"Almost made me cry": Skylar Diggins-Smith's leadership shines as she fires up No. 1 Notre Dame with passionate locker room speech

Seattle Storm star Skylar Diggins-Smith attended her alma mater's game against the Miami Hurricanes on Friday. The former Notre Dame star stopped by the team's locker room to deliver an inspiring pre-game speech as the 2018 "Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award" winner demonstrated her leadership qualities by rallying the current roster.

Diggins-Smith was seen alongside fellow WNBA stars Marina Mabrey, Jackie Young and Arike Ogunbowale, all former Fighting Irish players. The six-time WNBA All-Star was seen firing up the number one-seeded team as she gave a commanding speech in the locker room.

"I believe in this team obviously you guys got great leadership around you we got your back, we are all resources all of us are going to be here," she said pointing towards her fellow WNBA stars.

"But it's going to start with y'all. You got an army of people behind you, and it is a huge responsibility that not a lot of people get to do that. But we get to do that and nobody in this country should be more desperate than us."

The former Phoenix Mercury star then assured the team that this would be the best basketball they would ever play as a team and urged them not to take this opportunity for granted.

Notre Dame's official Instagram account later shared this speech on Instagram which earned a short response from Diggins-Smith:

" Almost made me cry! The sisterhood runs deep ☘️," she commented.

Minnesota Lynx superstar Courtney Williams expressed her opinion about Diggins-Smith's leadership capabilities.

"Sky The Leader 😭🤝🏽🦍," she wrote

The Seattle guard reacted to this with a short note:

"Takes one to know one gang 🙌🏽," she replied.

Skylar Diggins-Smith's comments on Instagram

Currently playing in Miami for the Lunar Owls BC in the inaugural season of the 3x3 league 'Unrivaled.' The former McDonald's All-American was in attendance at the Watsco Center in Florida for the fixture, as the Fighting Irish traveled to Miami for their 26th game of the season.

Unbeaten in 19 games Hannah Hidalgo & Co. are currently ranked first in the country with a 24-2 record.

Skylar Diggins-Smith lays huge praise on Hannah Hidalgo on Angel Reese's show amid a stellar season

Skylar Diggins-Smith appeared on Angel Reese's show "Unapologetically Angel" on January 17th and talked about several topics, including basketball and lifestyle. One such topic of discussion was 19-year-old college star Hannah Hidalgo, who has dominated this season.

Laying huge praise on the Notre Dame guard, Diggins-Smith expressed her views on the prodigy claiming she could join the WNBA today if allowed to.

"Hannah Hidalgo, she ain't in the draft yet, but that's somebody that if people came out earlier, I would say I would see her getting busy," Diggins-Smith said.

"She just got a heart, just fearless; can play both sides of the basketball, cares about both sides of the basketball. That's not always the case."

Hidalgo has been a big reason behind Notre Dame's success this season. The 5-foot-6 guard has been averaging 24.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists this season, with her team yet to lose a game since their back-to-back defeats to TCU and Utah in November.