Milwaukee Bucks: Getting to know new two-way player Mamadi Diakite

Exploring Mamadi Diakite’s time at the University of Virginia

Upon committing to Virginia, Diakite immediately reclassified and became a redshirt for the 2015-16 season.

But even when he came into the fold for legendary head coach Tony Bennett, Diakite was brought alone very slowly for both his redshirt freshman and sophomore campaigns as he saw a combined 981 minutes over those seasons.

It was in his redshirt junior year where Diakite blossomed into an integral piece into Virginia’s rotation, eventually becoming a starter midway through the season. And as the Cavaliers looked to avenge their historic upset loss from the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Diakite played a crucial role in helping Virginia ultimately win their first-ever NCAA Title in 2019.

Over the course of their run to a championship, Diakite emerged as a hero in Virginia’s overtime victory over the Purdue Boilermakers in the Elite Eight. Had it not been for Diakite’s game-tying floater from 12-plus feet that sent the game into overtime, Virginia’s run would have been cut short.

After briefly declaring for the draft after that title-winning campaign, Diakite returned back to school for redshirt senior season and progressed into becoming the Cavaliers’ leading scorer.

In what ended up being his best and most productive season of his career, Diakite averaged 13.7 points on .478/.364/.754 shooting splits, 6.8 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 0.8 assists over 32.8 minutes per game. That led to Diakite being named to the All-ACC second team at season’s end as well.

For all of the upward momentum that he experienced during his time in Charlottesville, Diakite is now looking to carry over that in Milwaukee.