Mamadou N’diaye and Ndongo N’diaye are expected to become the first 7-footers in University of Maine basketball history.

However, the departure of Rudy Keeling, who Wednesday became the head coach at Northeastern, has left the status of the Senegalese twin towers up in the air.

UMaine assistant coach Mike LaPlante has unwittingly become a focal point. LaPlante, 29, recruited the N’diayes and is the only men’s hoop coach left in Orono.

Scott Benzie has been hired as the coach at Unity College, while graduate assistant Ed Jones has taken a prep-school position.

The bond formed between LaPlante and the N’diayes is a special one, according to their coaches.

Dave Godin, who coached Ndongo N’diaye at Suffield Academy in Connecticut, said Ndongo he will not attend UMaine if LaPlante is not there.

“Ndongo has never even been to the state of Maine, never mind the campus,” Godin said. “Obviously, he’s going there because of Mike LaPlante.”

Max Good, who mentored Mamadou N’diayte at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, said Mamadou is equally worried, and loyal.

“He’s very concerned because his loyalty and his allegiance is not the University of Maine, it’s to Mike LaPlante,” Good said. “I think his heart will be broken. I don’t think he will have any desire to be at the University of Maine without Mike LaPlante.”

LaPlante declined comment Friday, but said he would like to be considered for the job. UMaine athletics director Sue Tyler said a national search will be conducted to fill the position and that LaPlante is a viable candidate.

Keeling said he recommended LaPlante as his successor during a Friday meeting with Tyler, but also has asked LaPlante to join his staff at Northeastern.

The loss of either or both of the N’diayes could significantly hamper Maine’s efforts to win a North Atlantic Conference championship and play in the NCAA Tournament. Good said both are pro prospects.

Keeling said, “Even if they don’t decide they don’t want to go to Maine, they’d go to UMass and Connecticut. Then, any chance for Maine to make the big jump is dead.”

Tyler said players routinely threaten to transfer when the recruiting coach leaves a program.

“That’s always the case when you have a coaching change,” Tyler said. “We have to look at the big picture and what’s going to work best for all the students. You can’t let any one person be bigger than the program. We’ll have to deal with that if it happens, but I certainly hope that the kids give us a chance.”

Last spring, LaPlante traveled to Africa to work as a consultant to the Senegalese national team. In the process, he discovered the N’diayes, who are unrelated but equally loaded with potential.

LaPlante recruited the players, both of whom verbally committed and later signed NCAA Letters of Intent to play at UMaine. That pact means a great deal to the N’diayes.

“Their whole philosophy is being true to oneself and that when you make a commitment, to stick by it,” Godin said of the Senegalese. “[Ndongo’s] very concerned at this point and I’m concerned for him.”

Withdrawing from UMaine would have serious consequences for the N’diayes. The National Letter of Intent, administered by the Collegiate Commissioners Association, states that a student-athlete who does not attend the institution on the letter would be ineligible to compete at another institution for two full academic years. He also would forfeit one season of eligibility.

That could be reduced to one year under a mutual release agreement signed by the student, a parent or guardian, and the athletic director of the institution to which the commitment had been made.

Godin said Ndongo N’diaye is so committed to LaPlante that he is prepared to accept the penalty, however severe, to follow LaPlante if he moves on.