Syracuse basketball has another center for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
On Monday, word broke that 2025 three-star center Tiefing Diawara has pledged to the Orange program. Reports indicated that the 6-foot-11, 240-pound Diawara has committed to head coach Adrian Autry and his staff.
A source confirmed to me that Diawara will play for Syracuse basketball in 2025-26. A huge congrats to Tiefing!
Diawara, who is from Mali, attends the DME Academy at St. John's Northwestern, a prep program located in Delafield, Wis. Before DME, he spent several years at Orange1 Basket Bassano in Italy, according to his bio on the Big Board Global Scouting Web site.
Syracuse basketball has boosted its depth at center for the next term.
Big Board Global Scouting says that Diawara, with a 7-foot-3 wingspan, "has excellent size and length, plus good mobility and coordination for a big-bodied throwback low post presence."
According to 247Sports, other college squads interested in Diawara included Big 12 Conference members Baylor, which won the 2021 national championship, and Kansas State.
This spring and summer, Diawara is competing for the 17U unit of the Milwaukee-based Team Herro in Nike's EYBL league, where he's playing alongside Syracuse basketball 2026 target Vaughn Karvala, a four-star wing/small forward with Oregon High School in Oregon, Wis.
So far this spring for Team Herro, Diawara is averaging 4.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 45.7 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the free-throw line.
With Diawara's pledge, the Orange has 13 scholarship players for 2025-26, with two scholarships still open. Of those 13 players, two are 2024-25 returnees, six are college transfers and five are high school prospects.
Regarding the center position, the 'Cuse now has on board Diawara, three-star UCLA transfer William Kyle lll and Georgia Tech transfer Ibrahim Souare. Kyle and Souare are both around 6-foot-9, so Diawara gives Syracuse basketball a bit more length and size.
Which center will be in the starting line-up is unclear to me at this time, although if I had to venture a guess, I'd go with Kyle. What does seem clear is that the Orange staff, in this recruiting cycle, has targeted centers who possess more athleticism, agility and rim protection as compared to centers on the team's 2024-25 roster.