Senegal is known in Africa for its historic political and social stability. It is a country where democracy has always been respected, laws observed, and governments lived up to the people’s expectations. Maybe this is one of the reasons why Senegal has been faster than other African countries to reach some international respectability in basketball. The Senegalese national team has historically been at the top of the continent, with five gold and six silver medals at the African championship. However, the last gold dates back to 1997 and the last medal – a bronze – was won in 2021, just when the country’s stability began to shake. The last three years have been complicated from a civil point of view, with protests, discontent, economic inflation and troubles in keeping wages consistent with the rising costs of essential products. Political elections are scheduled to take place soon, but they should have already taken place. The postponement has led to further protests.

In this context – since sport is often a reflection of the social situation within a country – it is not strange that the coach of the Senegalese national team – currently situated at number 47 in the world ranking, but at 21 considering only the youth teams – thundered from Dakar against his own Federation. “We are not a neighborhood team,” said DeSagana Diop who played in the NBA for a long time, was a first-round pick and a few years ago inherited the national team job from Boniface N’Dong, another center who played many seasons in Europe, winning a EuroLeague championship in Barcelona. Coach Diop was referring to disorganization, discontent among the players, a structure that struggles to convince the best players to respond to calls. Among the Senegalese players watching from afar there is also Ousmane Diop, in his first season at Olimpia Milano. “The coach complained, but the disorganization remains. We should take example from South Sudan. If we improve in this regard we could compete with the best African teams, maybe beat them, because the players are there. Many Senegalese players are in Europe and the potential is clear,” Diop says. In Italy, Maurice Ndour plays in Brescia, Khalifa Diop and Ousmane Ndiaye play in Vitoria in the EuroLeague. There are other elements in the NBA from Senegal, like center Mouhamed Gueye of the Atlanta Hawks or the 2.16 mt tall Ibou Badji, who spent the last season in Portland.

Despite the defections, the disorganization, and the media blows coming from the coach towards the Federation, Senegal won three games out of three in the November FIBA window, taking first place in their qualifying group for Afrobasket 2025. Diop, from Milan, takes note.

Ousmane Diop comes from Rufisque, 25 kilometers east of the capital Dakar, a place that was originally a fishing village. Over time, the proximity of Dakar has damaged the poor local economy: all tourism and the fish market now gravitate around Dakar. This is where Ousmane’s well-reported story began, from the day he left home to the day he promised he would return with a house for the whole family. A promise he was able to keep after many years spent without seeing his parents or the loved aunt who is the reason why he started playing basketball. “I was a goalkeeper – he recalls – I knew nothing about basketball. My aunt, who unfortunately left us a few months ago, convinced me to try because I was very tall. I went to the playground, tried, and I liked it. It all started like this.”

Today things have changed. Senegal has benefited from basketball investments coming the NBA, such as the NBA Academy, now dismantled, or the birth of the BAL, Basketball African League, a sort of local EuroLeague financed by the NBA itself of which the Douanes team based in Dakar is part of. But when Diop started playing, there was none of this. Definitely, not in Rufisque. “We had a coach. We would go there at 2pm and practice. Then he left around 5pm and we were left alone. There wasn’t much work on the fundamentals. We were a bit alone with ourselves, but we had fun,” he says. The great benefit was not paying for playing. That was enough.

The day everything changed was when they mentioned to Ousmane that there would be this possibility of trying out to go and play for an Italian team, nonetheless. “I was one of the few guys who were chosen. They spoke to my parents to get authorization to take me away from home. I had no doubts or fears. I had cousins ​​who had already come to Italy. I knew nothing about Italy, but I knew something about what it meant to leave home at a young age. Then I thought I would return shortly so I wasn’t worried. I was thinking of returning to Senegal quickly.” It would be years before they saw him again. “Homesickness? At the beginning it was all new, I didn’t know how to behave, the food was completely different from what I was used to eating, and in Udine, my first stop, the weather was cold, and I wasn’t used to those temperatures. But I had an Italian family, the Caruso family. They welcomed me with open arms, they helped me, educated me. The rest was easy.”

Even on the court: “I immediately understood, during in my first year in Udine, that I could be a professional. There were good, experienced players around me and I managed to stay on the court for big minutes. Of course, if we ask to my teammates of that time, they will say there was no chances I would end up here in Milan,” says Diop. At the time his idol was Kevin Durant, “but I tried to watch a lot of films, studying a lot of players, and the first player to impress me the most in Italy was Valerio Amoroso who was playing for Fortitudo at the time. He had these incredible low post moves. It inspired me. When I met him, I told him so.”

In 2018 he was signed by Sassari. “I wanted to play at a higher level, I wanted to get to the first division, if I was aware that at the beginning I wouldn’t play. However, I thought that by improving I would have my space. But no, I didn’t. I went to Cagliari and helped the team keep its place in the second division. However, I felt like I was on the right path.” The next step was the loan to Turin. “If I speak about basketball, they were the best two years of my life. I was used to doing things differently in Sassari and Udine, but in Turin we did everything together, on and off the court, it was an incredible group of guys, so I also improved as a person. My only regret is that we lost the final series”. At that point, in Sassari they were going to welcome a different player, a different Diop, somebody capable to have an impact in the domestic league and beyond.

“Sassari is my home, because I stayed there for years, it is where I met my girlfriend, developed many friendships. But Udine is also my home, I have many friends there, and my Italian family is still there too – Ousmane explains – And then I have my family in Senegal: some friends play basketball and understand what is happening. My parents are still struggling to understand. They know Milan obviously, but they don’t know basketball that much. I explained that I play for the most important team in Italy and then they are happy for me. They don’t have the total perception of what I’m doing.” Like playing in the EuroLeague for example. “There is a difference, physically, the speed, everything changes, and you have to adapt, but I’m lucky enough to play every day in practice with people who have been competing in the EuroLeague for years. What they do in practice is what you also find in the game, in terms of intensity. Then here I have Josh Nebo: if we talk about physicality, no one beats him. Josh is at the top of the list. For me the key is to improve mentally, to stay ready mentally before, during and after the game, because today you can play for twenty minutes, tomorrow for five and another time you don’t play at all. But you must stay focused throughout the process and ready, you must not slip into silly mental mistakes just because you are doing badly, or you are doing well or not quite well. You must not be affected by these things but remain ready because they can call you at any time. I’m working on this.”

Milan represents a step forward in his career. “I didn’t have any doubts. Indeed, I felt pride. I thought that if Milan calls, then I’ve done something good. Then Ettore Messina called me and swept everything away. There was when I said: ok, I’m going. And here I found a very organized club, where everything is planned in such a way as to allow you to only think about doing your best on the court. It is beautiful”