Tiefing Diawara, a freshman center at Syracuse basketball who barely played in the 2025-26 season, plans to enter the transfer portal, according to a report from Syracuse.com.
The portal will open on Tuesday, April 7, and run for 15 days through April 21. I'm wishing Tiefing nothing but great success moving forward!
The 7-foot, 240-pound Diawara, who is originally from Mali, came to the 'Cuse by way of the DME Academy at St. John's Northwestern, a prep program located in Delafield, Wis. In the 2025-26 campaign, when the Orange went just 15-17 overall, Diawara appeared in four games.
In those four contests, he made one basket while collecting three rebounds and registering two blocks.
More Syracuse basketball players will likely enter the transfer portal, too.
Following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, third-year head coach Adrian Autry was let go, along with his assistant coaching staff. Autry has since joined fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Virginia as an assistant coach.
This past Monday, Siena's Gerry McNamara was officially introduced as the Orange's new head coach, replacing Autry, his former boss. McNamara has been having discussions with players from SU's 2025-26 roster ahead of the transfer portal opening this coming Tuesday.
Besides Diawara, freshman wing Aaron Womack III from the Milwaukee area also plans to enter the portal. The 6-foot-6, 170-pound Womack took a redshirt this past season.
In 2025-26, Syracuse basketball had 13 main rotational players. Three have exhausted their collegiate eligibility. At least two intend to enter the portal. We'll have to see about the rest of the team's 2025-26 roster.
I'd be surprised if freshman shooting guard Kiyan Anthony doesn't return. I also think that freshman forward Sadiq White Jr. might come back, along with redshirt senior small forward Nate Kingz, if he receives an NCAA waiver to play another season of Division I hoops.
Honestly, I have no clue about other guys, such as sophomore power forward Donnie Freeman and junior point guard Naithan George.
GMac's assistant coaching staff is also getting rolled out, at least according to several media reports. I like the assistants he's brought on board so far.