High school Dykstra lived in
The Hague,
Netherlands for some of his childhood, including his
freshman year in high school. His father felt the basketball competition was weak and so he moved the family back to
Des Moines, Iowa, where as a
sophomore at
Herbert Hoover High School Dykstra became a starter for the varsity basketball team. As a
senior in 1977–78 he was the leading vote-getter in the
Des Moines Tribune's all-area team. He cited he always wanted to play in the
Big Ten Conference, so when the
Western Illinois Leathernecks offered him a scholarship (who were in
NCAA Division II at the time), Dykstra played "with a chip on [his] shoulder." The following season he appeared in 28 games and averaged 14 points and 5.4 rebounds per game and was named to the All-
Mid-Continent Conference (Summit League) Second Team. The following season, Dykstra's sophomore season, he upped his averages to 21.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game and led Western Illinois to finish as runners-up in the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament. He was named the tournament's most outstanding player and also repeated as an All-MCC Second Team selection. In 1980–81, Dykstra's
junior season, Western Illinois had moved up to
NCAA Division I and classified as an independent (i.e. no conference affiliation). He averaged 21.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. The previous record was set in 1967 by
Rutgers'
Bob Lloyd (Dykstra's record has since been broken). As a senior in 1982–83, Western Illinois had re-joined the Mid-Continent Conference, which was now a Division I athletics conference. Dykstra was inducted into Western Illinois' athletics hall of fame in 1994.
Professional Dykstra was selected in the
1983 NBA draft by the
Phoenix Suns. The Suns took him as the 20th pick in the 9th round (204th overall). He never made their final roster prior to the start of the
1983–84 NBA season, however. Dykstra instead went overseas to play professionally, where he had stints in France, England, and Australia. ==Post-basketball life==