BOWLING GREEN — As the days melted away and the deadline approached during the summer of 2018, Trey Diggs had a choice to make.
On one side, Diggs could have swallowed his pride, returned to his Division II school for his sophomore year, and likely become a star at that level. On the other, he had the option of risking everything by going to a junior college in hopes of landing at a Division I school.
Nine days before he was due back at D-II Florida Southern, Diggs couldn’t shake the feeling that he would regret not giving D-I another chance.
“I would have been like, ‘What if? What if I had have gone JUCO? Where would I be at?’” Diggs said. “It was kind of like I would have regretted staying in Division II while knowing that I had a chance to go play in Division I.”
Diggs opted for the latter choice, and 16 months later, he found exactly what he wanted — and so did Bowling Green.
The Falcons went in search of a wing player with size who could shoot and rebound and believe they have found their answer in Diggs. His coach at Northwest Florida State was Steve DeMeo, a friend of Bowling Green coach Michael Huger, a connection that led the Falcons to scout to Diggs.
Diggs was not starting, but given the context — the Raiders had eight players who are playing at Division I schools this year, including Oregon’s Chris Duarte — Huger liked what he saw.
“His team was loaded, so he came off the bench and didn’t play a lot, but I saw talent,” Huger said. “I was like, ‘This kid can play.’”
Diggs had the shooting ability, but Huger said he especially liked Diggs’ team-oriented attitude, which he saw as an easy fit for a team that would be chasing a Mid-American Conference championship in 2019-20.
“When I got to know him, his personality is what we needed,” Huger said. “His personality lights up a room. He comes in, and it’s like he has that golden personality.”
During the second go-round, Diggs had to be particular about his next move. The Falcons coaches offered no promises, which Diggs liked, and he also saw the opportunity to play alongside BGSU guards Justin Turner and Dylan Frye.
The Falcons were the runner-up in last season’s MAC tournament and brought back four starters, offering Diggs a promising chance for his final two seasons.
“I didn’t want to go into a weak program,” Diggs said. “Obviously, you can go to a program and be the man, but if you’re losing, it’s just not fun. Especially playing on the team I was on last year, we won a lot and were No. 1 in the country for a while.
“I knew what winning felt like, so I wanted to be in a program like that.”
So far, Diggs is averaging 9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and leading the team with a 41 percent mark from the 3-point line at Bowling Green. He is currently in the starting lineup as Turner rehabs a hamstring injury.
BG is 7-2 after nine games, winning twice largely because of Diggs’ late-game efforts. He scored five consecutive points in the final 90 seconds to turn a four-point deficit into a lead last week against Oakland, and his tying 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation against Cincinnati helped BG obtain its biggest win of the season so far.
“It sounds cliche, but it really was a dream come true,” Diggs said. “Hitting a big shot against a big team to send the game to overtime is something that, when I was younger, I wouldn’t have thought I could do.”
But two seasons after making a change, Diggs finds himself in exactly the type of situation he wanted. He envisioned contributing on a contender, and thus far, has done just that.
“Betting on myself was probably the best thing I could’ve done,” he said.
First Published December 11, 2019, 6:03 p.m.
