Combo guard Diggins commits to Huskies

Rahsool Diggins called UConn head coach Dan Hurley and assistant Tom Moore on Thursday night and told them he wanted to FaceTime on Friday morning with a very important message.

Hurley and Moore probably hadn’t imagined just how early Diggins was going to call. But at 6:30 a.m. on Friday, he informed the coaches that he would be committing to UConn. Then he continued on his way to a workout.

“He’s a gym rat,” Diggins’ high school coach, John

Mosco, told Hearst Connecticut Media. “He wants to get better.”

That pretty much fits the type of player Hurley wants to bring to the program to a tee. On Sunday evening, Diggins informed the world of his decision via Instagram.

“It was a great fit for everything — not too far, not too close, great program, great players and great fans,” said Diggins, who hails from Philadelphia. “I get to stay close to home and play.”

Diggins, a 6-foot-1 combo guard and a four-star re

cruit from Archbishop Wood High School, is Hurley’s first Class of 2021 commit. He was recruited by Villanova and fellow Big East rival DePaul, along with Kansas, Miami, Rutgers and Virginia Tech, among numerous others.

It wasn’t easy choosing UConn over the hometown team, Villanova. In fact, current Villanova star guard Colin Gillespie is an Archbishop Wood alum who frequently still works out at the school.

“That was a challenge right there that Hurley gave to me,” Diggins said. “He said it was a gutsy move. But at the end of the day, I think UConn was the best fit for me, rather than ‘Nova.”

Mosco noted that Hurley

told him: “It’s gonna take a player with big (guts) to walk away from Villanova from the Philly area, and I think you have them.”

A national top-50 recruit with point guard skills who can also shoot and score, Diggins boasts a high basketball IQ and good feel for the game. He can shoot from deep and mid-range, finish at the rim, is very shifty with the ball and is an elite passer who can hit teammates for lobs, kickouts or passes off the pickand-roll. He averaged 20.3 points, 4.8 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 46 percent from the floor last season and earning Philadelphia Catholic League Player of the Year honors as a junior.

Diggins needs to get a little stronger and is not an explosive athlete in the James Bouknight/Andre Jackson mold, but is definitely

athletic enough.

In short, he’ll remind Husky fans of A.J. Price, the former point guard who led UConn to the Final Four in 2009 and played six seasons in the NBA. Interestingly, Moore was the point man for both players’ recruitment.

“He’s crafty, electrifying, a knack for big plays and winning plays,” said Bosco. “He’s a winner. He likes to get his teammates involved, he wants to make the big shot and everything like that.”

Diggins is just as genuine off the court. Bosco came down with COVID-19 about about a month ago, and though he never had to be hospitalized, he didn’t start feeling better until about a week ago.

“He’s calling me, texting me, checking up on me and all that stuff when he found out I was sick,” Bosco reported.

“He’s just a great kid.”

“He’s always smiling, never had a bad day, takes constructive criticism well. He’s easy to coach.”

Diggins, who should have Archbishop Wood as a favorite to win the Philly City League title this season, is currently ranked as the No. 41 overall player and No. 6 point guard in the nation by rivals.com and No. 58 overall and No. 8 at point guard by 247sports.com.

Diggins would join a UConn backcourt in 2021-22 that should also include R.J. Cole as a senior and Jalen Gaffney as a junior. Bouknight is likely to leave for the NBA after his sophomore season this winter.

Diggins said he prefers to play point guard, but he’ll have plenty of opportunity to play off the ball if Cole and Gaffney are still there.

In fact, of that trio, Cole, who sat out this past season as a Howard transfer, is really the only 100-percent point guard. Gaffney, who took over the starting point guard reins from Alterique Gilbert midway through his freshman season this past winter, can also play the two.

Diggins’ commitment to UConn is further evidence of how the program’s return to the Big East is helping recruiting. Incoming freshmen Andre Jackson, of Albany, N.Y., and even Javonte Brown-Ferguson, a Canadian, have stated how playing in the Big East was a huge factor in their commitments. Adama Sanogo, a four-star incoming freshman big man, was set to commit to Seton Hall before changing his mind at the last minute and pledging to Hurley.

Back at Big East Media

Day in October, 2019, Villanova coach Jay Wright told Hearst Connecticut Media he was happy to see UConn’s return to the league.

“I think it enhances the brand,” he said. “In recruiting, Connecticut will get involved with all the guys we’re all involved with, and we all compete against each other. It’s just gonna increase the pool.”

Wright added: “There will be kids growing up in Connecticut, following the Big East, and they might wind up playing at Georgetown. That’s what happened in the old Big East, and I think the same thing’s gonna happen.”

Indeed, there is now a kid who grew up in Philadelphia who will wind up playing at UConn.