Ibrahima Diallo, a 2019 center who plays for Prolific Prep in California, will visit Ohio State this weekend, he told Eleven Warriors. The visit was first reported by Stockrisers' Jake Weingarten.
Diallo is an unranked 7-foot, 226-pound center who moved from Senegal. He doesn't have an offer from Ohio State, but has received scholarship offers from Pittsburgh, DePaul, Florida State and South Florida. Diallo recently visited Pittsburgh and also plans to check out LSU.
The Buckeyes already have three players signed in their 2019 recruiting class – four-star point guard DJ Carton and four-star forwards E.J. Liddell and Alonzo Gaffney – but they have shown interest in both Diallo and in-state wing Ben Roderick in the past couple months. They also appeared as a finalist of four-star guard Lester Quinones, though they're viewed as a long shot.
Ohio State has an open scholarship next season due to Micah Potter's transfer before the beginning of the 2018-19 season, but it seemed content to stick with three 2019 recruits until being linked with Roderick and Diallo.
“They said they didn't have a scholarship for 2019, but he said now they changed their mind, so they really need me to come play,” Diallo said a couple weeks ago.
Diallo said Ohio State contacted his high school coach about four months ago and has since remained in contact with Chris Holtmann and Mike Schrage.
“They say they like my energy, like the fact I run the floor,” Diallo said. “Like my defense, how hard I play for every possession. That's the thing they like about me. They like that, and they think I would be helping them a lot, like the way I play hard, it's going to be really good for them.”
With Diallo publicly stating his intention to decide on a college in March, the Buckeyes likely must make a decision of whether or not to offer him a scholarship this weekend.
