Jill Young

[Jacked_Up]

Re: Jill Young

I've seen her play a couple of times. Speaking just as a basketball fan, she's a great shooter, a great ball handler and she's scrappy as heck. Quickness may not be her strongest suit, but I'm guessing that she'll be a big time player for the Jacks, especially if she redshirts for a year.

[JackJD]

Re: Jill Young

KELO TV sports had a story about Jill Young joining the Jackrabbits this evening (Wednesday).

[HoboD]

Re: Jill Young

Excerpts from Mitchell Republic http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/arti...section=Sports

Sports: Former MCHS star Young withdraws from Creighton
Leah Rado The Daily Republic
Published Thursday, September 06, 2007

Jill Young, the leading scorer in South Dakota girls’ basketball history, has withdrawn from Creighton University.

Young, the former Mitchell Christian High School star, officially withdrew from the university late last month, on the first day of classes.

It’s not known why Young, who was awarded a full scholarship with the Blue Jays, decided to leave the Omaha, Neb., school. Young did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment.

RELATED CONTENT
Leah Rado Archive
While in high school, Young also looked at colleges in Missouri and Colorado, as well as South Dakota State University.

Wednesday, two officials from South Dakota State said they could not comment on whether Young will pursue her playing career in Brookings. Both Sports Information Director Jason Hove and head women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnston would neither confirm nor deny Young will play for SDSU.

“As of (Wednesday) afternoon, we are not prepared to make any comment,” Johnston said in an e-mail to The Daily Republic.

Jim Flanery, fourth-year head coach at Creighton, said Wednesday he is unsure of where Young transferred to, but did confirm that she was no longer at Creighton. Flanery said that there may be many things that prompted Young to leave Creighton, and was hesitant to try to pinpoint just one.

“There are a number of reasons (Young transferred), and I don’t know which ones are the most authentic,” he said. “I think she had reservations going in (to signing with Creighton). And one of the assistant coaches who was instrumental in getting her here left to go to Northern Iowa. I think that was a big factor.

“In the time since (Young withdrew), I’ve probably changed my mind in terms of what I thought the reason was.”

Young played six years of varsity basketball at Mitchell Christian High School and had been receiving letters of interest from colleges since her freshman year. Since graduating in May, she had been playing on an AAU team with other freshmen recruits.

Flanery said Young’s departure is a disappointment, but he respects her decision.

“I would like to have seen Jill give it a longer period of time before making her decision, but I also understand,” Flanery said. “It’s her decision, and it certainly hurts us to some degree, but I think if that’s what she thinks is best, I certainly respect that.” (More)

[BTownJack]

Re: Jill Young

This makes it official I guess:

http://www.gojacks.com/ViewArticle.d...ATCLID=1208735

[Jacks-02]

Re: Jill Young

This paragraph from the article answers a few questions people have been asking

"Per NCAA rules, Young will have to redshirt during the 2007-08 season because she is transferring from one Division I institution to another. She will be able to practice and participate in all other team activities, as well as receive a scholarship this season. She will have a full four years of eligibility starting with the 2008-09 campaign."

[joeboo22]

Re: Jill Young

I have watched Jill Young play ya I guess I was wrong saying she was quick but she was still one of the quicker ones on the floor and scrappy is a great way to describe her. As far as her transfering to SDSU I would think that Rotert has something to do with it.... They are both really good friends both are better people then they are basketball players and i am not knocking there basketball ability.

[JackJD]

Re: Jill Young

I watched Jill Young play one game, the championship game her Junior year.

Many years ago, when I was a student at SDSU, I watched Larry Bird and Indiana State play Drake at the old Vet's Memorial Coliseum in downtown Des Moines (they served mixed drinks during the game...couldn't take them to your seat so you'd run to the concourse, throw a couple down, and run back to your seat). Yankton grad Chad Nelson was guarding Bird much of the game. Just before the second half started, I turned to my SDSU roommate who was also imbibing, and commented "This Bird fellow is okay but he's not setting the world on fire." My buddy responded: "Have another drink. Bird has over 30 points."

The point: Bird was so fluid that a casual observer couldn't track how well he was playing.

The one time I watched Jill Young play, I had reached a similar conclusion. She was good but until you added up the damage she was doing to the other team, you just didn't realize how good. She was as fast as she had to be...totally in control; a great shooter.

[Nidaros]

Re: Jill Young

Its very good news that Jill is coming to SDSU. To be honest I have not seen her play. I do think that this transfer kind of tells us how our coaching staff has presented themselves during the recruiting process. I would think the scholarship offer verbally was never off the table and once Jill signed with Creighton, NCAA rules dictate that SDSU recruiting efforts had to end and they most likely did.

What is also interesting is that what affected Jill decision was the coaching change at Creighton, in which the person who recruited Jill changed jobs. I am sure there were other things that made her change her mind, but when we offer scholarships we need to be very careful on how we treat the individual, especially if there are more than one offer out there. I think AJ, Lori and the other staff did a great job in handling this situation. I have no inside as to what was said to Jill prior to signing with Creigthon, but it appears it was the right things as Jill Young is now in Brookings.

[89rabbit]

Re: Jill Young

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...39/1002/SPORTS

Young headed to SDSU after all

By Terry Vandrovec
tvandrovec@argusleader.com
Published: September 7, 2007

The career high school scoring leader in South Dakota state history is going to South Dakota State after all.

After spending less than one week at Creighton, former Mitchell Christian star Jill Young has transferred to SDSU -. roughly one year after committing to the former over the latter.

NCAA rules dictate that the 5-foot-7 guard will have to sit out one year, but she will have four years of eligibility remaining, can be on scholarship and is allowed to practice and travel with the team.
With a couple of days of class and some individual workouts under her belt, the wait in some ways has already been worthwhile.

"I'm really excited to be a part of this team," said the two-time Gatorade player of the year and South Dakota prep girls basketball record holder for points (3,317) and 3-pointers (462) in a career. "They've been great to me and I already feel like I've been here for a while, even though it's been a few days." . . . (read more)


Go State!

[rcjacks]

Re: Jill Young

I agree Young is a great player. Hell, I am the one who broke the news here and is excited about it. But the fact is she will need to come off screens in college to get a good look at the bucket. She is not the kind of player who can create her own shot, especially at the DI level. Ms. Young will be a solid player for us. She works hard, is a good teammate, has a beautiful stroke, and will do anything to help the team.

Comparisons to Larry Bird, although I know were made in a somewhat jestful manner, are not really accurate. Her first few steps are not that quick.

Please don't take this as me dissing her. I was just responding to joeboo claiming she is a quick basketball player. I am not dissing joeboo either, just was clearing things up.

[JackJD]

Re: Jill Young

I only mentioned the Larry Bird story to illustrate the point that sometimes a player is doing more out there than a fan (or, at least this fan) in the stands realizes. It's when you look at the game stats that you sit back and realize how well the person played.

[da_coach]

Re: Jill Young

Jill doesn't seem to have much trouble putting the ball in the basket. With her shooting and ball handling skills...she'll be fine in college.

(Trust me, I've coached against her...not in the season, but just in summer Team Camps.)

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Jill Young

I, for one, am very pleased that Jill's entire career has been figured out an entire year before she'll ever be able to play basketball for the Jacks. I see absolutely nothing wrong with pre-determining a players abilities or inabilities to play at the DI level based on one or two games of personally watching her play or maybe just a few articles read from the Argus. That seems fair to me. Why give her a shot to prove herself on the court before we pigeon-hole her? Josh Ranek was thought to be too small and too slow to be a good running back at the college level despite being the Elite-45 captain and running for roughly 9 million yards in high school. We all know he was way overrated.

As Jackrabbit fans, can't we all just be excited about the possibilities for our women's team by adding one of the best players in the history of the state? I've never seen her play and have no opinion other than I hope she sets every record in the books. Why would anyone hope for anything less unless they were not a fan of the Jacks? If she turns out to be just a decent player instead of a great player, then so be it. As long as she works hard, doesn't get into trouble giving the school a bad name and plays up to her ability (whatever that may be) how can you ask for anything more?

As for Larry Bird, I have a short story on subject, similar to the one JackJD told. An uncle of mine had an opportunity to play against Mr. Bird's Indiana State team while in college. Mind you, this was a time when most knew very little about any sort of sports outside of their region given the lack of mass-media coverage as we see today. Anyway, my uncle guarded Bird for a good part of the game to be lit up for a ton of points. He called home to his dad, my grandfather with the following report. "They had this really good player named Bird. I'm not sure I've ever played against anyone that good. He could shoot from anywhere." Hard to imagine a time when a player like Bird would be a relative unknown outside of Indiana until the NCAA tourney, but that was the case. That story always gets a laugh when my uncle tells it. He tells it better than I.

[joeboo22]

Re: Jill Young

Here is the thing about SDSU getting Jill Young.... It just shows that the best athletes want to be at SDSU and it will show to future athletes that SDSU is just as good if not better then big named programs..... No matter what Jill gives us on the floor it will help the program more with recruiting down the line.

[JackJD]

Re: Jill Young

You're right, Joeboo. The top athletes are looking at SDSU and we'll capture our share.