Top Tier 2026 Basketball Prospect Sets Visit With Houston
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Houston basketball landed its highest-rated recruiting class in program history which finished No. 3 overall in the 2025 recruiting rankings.
This season, the Cougars look to continue recruiting elite talent and have several top prospects interested in the program.
Arguably Houston’s top target of the offseason, Arafan Diane, is set to visit UH on October 17th and is the No. 1 center in the 2026 class.
Top Target Arafan Diane
Head coach Kelvin Sampson has had his fair share of talented centers over the years, and he knows how to developed them into college basketball greats.
Houston’s recent big men such as Jarace Walker, Ja’Vier Francis, J’Wan Roberts and Joseph Tugler all show how good the Cougars are at developing at the power forward/center position.
Diane could be the next center in line for Houston if he chooses to commit and he brings a lot of intangibles to the table.
The 7-foot-1 center would be among the tallest players in all of college basketball and he also has a 7-foot-4 wingspan which the Cougars like in their defense.
Diane is more of an old-school center where most of his work would be from block to block.
He also weighs 290 pounds which makes him a force down low against even the best competition in the NCAA.
Diane in a five-star recruit and ranks No. 15 nationally. He currently is in his senior season at Iowa United Prep in Norwalk, Iowa.
He also got a lot of experience playing for Guinea’s U-17 team and made a name for himself playing internationally.
In five games against France, Spain, Germany, Australia and China, he averaged 16 points, 11.6 rebounds and over two blocks per game.
The top center of the 2026 class has proven he can compete among the best players in his class and is close to making his decision on where to play college basketball.
Diane is down to his final five schools of where he will go to college: Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Virginia and Houston.
Diane has already taken visits to Kentucky, Arkansas and Virginia and will visit both Indiana and Houston later this month.
Wherever the top recruit decides to go, he will be a staple on their basketball roster and a key piece as long as he remains in college.
If he joins the Cougars, he will be in line to be the next Houston great center and will have plenty of former players to help him through the transition process.
Houston is still looking for its first recruit of the 2026 class and it won’t be long until Diane makes his final decision.
Ashton Grissom is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He is currently a senior at the University of Houston and majoring in Sports Media Production with a minor in Marketing and Spanish. He also works for two student organizations: The Cougar and CoogTV. You can find Grissom on his Instagram (@ashtonagrissom8) or Twitter (@ashtongrissom8).