– Will Gorgui take the money and run

To say that Gorgui Dieng has developed greatly since his time as a Louisville Cardinal is an understatement. We have watched him turn into one of the best shot blockers in the country. The Louisville defense allowed their conference opponents to make just 42.7 percent of their 2s last season. Dieng was a big part of that number for the Cardinals. He recorded his fair share of blocks, swatting away about 10 percent of the 2s that opponents attempted during his minutes last season. 

Due to that shot blocking Gorgui had a breakout season in his Sophmore year. Dieng blocked a school-record 128 shots and is already No. 4 in school history with 184 career blocks. He led the Big East Conference and was eighth nationally last season with 3.2 blocks a game.

All of the success hasn’t gone unnoticed. In fact the NBA guys have been watching very closely. And after had a solid showing last month at the Adidas Nations event he has seen his stock rise even more. ESPN’s NBA draft expert Chad Ford currently lists the 6-foot-11, 235-pound center as the No. 3 center in the 2013 draft and the No. 21 overall prospect on his Big Board. While he is listed as the No. 19 pick by NBADraft.net and DraftExpress.net still has him listed as the No. 11 pick in the second round.

The only question mark left in Gorgui’s game is on the offensive end of the floor. If he improves as much in that area of his game as he has done with the rest he will be a beast in his Junior season. Peyton Siva recently said when ask about Dieng:  “Gorgui has gotten really big and he’s holding his own. He’s shown a lot of people his upside. He’s ready for a big year next season.”

If Gorgui does have a monster year and keeps improving his draft stock will he take the money and run or will he stay in Louisville until his senior season and graduate? According to him the most important thing to his father is an education. Will be interesting to see what path he decides to take.