Virginia’s forgotten man puts on a show

RALEIGH, N.C.

Sportswriters aren’t supposed to pull for players they cover. We’re supposed to be unbiased, uncaring. We’re supposed to be the Switzerland of the sports world — neutral.

In the home stretch of Virginia’s duel with N.C. State on Saturday afternoon, ethics momentarily went out the window each time Cavalier senior Mamadi Diane put up a shot.

Anyone who has followed the career of the kid from DeMatha Catholic couldn’t help feeling good for Diane. He was fighting his way out of a horrible funk that had kept him on the bench for the last four games heading into this old tobacco town.

No one wanted to see it end like this for the guy with a quick smile and a work ethic that would make even Sean Singletary jealous. Diane, affectionately tagged “Mo” by his teammates, deserved better than a bitter finish to his senior year.

High expectations

Having suffered a broken bone in his foot late last season, he played through it, underwent off-season surgery, rehab and entered the 2008-09 campaign as tri-captain and with big expectations. Coach Dave Leitao hoped that Diane would be the guy to take up some of the scoring slack and leadership from Singletary’s departure.

Even though the 6-foot-5 Diane had to work his way back into playing shape after the operation, he provided a spark in Virginia’s first two games back in November. He scored 14 points in the win over VMI and 13 in the next win against South Florida.

Everything looked rosy.

Then the inconsistency that had plagued him throughout his career at Virginia reared its ugly head as his production took a dramatic plunge. He would not score in double figures again until Saturday’s second-half outburst against the Wolfpack, when he dropped in 11 points in seven and a half minutes as the Cavaliers nearly pulled off the comeback.

A blast from the past

Mo looked like his old self. He hit 5 of 6 field goal attempts, made his first

3-pointer since the Brown game on Jan. 6, and showed confidence in his shot.

Teammates and coaches had to be delighted to see the old Mo. While it may be too late to salvage any postseason hopes for this squad, they could at least go out in a blaze of glory and learn valuable lessons that could help them next season. Diane could be a big part of that finish.

Following the game, Diane was almost embarrassed at the media attention he received.

He didn’t really want to talk about his tribulations, but did anyway because that’s the kind of guy he is.

“For a while now, I’ve been feeling great, so I don’t think [the performance] was a surprise to me or any of my teammates,” Diane said. “That’s the way I’ve been playing in practice.”

Translating that from practice to games was Leitao’s job and he was sensitive to the situation. He hasn’t dwelled on the issue, but did invite the youngster up to his office for a chat a couple of weeks ago.

“Obviously, we’ve talked about it,” Leitao said. “It’s not an easy thing for anybody, particularly a senior who has contributed as much as he had. It was something that had to be coped with physically. For anybody, whether a freshman or senior, you’ve got to find your way out of adversity sometimes.”

Easier said than done.

Diane had seen or at least heard of this sort of thing happening to seniors before and he didn’t want to be a case sample of disappearing during what was supposed to be his most glorious time in college.

“With my senior year not going as planned, I could see how it would be easy for some guys to falter or fade away,” he said in front of his locker. “But it has been the opposite for me. I’ve been working harder than ever.”

So, he did what he has always done. He lived in the gym, he listened to his coach’s advice, and took encouragement from his family and teammates. But mostly, he worked and never caved in to the temptation of letting his game collapse.

He didn’t need an appointment with Bob Rotella or Dr. Phil. Instead, his therapy was the practice court.

“Basketball has always been fun for me, always been a dream, always been a passion and something I love,” Diane said. “So, it wasn’t hard for me to stay in the gym. That’s fun for me.”

Family members have called him more than ever, just to make sure he was OK and that he wasn’t giving up. During his toughest time as a player, that meant so much to him.

“Mo has met a ton of adversity this year and how you handle it kind of defines your person,” Leitao said. “That’s my biggest challenge — to make sure how he has to deal with it because it’s a life issue. He’s going to face adversity many more times in his life, and this just happens to be something he cares desperately about. We talked about it, but I want his actions to speak for him.”

Leitao encouraged Diane to hang tough because how he dealt with all this would likely have an impact on the entire team. It wasn’t all about production, but leadership. That’s why he is a captain.

Diane has been through a lot during his UVa career, winning seasons, losing seasons, highs and lows, comebacks and blowouts, the NCAA, the NIT, the CBI, and maybe nothing this time around. But he’s seen a lot. That experience is valuable.

“When you have an inexperienced team, as we do, those story-telling things are critically important as well as the physical things you do on the court, helping the team grow up, helping them move forward, and understanding situations, understanding me, understanding coaching,” Leitao said.

That’s why no one was surprised when Diane and fellow captains Calvin Baker and Tunji Soroye called a team meeting prior to the Clemson game more than a week ago. Diane did most of the talking and he told the team how he had been part of teams refusing to give up, battling for whatever they could obtain.

“One of the things I said to the team was to find some things that motivate them, whether it might be knocking a top team off the pedestal, or going out there and learning how to win for next year, just find something to motivate them and finish out the year that way,” Diane said.

The Cavs proceeded to go out and knock off 12th-ranked Clemson, then stop a three-game losing streak to rival Virginia Tech before Saturday’s 72-67 loss at N.C. State, where the Cavs have lost nine of the last 11 against UVa.

“Even though [Diane] wasn’t playing then, he wasn’t talking about his playing time (in the meeting),” Baker said. “He was just talking about the team getting better. For him to be just so unselfish the way he is — there’s not a lot of players like Mo.”

For the record, his 11 points gave him 963 for his career, leaving him 37 shy of becoming the 42nd Cavalier to reach basketball’s Holy Grail of 1,000 career points, with five games to go.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Diane said as he cracked a grin. “That would definitely be good to get.”

Cheers to Mo Diane. May he finish with a flourish. Ethics be damned.