Simply putting on the Notre Dame jersey for real for the first time, was an amazing thrill for South Bend Washington grad and Irish freshman, Skylar Diggins.

"You're not used to seeing this," Diggins said with a huge smile, tugging on the Notre Dame name on her jersey.

Diggins participated in her first official Notre Dame basketball activity--Media Day---on Thursday.

She's taken a picture with an Irish uniform on before, but then it didn't have her name or number on it.

Thursday it did. Diggins walked into the locker room and put the uniform on and things immediately starting racing through her mind.

"I swear to you, I got this feeling that we are about to play," Diggins said once she had the ND blue jersey on. "This is what I have been waiting for--for months, for years."

"The recruiting process, the AAU ball, it all came to this point right here, it was surreal."

Diggins enters Notre Dame as the top basketball recruit in the nation. At SB Washington, she played in the state title game each of her four seasons, winning the state title as a sophomore.

Now, she wants to get her college career going, just down the road from where she played high school hoops.

"I'm like a dog on a leash," Diggins said as she described with her hands and body. "I'm like a pit bull. Don't hold me back, I'm ready to go get them."

Depending on what her role ends up being, at times, Diggins will end up as part of all South Bend back court with SB St. Joe grad Melissa Lechlitner, now a senior for the Irish.

"I've been watching Lech since she was in high school," Skylar said. "I've learned a lot from her since I've been here, just watching her and how she doesn't let things get to her."

Lechlitner is Notre Dame's starting point guard and she's a team captain on a squad that is as deep as any during the Muffet McGraw era.

Notre Dame did not graduate a single player and now it adds a talent like Diggins. Lechlitner is pretty pumped.

"It's going to be great," Lechlitner said. "Skylar is a great addition to our program. Just to have another South Bend girl here, it just says a lot about our city and where women's basketball has come from and where it's going. It's just very exciting."

Ashley Barlow will be the team's starting shooting guard, but rest assured that Diggins and Lech will be out on the court together at times.

"We've got some great chances to play some different combinations," head coach Muffet McGraw says. "With Skylar and Lech on the floor, we definitely have the best backcourt in South Bend."

You think?

"It will be fun to watch them," McGraw continued. "They played each other just one year and it was fun to see. I know they are both looking forward to playing together."

Notre Dame plays its first exhibition game in the new Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center on November 3rd and then opens the regular season November 15 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.