Good read on basketball developing in Senegal. Mostly based on Gorgui Dieng's story. Gana Diop is also involved in some parts of the article.
https://theringer.com/gorgui-dieng-senegal-basketball-minnesota-timberwolves-nba-6ac67647aa41#.utfz4d150Back in 2007, when Dieng attended the 16-and-under tournament, he was spotted by the coach of Senegal’s national team. In 2009, after SEED, he was invited to attend national team tryouts in Italy. By far the youngest player there, he roomed a few doors down from someone with quite a bit more experience: Diop. When the national team wasn’t practicing, Dieng did his rookie duties — running errands for the older guys, especially Diop, who he peppered with questions about the league.
“I was coming to his room 24/7,” Dieng remembered. “He wanted me to go get stuff for him. I’m going to go get it, but I’m going to keep asking him questions.
“‘What’s the NBA like?’
“‘What do people do?’
“‘Is it true that this guy shoots like that?’
“I basically go in my room only to sleep … [When] everybody’s resting, I’d be in Sagana’s room talking to him. He’d be like, ‘Yo, kid, go to your room. I want to take a nap.’ I’d be like ‘Nah.’ I just kept asking questions.”
To Diop, Dieng stood out from the other young Senegalese players he had met before.
“I could just feel the hunger,” Diop said. “That’s the first kid I ever met from Senegal who was asking me those kinds of questions … You could see he wanted to make it.”