Papa Dia Commits to SMU

NewEnglandBasketballServices.com | Thursday, November 2nd, 2006

A year ago Papa Dia was thought of by many people as a player with high-major talent who needed to learn to play harder. What a difference a year can make. When Dia left the South Kent campus last spring he must have known that it would be important for him to shed that label during the summer “live” period, and that is exactly what he did. In fact, his summer was so productive that in September Hoop Scoop Online ranked him the 56th best senior prospect in the country.

Around that same time, New England Basketball Services was in the South Kent gym during the first day of the “live” period along with coaches from a variety of high-major and mid-major schools including Louisville, Indiana, Oregon State, Clemson, Rhode Island, Fordham, and others. That day it was obvious to us that Dia was not the same player he was a year earlier. Apparently it was obvious to others as well because it was just a short week later that Rick Pittino himself was in that same gym extending a scholarship offer to Dia.

To Dia’s credit he took his time and evaluated all of his options. He eventually cut the list down to three finalists in Louisville, Oklahoma, and SMU all of which he visited before making his decision.

Ultimately, Dia turned down the bright lights of Louisville and Oklahoma, in order to join SMU and first year Head Coach Matt Doherty. Dia, who joins South Kent teammate Mike Walker in committing to the Mustangs, is unquestionably the prize recruit that Doherty was hoping for in first recruiting class at SMU.

“At the end of the day, the biggest thing with Papa was that he felt he was going to get the best opportunity to play right away at SMU,” said South Kent Head Coach Raphael Chillious according to Jeff Goodman of scout.com. “He felt it was an opportunity to be the cornerstone recruit for Coach Doherty.”

Dia is expected to be the starting power forward on a South Kent team that boasts one of the most talented frontcourts in the country with Dia playing in between 6’10 Ayodele Coker who is committed to St. John’s and 6’8 Matthew Bryan-Amaning who will attend the University of Washington next fall.