I've been going down a rabbit hole researching French basketball to get a better sense of Dominique Diamonde's background. Here's some things I've learned to put Diamonde's background into perspective...

French professional basketball has multiple leagues:

ProA league = 18 best pro teams in France. Can move up or down out of this league depending on performance.
ProB league = 18 lower-level pro teams, can move up into the A league by winning the ProB title.

U21 leagues = the best players in France 21 years old or younger. There are 18 teams in the ProA U21 league and 18 teams in the ProB U21 league. Works the same as the men's ProA and ProB leagues. I scanned a bunch of the rosters in U21 league and most of the players are 19-21 years old, but there are some 16-18 year olds mixed in there.

French basketball at a glance - 67 million people in France. Basketball is the 2nd most popular team sport in France behind soccer. France has become the best European country for producing NBA talent, having produced 50 NBA players to date, ahead of Serbia who has produced 34 NBA players.

Putting Dominique Diamonde's U21 career into perspective:

Diamonde played one year in the U21 league, 2023-24 season as an 18-year old. He played in the ProA U21 league (the higher U21 league) for ADA Blois, who finished 13th (out of 18 teams) with a 13-21 record. I believe the French ProA U21 level is a very high level of competition for college age players. It's not as good as American power conference basketball but I believe it's a higher level of competition than American Juco (the league is filled with many 6'10 - 7'1 players on most of the rosters for example) and probably could rival Div 1 mid-majors.

Against this competition Diamonde put up the following numbers in 2023-24 in his first year against said competition:
26 games (27.1 mins per game)
16.0 pts
6.0 rebs
2.0 assists
1.8 steals
2PT FG 71.8%
3PT FG 30.5% (46-151, or 1.8-5.8 per game)
FT 64.3% (45-70)

I believe what Diamonde did here in 2023-24 would be equivalent to a true freshman playing in a conference such as the WAC or Big West. Imagine if we signed a very athletic 6'8 wing who had just completed his freshman year at Long Beach State averaging 16.0 pts and 6.0 rebs. That's what we have here in Diamonde. There is a reason why he has been projected as a potential 2nd round pick in the 2026 NBA draft and could rise up draft boards if he plays well at BYU.

Based off this background I believe it is very reasonable for us to expect Diamonde to be a major contributor for the Cougars in 2025-26, if not a starter.