How Hamidou Diallo helped Kentucky land Mo Dioubate

Mouhamed Dioubate started his career at Alabama, signing with the Crimson Tide as a top-100 prospect and consensus four-star out of New York. He turned that into a successful two-year career in Tuscaloosa, playing in 70 games overall with 13 double-figure outings and five double-doubles as a sophomore.

The 6-7 forward could have returned, eyeing a starting role with breakthrough potential as a junior under Nate Oats. Instead, he entered the transfer portal with eyes on his dream school, Kentucky.

When Mark Pope called, it didn’t take long for Dioubate to trade out the red for blue, going to the school he would’ve signed with out of high school had the interest been there. With the opportunity in front of him now, he couldn’t pass it up.

“I felt like Coach Pope, he had a good plan for me and for my future. Kentucky’s always been my dream school as a kid,” Dioubate said Monday. “Like, if I could have came there out of high school, I probably would have, you know what I’m saying? The opportunity presented itself. Where I was at that point in my life, I feel like that was the right choice for me and my family. That’s why I came here.”

Speaking of blue, that’s part of the reason he liked Kentucky growing up — it’s his favorite color. That, and all of the NBA players to come through the program, showing him what pro talent looks like and giving him a goal to push toward in his own basketball journey.

When he thought of good talent, he thought of Kentucky talent. That’s what he always wanted to be.

“It was just — I don’t know, blue’s my favorite color,” the Alabama transfer continued. “Me being a new — because, when I was younger, I was watching the NBA a lot. But when I got to start watching college, that happened to be the first team that I actually liked.

“The players they got? It was just so good, they were so good. That’s what I expected from college players, the Kentucky players I was watching when I was younger.”

As a 21-year-old born in 2003, he was a little young for the John Walls and Anthony Davises, but his serious fandom started shortly after. Some of his favorite players came from the 2016-17 and 2017-18 teams — a few obvious answers, but one that may come as a surprise.

In fact, that surprise may be the reason Dioubate is a Wildcat today.

“Hamidou Diallo, he’s one of my favorites. Malik Monk, Bam Adebayo, De’Aaron Fox — those guys, I watched them a lot growing up as a kid,” he said.

Diallo was a consensus five-star ranked inside the top 20 out of high school, joining the Kentucky program as a mid-year enrollee in January 2017. He flirted with the NBA Draft that summer after redshirting in the spring semester, but decided to come back to Lexington where he averaged 10.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals in his lone season as a Wildcat.

Going from Queens to Putnam Science Academy to Kentucky to the NBA, Diallo showed players like Dioubate how to take a similar path — or an identical one, as a matter of fact, now that the Alabama transfer is in Lexington.

“My big brother Hamidou, we’re from the same city,” Dioubate said. “When he was in his transition from high school to college, once he committed to a college, the whole city was behind him. Everyone my age looked up to him, and he inspired us. Everyone from that area wanted to go to Kentucky.”

Diallo turned it into a six-year NBA career with 265 games played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards. His biggest moment came in the 2019 Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Weekend, beating Dennis Smith Jr., Miles Bridges and John Collins to win the crown.

Now, he’s a mentor for Dioubate to lean on, staying in regular communication not only about basketball, but life in general.

“Hami? That’s my guy, I talk to him often,” he told KSR. “Me and him, we get on the phone sometimes and he just gives me advice. We just talk about life stuff. We’ve got a lot in common.”

Diallo may not have been thrilled with Dioubate at an SEC foe like Alabama — especially not when he was beating Kentucky three times out of three this past year — but he was over the moon when he decided to become a Wildcat this offseason.

From childhood to high school to college, the similarities now extend to Lexington wearing the blue and white.

“He was happy because he had seen my process coming up and stuff from high school and before high school — he saw the work I put in,” Dioubate said of Diallo’s reaction to his Kentucky commitment. “We come from a close home background. He’s from West Africa, I’m from West Africa. We’re both from Queens, we got the same mentor.

“He was very happy for me because he know what it means to me.”