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McEachern Alum Reaching New Heights at JMU

Alioune Diouf has helped the Dukes by contributing defense and an energetic scoring option off the bench.

It’s no secret that is a basketball hotbed of talent. 

With the NBA successes of graduates Josh Smith and Morris Almond, young Indians players know if they’ve got the skills, college programs will come a-callin'. On the heels of what Smith and Almond accomplished at McEachern, there’s a new wave of players coming from Coach Mike Thompson’s program who are making names for themselves. 

Alioune Diouf, a 2009 graduate of McEachern, was one of six Division I recruits from Georgia’s top-ranked school in 2008-09 and is starting to emerge as a viable piece of a successful James Madison University program. 

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The Dukes (18-9) are in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament bid, and the six-foot-five-inch sophomore has helped by contributing defense and an energetic scoring option off the bench. 

Diouf had the best night of his college career in December. Against Radford, he played 21 minutes and scored 19 points, a career high, to help JMU improve to 7-3.

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The shooting guard didn’t do anything different that night—except take advantage of an opportunity. 

“I got my opportunity to play,” Diouf said. “I just looked at it like I got to play. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I tried good shots. A lot of things came together for me.”

The scoring outburst didn’t surprise his head coach, Matt Brady, because Diouf was recruited for just that reason.

“He’s a talented to kid,” Brady said. “He’s a young guy that knows how to score.”

Diouf’s scoring prowess wasn’t all Brady saw, however. While scouting the Powder Springs native, he noticed a player with the size and athleticism to make an impact at the collegiate level. 

“Naturally, he’s strong and an explosive athlete,” Brady said. “Alioune showed, the times I watched him play, a competitive spirit and an ability to drive the ball to the basket. The combination of those two things really intrigued me. I think the fact that he was eager to get better was another factor.”

That desire to continue to get better is one of the things Diouf’s high school head coach remembers fondly. 

Coach Thompson described a player that was cut from his fifth-grade team but worked hard to bring his basketball skills to the same level as his natural athletic ability. 

“I think he dedicated himself really hard the last couple of years,” he said. “Not that he didn’t before, but some kids mature and develop later than others.” 

“He grew a lot,” Thompson continued. “He went from being a six-foot kid to being a six-five kid. Sometimes when that happens, it takes a little while to catch up with that. He did that through his junior and senior year and blossomed as a player. That work ethic, combined with his growth, really helped him out.”

Thompson said he believes James Madison saw Diouf as a player with raw talent—a diamond in the rough type of player.  

He wasn’t as highly recruited as some of his teammates, like University of Tennessee’s Trae Golden, or a big hit on the AAU circuit, but Brady believed in his potential. 

Diouf said he’s worked hardest on his scoring and defense from last season to this season, his sophomore year. His effort on defense is a particular point of pride. 

When asked to describe himself as a player, he began with his transition game and the ability to drive the ball to the basket. But it’s his defense, he said, that is the closer. 

“Mainly, I would talk about my defense," he explained.

Brady echoes his young player’s sentiments, pointing out that Diouf learned that defense in college is drastically different than in high school, and one of the ways he could contribute to the program was through his effort defending. The coach is pleased with Diouf’s progression, specifically the improvement of his basketball IQ.

With four games remaining on James Madison’s regular-season schedule, Diouf is hoping more opportunities come for him to help the Dukes return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994. 

It’ll happen, Diouf believes, if he keeps working hard and following a quirky game-day ritual. 

The sophomore wears two pairs of socks on one foot and one pair on another. It’s not as uncomfortable as it sounds, he said, and it’s gotten him this far. 

Everyone in Powder Springs is watching to see where it takes him next. 

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