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Sophomores to Watch: Josh Young

Josh Young
Drake Bulldogs
Guard
15.8 PPG, 2.5 RPG

Strengths
Young, who was second in the Missouri Valley in scoring has a true knack for putting the ball in the basket. He’s shooting almost 50 percent from the field and his three-point percentage (45%) has increased by 12 percent from last season. Aside from his sweet stroke from the outside, Young has made huge strides when it comes to attacking the rack. And he has enough awareness to realize when to pull up and pop a mid-range jumper.

Weaknesses
The biggest knock on the Oklahoma product is that he’s one-dimensional. That’s right, meaning if he doesn’t have the ball in his hands, you’re not going to get much production. And it’s not because he doesn’t try, he’s just so small at the two. At 6′1″, Young is incredibly undersized for his position. He’s inept at crashing the boards on both ends due to inferior size limitations. Also, he went down earlier in the season with a sprained right ankle, so there’s always that concern.

Importance to Team
Young is the most prolific scorer on the Missouri Valley’s most dominant team. He understands his role and knows that he’s taking the big shots down the stretch. The Bulldogs count on his offensive productivity to keep them in basketball games. Young serves as Drake’s best shooter and point guard Adam Emmenecker loves finding him on the floor.

Prime Time Experience
In the regular season, Young rose to the occasion on several of Drake’s big-time wins. He scored 25 points against Butler and 24 against Creighton and Southern Illinois — all which led the Bulldogs to huge conference victories. Young hit a game-winning three-pointer against Illinois State in early February to maintain Drake’s then-undefeated record.

What to Expect
The Bulldogs have the talent and the depth to make a George Mason-esque run this year. They shoot the three incredibly well and have respectable size and depth for a mid-major. Young has to play exceptional basketball and come out firing on all cylinders. He got away with a couple sub-10 point performances in the MVC tournament, but he needs to convert with greater success in the “grandaddy of them all.” If his shots fall from three-point land — Young can take this Bulldogs program to unbelievably new heights. While they won’t have the surprise factor of the Patriots, Drake can still surprise people and make a run into the Sweet 16.

Sophomores to Watch:
Augustin | Curry | Harangody | Lopez | Young

Sam Panayotovich is the host of Southside Perspective on MVN Radio. Catch him live on the air Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Luke Harangody, Butler, D.J. Augustin, Brook Lopez, Josh Young, Stephen Curry, Roster Magazine, Adam Emmenecker, Drake, Southern Illinois, Roster, March Madness, College basketball, NCAA tournament, Sam Panayotovich, Creighton, Illinois State, Missouri Valley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.