Guinea's top prospect Ibrahima Diallo aiming big for U18 African Championship

 

 

ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - Life hasn't been the same for Ibrahima Diallo since he first caught the attention of Jr. NBA camp scouts in Conakry during a family vacations in the Guinean capital.

Raised in the US, Diallo quickly became an option for Guinea national teams' three categories despite his young age.

He was 15 when he first wore a Guinea national team uniform.

From debuting for Guinea at the 2019 FIBA U16 African Championship, suiting up for the country of his parents at the 2020 FIBA U18 African Championship to becoming Guinea's youngest player during the third window of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup held in Abidjan, Diallo starts to become a household name in Guinean basketball ranks.

And with the 2022 FIBA U18 African Championship scheduled for next month in Madagascar (August 4-15), Diallo has revealed to FIBA.basketball of his intentions of helping Guinea to a successful campaign in Antananarivo.

"We are going need to perfect our plays, gel together, don't move like water, we know each other well, that's what is going to make us win," a confident Diallo explained. 

Guinea are returning to the FIBA U18 African Championship for the third straight, and Diallo says he and his team have learned a lot from their experience in Cairo where they finished fourth in the four-team Championship. 

Madagascar, he says, it's all about winning.
 

"You can expect us to play hard from the beginning to the end, and never give up. We're going to accomplish a lot of great things there."

In his debut for Guinea, Diallo lit up Vava Duarte Gym in Praia, Cape Verde, with impressive plays.

And although Guinean lost to Nigeria in the Third-Place game, the 1.70m point guard, was named in the 2019 FIBA U16 African Championship All-Star team. 

"We played hard, we ended up winning most of our games, unfortunately we didn't qualify. It was a great experience," he recalled his U16 African Championship experience. 

A year later, in Cairo, Diallo put on a show again, but Egypt, Mali and Senegal went on to finish on the podium while Guinea settled to the last place in the competition.

Diallo remains upbeat despite the result in Cairo.

"We won our first game, we beat Mali, we were pumped up. Then, we played Senegal in the third game, we were up by a high amount, but they came back on us, that's how you learn from tournaments like this… You have to hold your head high and keep going, don't let up."

But the highest moment in Diallo's career so far came when he received a call-up to debut for Guinea's Men's team in early July.

"It was a proud moment. We had a talk with my parents, and they were very proud of me to be selected for the men's team; play in the big stage; I am playing against pros; it was insane," said Diallo who contributed 4.3 points in 15.4 minutes in Guinea's three African Qualifiers games.

Guinea secured Group C's last spot for the Second Round, which is slated for the end of August, and the young Diallo might have a second chance to shine again.

Playing with older and more experienced players, Diallo, insisted, can make him a better player. And some veteran players have been crucial to his development. "They help me a lot in this competition, Ousmane Drame, Alpha Kaba, - they help me very much," he admitted. 

"It's a honour for me to play for my national team, it's a blessing," said Diallo, adding, "To win the Cup of Africa and qualify for the World Cup," would be a culmination of Guinea basketball's hard work over the past few years.  

Talking about his personal goals in Madagascar, Diallo said he hope to "be a leader of the team, eventually we are going to do great things and shock the world." 

Beyond his national team, Diallo hopes to join the University of Texas Permian Basin.

"My personal goals is to be successful in the basketball atmosphere and life in general, accomplish a lot of things; going to college, finish my degree and end up being a pro," he pointed out. 

FIBA