Lorenzo Romar and the Washington Huskies are not joking around with their class of 2017.
Romar and company landed yet another recruit as 6’8″ power forward Mamoudou Diarra committed to the Pac-12 school on Friday.
Washington lands a commitment from 2017 F Mamoudou Diarra. Averaged 15.4 PPG/5.4 RPG in Vegas last week.
Huskies in mix for No. 1 class.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) July 29, 2016
Diarra is a native of St. Louis, MO who has great athleticism, excellent length and a very raw skill set. He had offers from Cincinnati, Marquette and New Mexico, in addition to Washington, but he never really picked up steam nationally.
The forward is not going to have an instant impact in year one like other Washington commits Markelle Fultz (2016) and Michael Porter Jr. (2017). However, with some solid coaching and experience, he can develop into a rim protector, a scorer around the rim, and a possible four-year stud for the Huskies.
As ESPN’s Jeff Borzello pointed out in the tweet above, Washington is in the mix for the number one class in 2017. Right now, the Auburn Tigers hold the reins on the number one ranking due to their haul that includes Austin Wiley, Davion Mitchell and Chuma Okeke.
The Huskies are right behind as Porter Jr., who is ranked 4th in ESPN’s top 100, is the most polished player in the class, three-star guard Blake Harris can take reins at the one-position, and four-star shooting guard Jaylen Nowell is a ranked 45th in ESPN’s top 100.
Porter Jr. will likely be the lone one-and-done player of the class due to his athleticism, length, size and ability in transition, however, Nowell has long arms, a unique athletic ability, terrific burst off the dribble and an capability to stop-and-start on a dime.
Diarra is certainly not the gem of this class, but he adds to the impressive talent that Romar has reeled in to play in Seattle.
Now, the next step (as has been mentioned by me 100 times before) is for the Huskies to break through in the Pac-12 and nationally. They must capitalize on this recent run of talent or Romar could be out of a job without even seeing his 2017 class flourish for years to come.
So buckle up Seattle, you will see numerous pros take their talents through Washington.