The Senegalese Basketball Federation has named former NBA player Mamadou N’Diaye as the national men’s basketball team head coach ahead of Chiekh Sarr, Alain Weisz and Sam Vincent.
His appointment comes after an extensive search for a tactical head ahead of the Olympic basketball qualifying tournament set to take place in June against Croatia and Puerto Rico. Prior to his appointment as national team coach, N’Diaye was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech.
Senegal will participate in the mini tournament following a fourth place position at the 2015 AfroBasket Championships behind Nigeria, Angola and host nation Tunisia under Chiekh Sarr.
N’Diaye was drafted 26th by the Denver Nuggets in the 2000 NBA Draft and followed it up with stints at Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors before playing the remainder of his 10 year career in Europe and Hong Kong.
He had a stellar four year stay in College at Auburn University where he eclipsed Charles Barkley’s block record.
N’Diaye will be tasked with continuing a recent run of good from by the “Lions” in international tournaments that has seen the West African nation qualify to the World Cup in 2014 and place third at the 2013 AfroBasket.
