Williams Field’s Adan Diggs hoping to lead Black Hawks to new heights

GILBERT, AZ (AZFamily) — The Williams Field High School boys basketball team is off to its best start in years, and the Black Hawks are mostly doing it with underclassmen.

Despite a tough loss to Queen Creek Wednesday night, one freshman is getting noticed not just in the Valley but across the country.

Adan Diggs is only in ninth grade, but he’s already got scholarship offers from Arizona State, Oregon, Texas, and several other big-time schools.

Diggs’ first time hearing from a college coach was when he was still in middle school!

“Either last year or the year before, the Washington coach had communicated with someone I know,” Diggs said. “And they offered me.”

After receiving such attention, Diggs has been at the top of other team’s scouting reports.

“There’s always chants going on, things negatively said about me all the time,” he said. “I’ve always got to battle through adversity at the end of the day.”

But Williams Field head coach Javon Cole says Diggs’ desire to get better and be a leader is part of why he knew the 16-year-old was special.

“He surprises me often in practice. It’s cool,” Cole said. “It’s fun to coach, and makes my job a little easier.”

Even with all the hype though, Diggs is still just a freshman who is surrounded by teenage teammates.

“I can be obnoxious a lot too,” Diggs said. “Just with them though. I like to annoy them.”

“A hundred percent,” Cole replied. “He blurts out whatever he wants often. But he’s a great kid, cares about his teammates. He cares about our staff at Williams Field. He’s at all the events. He cares about the culture of the school, and it’s been really cool to see.”

Diggs’ goal this year is for the Black Hawks to make it to the Open or 6A championships. But long term, he wants Williams Field to be mentioned among the Perry High School or Sunnyslope High School of Arizona high school basketball.

“A lot of these other schools already are built,” Diggs said. “So I kind of wanted to come in and help build up a program that hasn’t really been built the last couple of years.”

Coach Cole, who came over a couple of years ago from Perry, knows the Black Hawks still have a ways to go.

But when it comes to Diggs, he’s got a message for both for the rest of the state and for Diggs himself.

“I think he’s going to do big things, great things”, Cole said. “But just trying to take it one day at a time with him.”

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.