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women's basketball jersey – that's amaz- ing in itself. The whole thing was such a humbling experience because I've always loved him as an artist. It showed me that he respects me as a basketball player, just as much as I respect him as an artist. He's definitely a cool person in my book.
DIME: It's fair to say that the Skylar Diggins fan base grew enormously after the tournament. Before it started, you had about 5,000 Twitter followers, but a few hours after the title game, you had nearly 63,000. How have you adjusted to your newfound fame? SD: I haven't done anything different re- ally. I might tweet a little more often, but that's pretty much it. I'm terrible at fol- lowing back. Anytime I use Twitter, I usu- ally just tweet and accept new followers. I put my page on private after I reached 100,000 so I always try to accept new fol- lowers when I get a chance. Recently I've
did that against us. We really had to fight that game – not only to gain the lead, but to try and maintain the lead. For most of the game we were playing catch up, and that set us back a ton. We started off so slowly that a lot of people asked if we thought UConn was our championship game. We tried not to, but giving your all against a team like UConn – victorious or not – takes a toll on you. A&M; definitely took advantage of that; they simply just outworked us for it. Not a day goes by that I don't think about the game. Although it was upsetting, I learned a lot from it, and I had a ball with my team over the course of the tournament. I've got a few friends on A&M; and they definitely deserved it. In hindsight, I try not to look back on it with regret; I do my best to use it as motivation with the mindset that we have unfinished business. Bringing back our whole team minus Rebecca [Bruszewski], we know
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"Man, a national championship would mean so much. It's everything I've ever strived for. It's the goal at the start of every workout, every pickup, every drill, every practice."
been trying to reply to more people when I can, but I'm just having fun with it. I'm not gonna make it a job. I love Twitter because it's a virtual diary. I created it for that reason. If I have a thought, a quote, a sentiment, something that I'm feeling, a lyric or anything, I can announce it to my followers. It's great for keeping in touch with my friends. I've met a lot of people on Twitter. Since I've gotten all these new followers, I'm more careful with what I say, because I know a lot more people are going to see my tweets. But I definitely love Twitter because it gives me a great direct connection with fans.
DIME: Losing to Texas A&M; in the championship game by such a close margin must have been difficult – especially after winning such a big game against UConn. What do you think your team could've done differently to change the outcome? SD: We could've gotten off to a lot better of a start than we did. We got off to a super slow start that game. Playing against a team like them, you can't af- ford to do that. They love to capitalize on every single mistake, and they definitely
we'll be able to make another run at it next year. So far we've had that mindset in every drill that we do.
DIME: Have you been keeping up with the WNBA? Who are some of your favor- ite players? Do you have any friends in the league? SD: Absolutely, I always keep up with the WNBA. My favorite player is actually my best friend, Candice Wiggins. She's four years ahead of me, but she's young for her class. She's actually only three years older than me. Really, she attracted me to Stanford, along with their great academics. When I went on my visit, I was already a big fan of hers. I had been watching her play forever. I had the opportunity to meet her on my visit and we got really close after that. She became a mentor and sort of a big sister to me. She definitely helped me out with some of my struggles. To this day, she's still my best friend. Minnesota is definitely my favorite team. The Lynx have put to- gether a crazy roster. They have Candice, Seimone [Augustus] and Maya [Moore] is on that team now as well. I'm also a big Tamika Catchings fan. She plays
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in Indiana of course, so I get to catch a few of her games. I'm just a basketball junkie, so I watch games on the Internet all the time. I love Sue Bird's game. I love Lindsey Harding's game. I really just like to watch as much as I can. You can learn so much from watching a game closely.
DIME: Which NBA player would you compare your game to? SD: I love Derrick Rose's game so much. In the women's game, I'm nowhere near as explosive as he is in the men's game, but he's definitely one of my favorite PGs to watch. He's a high-risk, high-reward type of player, and that's how I am too, so I like watching him play. Also, I really like the poise of Jason Kidd. His knowledge of the game is on another level. He's just so court savvy, and that's the same type of attitude I wanna have as a point guard. I wanna make sure I have mental tough- ness and the poise that it takes to help my team achieve the ultimate goal.
DIME: Who were you cheering for in this year's NBA Playoffs? SD: Well, I'm a Lakers fan, so I was cheer- ing for the Lakers. I live in Indiana but my parents are from Chicago, so I was also cheering for the Bulls. In the Finals, I had no choice but to cheer for Dallas because they beat the Lakers. Plus, it was great to see J-Kidd get his ring.
DIME: What are your thoughts on the NBA lockout? SD: I'm really nervous about it. I heard a rumor that a guaranteed 20 games are gonna be canceled next year. I also heard that it's a 50-50 chance the season might not even be. I really hope everything works out in the long run. I'm worried that if they cut the men's league they could potentially cut the women's league too. For myself and my teammates who wanna play at the next level, I really hope things work out.
DIME: Falling just short of the title, I know you want it now more than ever. What would it mean to bring a champi- onship home to South Bend? SD: Man, a national championship would mean so much. It's everything I've ever strived for. It's the goal at the start of every workout, every pickup, every drill, every practice. With us getting so close last season, I got a chance to see it and experience it for myself, so this upcoming season I'll know what to expect. With us getting that close and returning the core of our team, I know we have the potential to make it back. We're all operating on that unfinished business mindset. We owe it to all our fans and to the people who have sup- ported us, and I'll make sure that we don't disappoint them.