K-State guard Cartier Diarra aiming for more consistency, windmill dunks this season
Nearly a year has passed since Cartier Diarra added the ultimate exclamation point to a Kansas State basketball victory by throwing down a windmill dunk against Kansas, but he is still adjusting to life after the highlight play.
Diarra, now a junior guard with the Wildcats, figured the dunk would go viral and even become a staple on pregame pump-up videos at Bramlage Coliseum. But he didn’t expect strangers to re-enact the dunk every time he went to the mall ... months later.
“I know two people that windmill dab me all the time,” Diarra said. “That is the craziest thing I have ever experienced. They don’t want to shake my hand. They want to show me a windmill dunk.”
All eyes will be on Diarra as he looks to add more dunks to his highlight reel and lead the Wildcats back to the NCAA Tournament this season. Some think he has the highest ceiling of any player on K-State’s roster.
Xavier Sneed is older and more consistent, Makol Mawien is the main presence down low and DaJuan Gordon has lots of freshman hype, but it’s Diarra who could be the difference maker for this team.
When he has been at his best, so have the Wildcats.
Diarra helped hold things together as a freshman when Kamau Stokes went down with an injury by scoring in double digits in 10 different games for a team that advanced to the Elite Eight. And he was a valuable sixth man as a sophomore for a team that shared the Big 12 championship with Texas Tech.
Expectations are even higher now that he is an unquestioned starter and a team leader.
“I can be as good as I want to be,” Diarra said. “It scares me to think about it. I have been preparing for it, putting in a lot of hours. I know there is a lot more I can put into it, but when the opportunity comes I will be ready.”
How can Diarra improve? He has several answers to that question.
Diarra averaged seven points and nearly three rebounds during his first two seasons, but his offensive production has been erratic. One night he will score 18 points, the next he will struggle to make a basket. He wants to be more consistent as a junior, and average in double figures.
He has a plan to make it happen.
“Great scorers aren’t always going to shoot the ball well, so you have to affect the game in different ways,” Diarra said. “That’s going to be me. If the jump shot isn’t falling, get to the basket or the free throw line, get rebounds, play great defense and find other things that you can do and ultimately get the win. Because when you win it doesn’t matter or not if you had a bad shooting night. It will look like you had a good shooting night because you won.”
K-State basketball coach Bruce Weber thinks Diarra is on the right path.
“I have been really happy with his progress,” Weber said. “I think he was over doing it early and now he has figured out that he has got other guys I can pass to. It’s hard to stay in front of him, and we can use that in many different ways.”
The Wildcats also want him to deliver a few more crowd-pleasing dunks.
Diarra, a former competitive dancer with impressive leaping ability, has some ideas. He was reminded how popular his dunks are during a recent scrimmage when he opted for a finger roll on a fast break, and fans sighed in disappointment.
Believe it or not, the windmill dunk is his most reliable slam. That’s why he pulled it out against the Jayhawks. He didn’t want to risk a miss. This season, he wants to push the envelope and try something truly difficult like an “under the legs 360 windmill.”
Why not? Fans are expecting more from him this season.
“I have seen him do a lot of crazy dunks,” senior forward Pierson McAtee said. “A regular windmill is really light for him. He is super athletic and he can do just about anything. Any dunk seems light for him, because he is such an explosive player.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2019 at 5:00 AM with the headline "K-State guard Cartier Diarra aiming for more consistency, windmill dunks this season."