CHICAGO — The history of South Bend basketball cannot be told without Skylar Diggins.
Both at the high school and collegiate level, Diggins made a lasting legacy from 2006-13 as one of the greatest basketball players to ever grace the 574. In the 13 years since, she has followed that up the only way she knows how — with more dominance.
Now in her 12th WNBA season, Diggins is in the first year of a two-year contract with the Chicago Sky, the closest to home she has ever played professionally. After being drafted third overall by the Tulsa Shock (now the Dallas Wings) in the WNBA Draft, Diggins also suited up for the Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm before making her way to the Windy City.
Diggins, who is a seven-time WNBA All-Star and in the league’s top-10 all-time leaderboard for assists, has not missed a beat with the Sky. Through 13 games, she has averaged 15.5 points, 5.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and a steal per contest, shooting nearly 40% from the field and beyond the arc in 30.1 minutes per game.
Even with her status already cemented as a future National Basketball Hall of Famer, Diggins is leading a WNBA team in minutes, points and assists. That’s what greatness looks like.
“I still have the same love for the game and the same love for competition; the product just continues to get better and better. That’s why I play,” Diggins said in an exclusive interview with the South Bend Tribune Tuesday, June 16.
That’s also why she’s still the one with the ball in her hands when a game is on the line. Just look at her recent buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send a June 11 game vs. the Indiana Fever to overtime inside the same arena in which she won an Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) state championship 19 years prior playing for South Bend Washington.
At a Chicago practice at Wintrust Arena Tuesday, the Sky were running end-of-game scenarios, with Diggins as the focal point of the action on nearly every play. She was exactly as she has been on a basketball court for 20 years.
Vocal, confident and involved. After practice, she even had a lengthy courtside conversation with Chicago’s general manager Jeff Pagliocca.
“It’s tough … it’s tough,” Diggins said. “It’s tough in this league to play that long, especially if you go to different cities and different teams and are asked to do different things. So, for me to be an All-Star on all of the teams I’ve been on in the past starts with my routine and my work ethic. You have to be committed to the game.
“You can’t expect to come out here and play against the best in the world without that.”
Diggins said she developed her routine through watching former veteran teammates like Hall of Famer Diana Taurasi with the Mercury and 10-time All-Star Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike. Now comfortably a mentor rather than a mentee, Diggins urges young WNBA players to create a routine, develop a strong work ethic and get in the weight room, even when motivation starts to fade.
“It’s easy once you make it to fall out of that and kind of start to cut corners a little bit and maybe not be as hungry,” Diggins said. “You don’t want to be complacent, and that’s a big mistake I see with younger players coming into the league. You made it, but it’s about fit, it’s about the system you’re in and doing what you do. You’re here for a reason.”
‘It’s something special’
Much of Diggins’ motivation to sign with the Sky was to be closer to South Bend, the city in which she spent the first 23 years of her life. Now a mother of two and the end of her career in sight, Diggins’ priorities are clear.
She is still hungry for success in the WNBA, but life after professional basketball is inevitable. While she hasn’t lived there in more than a decade and may not once she does decide to retire, Diggins returns to South Bend more often than people may know.
She joked every time she returns to South Bend, something about her hometown seems to change.
“How did y’all get a Chick-Fil-A?” Diggins said with a laugh.
One thing that remains the same is her alma mater. Diggins is as die-hard as they come, consistently attending Notre Dame women’s basketball games — both home and away — each season.
She even rehabbed from knee surgery at Irish facilities this past October and made the trip to Fort Worth to see Notre Dame beat Vanderbilt in the Sweet Sixteen.
Each time Diggins steps into the Joyce Center, she’s reminded of the legacy she left. Diggins is one of just six women’s basketball figures in Notre Dame’s Ring of Honor, with her retired jersey number hanging in the rafters of Purcell Pavilion.
“To be evergreen in that building with those names, it’s something special,” Diggins said. “As I get older in this league, it’s something you start to look at and think about. Every time I go home, I take it in. It’s great to be there and connect with familiar faces.”
Although Diggins shares a bond with assistant coaches Carol Owens, Carlos Knox and Sharel Allen, the most familiar face she connects with each time she returns to Notre Dame is head coach Niele Ivey, who was an assistant on the Irish’s staff during her four seasons with Notre Dame.
Diggins looked up to Ivey when the latter was a player for the Irish. Diggins remembers going to Notre Dame games as a kid and watching Ivey lead the backcourt as an All-American point guard, which ultimately resulted in the Irish’s first National Championship in 2001 when Diggins was 11 years old.
When Notre Dame returned from St. Louis after the national championship for a parade around South Bend, Diggins vividly remembers being in attendance to get autographs from the players and coaches.
Eight years later, she was suiting up for the program she idolized in the same position as her favorite player. Her bond with Ivey began when she was still in high school, as Ivey often helped then-head coach Muffet McGraw with recruiting.
Although Notre Dame had lost in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 the season before she joined the program, Diggins said there was never any doubt where she wanted to play college hoops.
“Not only did I love basketball, but I loved South Bend,” Diggins said. “It’s something I had a passion for and cared about as a fan — I played like it. I put all of my emotions into it, because that’s my hometown, my home team. Even how I play now: never cheat the game.”
Diggins said Ivey’s ability to be tough on her was instrumental to her fast rise, becoming perhaps the best point guard in Irish history. She even remembers times when she would look over her shoulder during class and a few rows behind her sat Ivey, checking in on one of her star pupils even off the court.
“She was a big reason that I ended up being ready for the league,” Diggins said. “It was her experience going to Notre Dame; as a student, as a woman and as a player, she cared about me. That’s somebody I have confided in for a lot of things. Her and I are as close as ever.
“Her ability to develop basketball players, there’s something about her as a connector. She has always been like that, and people love playing for her. They have a hell of a team this year.”
Leading that team is reigning superstar point guard Hannah Hidalgo, who Diggins noted could be the closest successor to her throne as the Irish’s best-ever point guard.
“She’s electric, she’s just electric,” Diggins said. “She doesn’t take any plays off. She has no fear. She’s just a problem. I think she puts a lot of fear in people’s hearts because of how hard she plays. She’s intense, and I can relate to that.
“You have to be that way. It ain’t a tea party out there. I can relate to her passion for the game. She seems to really love basketball.”
A lasting, yet ongoing legacy
While Hidalgo’s passion for hoops is undeniable, so, too, is Diggins’. At this stage of her basketball career, what may be more undeniable is the impact Diggins has left on her hometown.
As a high schooler at Washington, Diggins led the Panthers to four straight IHSAA Class 4A state championship game appearances from 2006-09, winning the state title in her sophomore year. She was Indiana’s Miss Basketball as a senior and still has the sixth-most points in the history of Indiana high school girls basketball with 2,790. Among those she trails is fellow Notre Dame great Jackie Young (1st), Las Vegas Aces standout Dana Evans (4th) and Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White (5th).
Moving from the West side to the North side of town, Diggins led Notre Dame to at least the Sweet Sixteen all four seasons she played for the Irish, including three straight Final Fours from 2011-13 and back-to-back national championship games in 2011-12.
Diggins has the third most points in program history with 2,357, third most assists with 745, second most steals with 381 and is the only Notre Dame basketball player regardless of gender with over 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 steals.
“I love South Bend, I love Notre Dame and the 574 is synonymous with Skylar Diggins,” she said. “I’m just happy to continue to have the impact.”
Diggins is perhaps the most accomplished athlete in South Bend history. And yet, her story is still being written.
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame alumna Skylar Diggins reflective, yet hungry, with Chicago Sky
Reporting by Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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By Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
