Skylar Diggins was the best overall player at the McDonald's game.
Every person who comes in contact with Skylar Diggins has a favorite story to share -- from the first time they saw her play in person, to a package the South Bend, Ind., star put together for a young girl battling cancer -- and most who know the amiable, laid-back high school senior beyond a few brief conversations can't choose just one.
The basketball court, where the 5-foot-8 point guard started making a name for herself at a young age, would seem the obvious beginning -- the place where Diggins has made friends, turned observers into fans and rarely, if ever, made an enemy.
Perhaps the most difficult part isn't in finding the beginning, but instead in choosing what to tell and what not to tell about one of the most skilled, well-spoken and all-around impressive 18-year-olds in the country -- one who happens to play, and excel at, basketball.
It's the success on the hardwood that has brought the spotlight to Diggins time and again, starting at a young age when she played on the boys' teams and continuing through a standout career at South Bend Washington (South Bend, Ind.). Four consecutive Indiana 4A state title game appearances, a gold medal with the USA Basketball U18 team in Argentina last summer and numerous honors and awards barely begins to crack the Diggins' honor roll.
Just in the past month, since her nationally-ranked Panthers lost the Indiana 4A title to No. 1 Ben Davis (Indianapolis), the awards have kept streaming in: Naismith Player of the Year, Gatorade Player of the Year, McDonald's All-American, WBCA All-American, Indiana's prestigious Miss Basketball title and, now, the ESPN HoopGurlz' High School Nation Player of the Year.
"I've just been blessed," Diggins said after she returned home from her week on the road for both All-American games. "This year's just been crazy; I still haven't taken it all in. We went far as a team and accomplished a lot of things. ... The honors, McDonald's and WBCA, winning the Naismith award, Miss Basketball ... those are all individual awards but I definitely represent my team when I win."
But Diggins' impact extends far from the basketball court, or at least a focus on her own play.
It's tough not to take a liking to her almost immediately -- as a coach, a fan, an opponent or a reporter. Diggins' personality is full of a soft, natural charm that puts strangers at ease. When she is talking to someone, they have her full attention -- for that 30 seconds or five minutes, Diggins cares that she is connecting with the autograph-seeking pre-teens, answering the reporter's question or receiving a message from her coach.
Reporters clamor to her postgame the way teenybopper fans pounce on the latest boy band. Win or lose, Diggins is a gracious competitor and rarely gets more than a sentence, perhaps two, into a response about herself before she turns the focus and kudos to her teammates, her coaches or the opponent.
"We're just really proud of her being her," said Maurice Scott, her coach and stepfather. "She doesn't get big-headed. She has the confidence that she's being heard and her teammates or the kids she's working with, they receive it. She's a leader of leaders."
"She was in the gym today. She'd just gotten back into town, I didn't ask her to come help or anything, she just came in and started working with the kids."
When she's not working on her own game, Diggins is often still in the gym, working with second- through eighth-graders at the local Martin Luther King Center, where Scott is the director. She spends time with her 10-year-old brother, Maurice Jr., and travels to the Tampa area to visit her father, Tige Diggins, and her other siblings.
Diggins and her mother, Renee, were guests of U.S. Representative Joe Donnelly at President Barrack Obama's first address to Congress since his inauguration. She put together a package that included an autographed magazine, a personalized card and a special note for a local 12-year-old girl who is battling an inoperable tumor. Between working on her game and everything she gives to people in her life, she also finds time to excel in her academics, enough that she was able to choose from Notre Dame, Stanford and Penn State, among others, for her college career.
In early April, Diggins and her All-American appearances accounted for three of the first eight stories on the Fighting Irish's women's basketball Web site -- months before she will set foot on campus for her first class as a college freshman. Diggins is the second girl, after Tennessee alum Alexis Hornbuckle to be named the MVP in both the McDonald's and WBCA games. Hornbucle did it in 2004. The addition of Diggins to the Notre Dame squad isn't just a success for the team that lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament this season, but also a big moment for the South Bend region, which keeps its biggest star at home.
"This is a great day for our program, our university and the whole South Bend community," Notre Dame coach Muffett McGraw said in November, when Diggins signed her national letter of intent. "Skylar is an exceptional young woman, on and off the court, and we are so excited and thrilled that her family, friends and other supporters will be able to watch her play right here at Notre Dame for the next four years."
Having her family, especially her little brother, nearby to watch her on the college stage factored into the decision to stay home and play for the team she grew up watching, as did having one of her mentors -- former Irish point guard and current assistant Niele Ivey -- as a future assistant coach.
Among the names and faces Diggins grew up watching in blue and gold was Ivey, who directed the Irish to their national championship in 2001 before she had a five-year career in the WNBA.
"I can talk to her about everything," Diggins said of Ivey. "She just gives me an honest opinion, doesn't spin it."
The Irish's incoming point guard finished her high school career third on Indiana's all-time scoring list with 2,790 points, averaging 25.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 4.4 steals and 1.5 blocks in her four-year Panther career. As a senior, Diggins shot 61.6 percent from the field as she led Washington to a 26-1 record and a national No. 2 ranking.
There still are a few final things standing between Diggins and her time at Notre Dame, where she intends to major in pre-med with a possible communications minor. As Indiana's Miss Basketball, she will wear the No. 1 jersey during a two-game series against the Kentucky All-Star team in June. She also is one of 30-plus players invited to the USA U19 National Team trials in May, where 12 players will be selected to compete in this summer's FIBA U19 World Championship in Thailand.
Much as her parents hoped when she was younger, doors of opportunity keep opening for Diggins when she picks up a ball and steps onto the court. With Notre Dame the next extended stop, there's no telling where else basketball might lead her.
"If the opportunity presents itself to play ball beyond college, either overseas or ... I definitely want to," Diggins said.
