Rahsool Diggins’ play in 7-OT classic opened UConn’s eyes
We all remember the UConn-Syracuse six-overtime game at the 2009 Big East tournament, a classic that will forever be etched in college basketball lore.
Rahsool Diggins will see your six overtimes and raise you a seventh.
Diggins, the Class of 2021 guard from Philadelphia’s Archbishop Wood High who committed to UConn in July, played in a seven-overtime battle last December against Paul VI of Virginia. The game had just as much drama and back-and-forth zaniness as the more-famous UConn-Syra
cuse tilt, with buzzer-beaters, multiple players fouling out and unlikely heroes.
It was also a bit of a coming-out party for Diggins, who combined with Marcus Randolph for Archbishop Wood’s first 18 points and finished with 26 before fouling out in the second overtime.
“He was the best player on the court, until he fouled out,” Archbishop Wood head coach John Mosco said. “He was just taking it to them. Nobody on the court was able to guard him.”
That was nothing new for Diggins, a 6-foot-1 point guard rated as the No. 55 overall prospect in the nation, per 247Sports.com.
“I feel like that every night, to be honest,” he said, matter-of-factly.
Archbishop Wood led by
16 with six minutes left in regulation. But Paul VI, led by Duke commit Jeremy Roach, sharpshooter Trevor Keels and point guard Dug McDaniel, rallied back and sent the game to overtime on a Keels buzzer-beating
3-pointer. Later, Archbishop Wood got a buzzerbeater to keep the game going.
“It was fun,” Diggins recalled. “There was a lot of up-and-down. The game never slowed down. Even when we were up 20 points, the game was still going back-and-forth, back-andforth. All I remember was, it was first or second overtime, and our coach started smacking us in the huddle. I was like, ‘Dang.’ Then I fouled out.”
Indeed, the overtime periods were nothing short of a war of attrition. By the seventh overtime, most of the top recruits that the numerous college coaches were on-hand to see had fouled out. The game was essentially decided by a bunch of junior varsity players who typically spend most varsity games at the end of the bench. For Diggins, that meant assuming a new role.
“He became more of a coach on the sideline than he was a player, helping the younger guys and stuff like that,” Mosco recalled.
Ultimately, Diggins wound up on the losing side, 130-128, just like A.J. Price, Kemba Walker & Co., who lost to Syracuse 127-117 in 2009.
“So, we’re on the same page,” Mosco said, with a laugh.
“We should have been mad,” Diggins recalled, “but we weren’t as mad, because we were like, ‘Dang, that was a long game.’ It was fun. It was more of a learning experience than, like, ‘We should have won,’ and cursing at each other.”
Instead, Diggins realized he had just taken part in something special. He said he’s too young to remember the UConn-Syracuse classic, but has seen highlights. He also heard a lot about it during a trip to a Syracuse game three years ago.
“They kept bringing that up,” Diggins recalled.
Diggins’ performance that night opened the eyes of the college coaches in attendance, including Villanova head coach Jay Wright, several members of the staffs of Temple, St. Josephs and La Salle — and UConn assistant Tom Moore. Unlike Wright and some others, Moore stayed to the bitter end around 12:30 a.m. before driving back to UConn for a practice the next morning.
Diggins and his teammates had an early schedule that Sunday morning, as well — a 6 a.m. flight out to Hawaii, where they’d play in the Iolani Classic. Mosco arrived at the airport at 4:10 a.m., where he was greeted by assistant coach Chris Roantree and the rest of the team — except for one player.
“We’re waiting for you and (Rahsool),” Roantree told him.
“What order are you waiting for us in?,” Mosco asked.
“’Sool first,” Roantree said. “We would have left you.”
Roantree was kidding. Probably.
‘WE’VE GOT TO HAVE HIM’
Diggins arrived a few minutes later, and it was off to Hawaii, where Diggins wound up earning all-tournament honors.
Later that day, he also earned a scholarship offer from UConn. Part of the reason Moore was even at the game was because UConn was still hoping to recruit Keels, who has since cut his recruiting list down to Villanova, Virginia and
Duke. Diggins hadn’t been as high on the wish list.
“Danny (Hurley) and Tommy weren’t sold on him in the summer,” Mosco recalled. “Tommy watched that game and said, ‘We’ve got to have him.’ That’s when they started recruiting him.”
The Huskies weren’t alone. Villanova started to amp up its recruitment of Diggins, as did Florida and North Carolina. DePaul, the first big-time school to offer him after seeing Diggins as a freshman, was also very much in the picture.
Ultimately, it came down to UConn and Villanova.
“I told ‘Sool, ‘If you know where you want to go, don’t let somebody else take it,’” Mosco recalled. “Danny and any other coach can say, ‘We’re gonna wait for you.’ But what happens when they don’t wait for you and they get another guard? Now, you’re on your third, fourth choice. If you know where you want to go, then choose that place.”
On July 24, in a 6:30 a.m. phone call to Hurley and Moore, Diggins committed to UConn, the first of a three-man Class of 2021 recruiting class that includes Maryland guard Jordan Hawkins and New Jersey forward Samson Johnson and is currently ranked No. 7 in the nation by 247Sports.com.
Diggins hasn’t been able to work out much this fall with his teammates at Archbishop Wood, which is just returning to in-person classes this week. He works out every day with his personal trainer, however, and has been getting in plenty of run on weekends with a group of college and pro players from the Philly area that includes former Duke standout Amile Jefferson, ex-Penn State star Tony Carr and Auburn’s Samir Doughty. Archbishop Wood is hoping to play at least a league season and perhaps travel to a tournament like the Hoophall Classic in January at Springfield (Mass.) College.
Diggins has a shot at being Wood’s first McDonald’s All-American. Then it’ll be on to UConn, where he hopes to reach even greater successes.
Eight overtimes, anybody?