Mohamed Tangara, front, hopes to play next season at a Division II school, then put his family studies degree to use in Mali.

Chris Richards / Arizona Daily Star 2006

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Mohamed Tangara's goal of helping his family and others in his native Mali has not changed.

He's just taking a detour.

The seldom-used redshirt junior forward said Monday he will forgo his final season of eligibility with the Arizona Wildcats to seek a professional career overseas or to play a final year of college in Division II, where he would be eligible immediately. His guardian, Georgia-based Linzy Davis, said one likely possibility is Clayton State, a D-II program outside Atlanta.

"What's best for him is to go into a university where he can play right away, and then he will have the stats necessary to earn a good income," Davis said. "The most important thing he came to Arizona for was to get his degree and to prepare for the real world. And to get to the real world, he has to go somewhere where he can position himself to help his family. Then he can move on from there."

The departure will not be laced with bitterness and frustration. It is one that will have Tangara participating in Senior Day ceremonies Sunday at the UA-UCLA game, and then have him proudly accepting a degree in family studies this spring.

After four years at Arizona, Tangara said he's developed perspective.

"I started to realize everything in life is in steps," Tangara said. "Everything's not going to go your way; you've just got to be patient and something else is going to come up. I didn't get to succeed in basketball here, but I'm getting my degree in May. I'm sure there's not many people in Mali with a degree from the University of Arizona."

At the same time, Tangara said his departure will help the team by clearing another scholarship. The Wildcats have extended several scholarship offers to high school seniors, even though they technically will have no roster openings if all their scholarship players return next season.

"I wish I could stay and finish the fifth year strong and help the team," Tangara said. "But I just realized … if I can graduate and the team can get another scholarship, I'm going to do it. One person is not bigger than the program."

Tangara said he was not asked to leave and made the decision before the start of the spring semester, though UA interim head coach Kevin O'Neill saw it coming last fall.

"We talked at the beginning of the year, and he was basically under the opinion that he wanted to graduate and move on," O'Neill said, "and I'm going to try to help him out and get him a job overseas."

Davis declined to discuss the details behind the decision but said it was clear that Tangara is better off this way. Tangara has played only five minutes over four games this season under O'Neill — though he played in a total of 38 games over two-plus seasons under Lute Olson while suffering a back injury and a sinus fracture.

"Arizona's been very good to him," Davis said. "He's had injuries … and now there's changes and he's not a part of the change. And after that, it's basically the coaches' philosophy and I support the leadership at Arizona 100 percent.

"I told him there's no sense in staying at Arizona if you're not going to be on the court 30 minutes a night. So he can go somewhere else. He can go to the NBA out of a Division II school. … He can play in France. For him, he's just in a great situation right now. He's 6-9 — he's not going to have a problem playing somewhere."

O'Neill, who has rarely used more than seven players regularly this season, said Tangara has been a good, hard-working member of the team but was never "able to crack the rotation."

Maybe he will somewhere overseas. The fact that Tangara speaks French and will have an African visa will help his marketability, as will his experience. Ranked the No. 38 overall player in the high school class of 2004 by Theinsidershoops.com (now Scout.com), Tangara also played for the Mali National Team last summer.

"That gave me a lot of hope," Tangara said. "I know for sure it's going to work somehow. I started seeing that basketball is not going to keep going for the rest of my life. I'm not going to keep playing for 15 more years."

At some point, whether next year or in 10 years, Tangara said he expects he will quit basketball, return to Mali and work in some sort of business or social agency that can serve others. Already, since arriving at Arizona, he has regularly sent $150 or more per month to his family from his scholarship stipend checks.

Now, he can bring home wisdom, too.

"I have a lot of friends, a lot of connections," Tangara said. "I think I will be able to help the youngest kids. There's a lot of things I can do."

● Guard Nic Wise did some light shooting and cutting on the court Monday, but O'Neill said the timetable for Wise's return from a torn meniscus remains uncertain. "He's just in the early stages," O'Neill said. Wise was originally expected to be out until either next week's Oregon trip or the Pac-10 Tournament.

● Arizona's regular-season finale at Oregon March 8has been set for 8:30 p.m. Tucson time. It will be carried nationally on FSN.

● USC guard O.J. Mayo was named Pac-10 player of the week after averaging 26.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 3.0 steals in the Trojans' wins over Oregon and Oregon State last weekend. Arizona will host USC on Thursday at McKale Center.