
2. His recruitment took a lot of twist and turns to end up at Kansas. The beginning of his recruitment saw a lot of teams not showing interest because it was strongly believed that Diallo wouldn't go anywhere from Pittsburgh. But then Slice left Pitt for UK and people saw a chink in the armor of Diallo's recruitment. KU shortly after made Cliff a major priority. Went hard after the kid. Many thought a KU-UK battle. But then UK right at the end of the early signing period went hard after and signed Labissiere and that seemed to push Diallo down a little bit on the priority ladder for UK. Then when Maker announced he was reclassifying that really seemed to push Diallo even more down the ladder for UK (pushed Bragg completely off). Seemed to be the only coach in contact with Diallo from UK was Diallo. All the while KU was keeping Diallo a priority. Really seemed to be an ISU-KU battle until a month ago when St. John's hired Mullins. The ISU assistant left for St. John's then Slice left for St. John's and everyone and their mother was predicting Diallo to St. John's. UK missed on their big targets and all of a sudden scrambled to get back in on Diallo. In the end though KU stayed strong and there consistently and won out. A fascinating recruitment to take a step back and look at.
3. Which brings me to the job Self did on this recruitment. Self was the difference in this recruitment. Self made Diallo a personal priority. When UK was leaving the recruitment to Slice or ISU was using just their lead assistant to recruit Diallo, Self was there making Diallo a priority and never backing away or waivering. It played a huge factor. When Sllice left UK Calipari had to step in and be the lead recruiter for Diallo but the problem was Calipari had left Diallo on the backburner and wasn't a major player in his recruitment until the end. St. John's had the 2 assistants but Diallo had no relationship with Mullins to trust or build upon. In the end it was all Self's personal recruitment and relationship with Diallo that won him over and secured his commitment. Really and outstanding job of recruiting Diallo by our coach.
Can't wait to see him in Crimson and Blue next year.
