Idrissa Diallo Joins Golden Bears

BERKELEY – California head men’s basketball coach Mike Montgomery announced the signing of Los Angeles-area standout forward Idrissa Diallo on Thursday.

“Idrissa is a fabulous athlete; he is off the charts athletically,” Montgomery said. “We saw him early and John [Montgomery] and Gregg [Gottlieb] both really liked him. I saw him and you just go ‘OH, this guy can really run and jump.’ He’s like a 6’3”/6’4” guy in a 6’10” body and at 230, he carries that weight so easily. He can motor.”

A native of Senegal, Diallo is a 6-10 forward who played for Middlebrooks Academy in Los Angeles last season, where he averaged 21.3 points, 12.5 rebounds and nearly three blocks per game.

Diallo is regarded as one of the top post players in the 2014 class by several recruiting services, despite missing several AAU events over the spring and summer months while recovering from a fractured elbow. He is rated the 30th best center in the country by Scout.com and 32nd best at his position by ESPN’s recruiting service. Rivals.com included Diallo on their prestigious Rivals150 list as the 127th-best overall prospect in the class of 2014.

Diallo came to the United States from Senegal two years ago and initially enrolled at Ribet Academy in Los Angeles. He led the Fighting Frogs to the CIF Southern sectional finals and the regional semifinals of the state tournament as a freshman.

The forward was invited to participate in the 2013 NBPA Top 100 Camp and Pangos All-American camp last summer.

He plays for the prestigious Compton Magic AAU team that current Cal forward Richard Solomon and 2013 Pac-12 Player of the Year and former Golden Bear Allen Crabbe was a member of during their scholastic careers.

Diallo joins Washington standout guard Ahmaad Rorie, who is playing his senior season at Florida’s Monteverde Academy, in the Golden Bears’ 2014 recruiting class. Diallo and Rorie will enroll at the University this fall and compete for the Bears next season.