Finding A Home

Mady Traore is no stranger to adjusting to new surroundings. 

The 6-foot-11 forward grew up in Paris, France, before moving to Cumberland, MD, for high school—leaving his family back in Paris. And if the move across the world wasn’t enough, Traore attended three different high schools—the first two in the local area before finishing at Believe Prep in Rock Hill, SC. 

After spending his first collegiate season at New Mexico State, Traore has returned to Maryland and found a home in College Park alongside head coach Kevin Willard and his team.

Traore is grateful to be a Terrapin today, but the journey to get there was anything but easy.

Like the majority of French kids do, Traore grew up playing soccer, or, as he and his friends called it—”football.” According to Traore, he was an excellent youth soccer player who excelled at defense and was able to guard people by using his unique combination of immense size and elite speed.

Still, Traore frequently found himself on the basketball courts. His towering height meant that people were telling him to play constantly.

There was just one issue with that.

“I used to hate basketball,” Traore said. “Like really, really hate it. Everyone was always forcing me to play and I didn’t like that.”

Even so, Traore found himself at a high-level basketball tryout when he was just 12 or 13 years old. As pretty much every shot he took swished through the hoop easily, Traore found himself liking the game more and more. He made the team and, by the second practice, threw down his first dunk.

From that moment, he was sold on basketball. The sport became his main focus, with soccer becoming something he did just with friends when he had free time.

Traore got better and better at basketball and continued to increase his level of play. Eventually, he found himself competing against French sensation and current front-runner for NBA Rookie of the Year, Victor Wembanyama. 

Traore remembers being about 6-foot-5 at the time and Wembanyama was 6-foot-8—neither had finished growing. Nevertheless, Traore has a memory from those days that he’ll keep with him forever.

“We were playing on different teams and I just drove the ball and dunked over him,” Traore said. “It was great. I’ll never forget that.”

Despite the battles and practices with Wembanyama and other professional players, it eventually became clear to Traore that to put himself in the best position to succeed basketball-wise, he needed to play in the United States. So, he moved to Cumberland, MD, in 2018 to live with a new guardian, with his mom and sister staying behind in France.

“It was hard to be so far away from my family, but I knew I wanted to play basketball at the highest level in the future so I decided to come to the United States,” Traore said. 

The move across the world definitely came as a culture shock to Traore.

“It was weird,” he said. “I was just a kid from France who only knew of America from stuff on TV. It was kinda crazy because the high school gyms looked a lot like the ones I saw on TV.”

“I didn’t like the food,” he added. “It was a lot of fat things. It wasn’t for me. Even now, I still don’t love it.”

The change in basketball styles also took him by surprise initially. 

“The tempo was definitely a lot faster,” he said. “In France we try to run through our plays all the way, so it’s a lot slower. But here, it’s just a lot of up-and-down, up-and-down.”

Even so, the professional atmosphere he played in while in France prepared him well for the unfamiliar game. 

“When I was in France I was playing with pros who were teaching me a lot about the game and helping me advance,” he said. “So it wasn’t too hard for me when I first came over.”

Traore began his high school ball at Bishop Walsh School before transferring to National Christian Academy in Washington, DC. Still looking for the right opportunity and fit after that, Traore decided to finish his high school career at Believe Prep in Rock Hill, SC. 

“It taught me a lot about how to get tougher and to develop that mindset where nothing bothers you,” Traore said of his high school experiences.

Traore developed into a top-150 prospect and the No. 6 overall prospect in the state of Maryland, garnering offers from several top programs. He ultimately chose New Mexico State, but decided to look for another opportunity after a season with the Aggies.

Fortunately for the Terps, Traore already had ties to both Willard and associate head coach David Cox due to his first recruitment process. As a result, when the opportunity came for him to reunite with both of them and come to College Park—it was an easy choice.

“I knew they were going to welcome me here and really help me get better.”

And since officially becoming a Maryland Terrapin, that sentiment has remained for Traore; who believes he has finally found a true home in the United States.

“I’m really happy to be here. I think we have a great team on all sides of the ball and I think we can be really great. I’m very excited about it.”