Cedar Rapids point guards have big dreams

Three Cedar Rapids high schools. Three boys' basketball teams. Three starting sophomore point guards.

Three dreams.

All beginning their basketball career around the age four, Derrick Diggins, Matt Mims and Hunter Strait have grown up playing with and against each other on club teams. Now, they all play and compete against each other at the high school level. The 6-foot-1 Derrick Diggins plays for Kennedy, 5-11 Mims for Xaiver and 6-0 Strait for Washington.

Diggins has played in 19 games this year, averaging 12.5 points per game. He is shooting 44.3 percent from the field, 33.3 from the 3-point line, and hitting 68 percent of his free throws. Diggins has 43 assists and 18 steals.

'One thing that makes me different or better than other point guards is that I can play multiple positions,” Diggins said. 'My greatest strength is my awareness and how I see the game, but I can work on everything. I can always get better.”

He hopes to continue his basketball career in college and would love to play at Duke.

Mims has played in 16 games this year and averages 12.3 points per game. He is hitting 47.3 percent of his shots, including 37.5 from 3-point range. He has connected on 77.3 percent of his free throws and has 65 assists and 39 steals.

'I'm able to create for myself, but also my teammates,” Mims said. 'I'm a pretty good leader for my team. My greatest strength is probably my ability to shoot off the dribble or my defense.”

Like Diggins, Mims believes he can improve in all aspects of his game. He wants basketball to take him as far as possible and play at the highest level in college.

Strait is averaging 13.6 points in 19 games, shooting 41.9 percent from the field and 30.9 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. He is hitting 66.7 percent of his free throws, has 64 assists and 35 steals.

'My greatest strength is definitely my ability to make the other people on my team better,” Strait said. 'Whether it's getting them the ball for an open shot or setting them a screen or even just motivating and keeping them engaged and focused on the win throughout the game.

'I could definitely work on my confidence. This year and basically my whole basketball career I haven't had much confidence in my scoring ability. I would say just I need to work on knowing when I'm shooting or driving to the lane that I am going to make the shot and not worry or doubt whether the shot is going to go in or not.”

Strait's ultimate goal is to play in college. He doesn't know if he would want to play after college or not, but he definitely wants to become a coach like his mother some day.

In head-to-head competition this year, Xavier beat Washington, Washington beat Kennedy (twice) and Kennedy beat Xavier.

The Cedar Rapids area will get to watch these sophomore point guards lead their teams and compete on the court for the next couple years. Good things really do come in threes.