Jitim Young (born December 19, 1981) is an American
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player. Young attended
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
and was famous for his play at the collegiate level and as an All-American at
Gordon Tech High School
DePaul College Prep is a Catholic high school located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located on the north side of Chicago at 3300 N Campbell Ave. DePaul College Prep is sponsored by the Western Province of the Congregation of the Missi ...
.
High school career
Young attended
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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Gordon Technical High School, where he averaged 23 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists per game. He led Gordon Tech into the Illinois state tournament his senior year of 1999-2000 where they advanced to the Elite 8 but were eventually defeated by
West Aurora, the eventual state champions. Jitim was named to the Chicago All-area team and gained All-State honors. As a junior Young averaged 18.7 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists per game. Young was named to the Chicago All-Area team and All-Stat
As a Sophomore Young led Gordon Tech with 14.5 points, to go along with 5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists. Athlons Magazine rated him as one of the top 5 sophomore combo-guards in the country, also made the top 40 in the nation. His senior season he was named a
USA Today All-American honorable mention, Street and Smith All-American, and a Blue Ribbon All-American. Young played in the
Capital Classic. Jitim Young was also a part of the prestigious
Five Star Basketball Camp "Wall of Fame." At 5-star which is scouted by the noted Howard Garfinkle, Young captured 2 all-star MVP awards in the NBA division, sportsmanship award, Best Defensive player, and Young led his team to a championship as a rising sophomore.
In 1998 and 1999, Jitim Young along with
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
basketball star
Luther Head
Luther Dale Head (born November 26, 1982) is a former American professional basketball player.
High school
Head attended Chicago's Manley Academy where he averaged over 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds per game as a junior. Those n ...
won back to back
Shoot The Bull National 3X3 Championships.
Shoot The Bull was a tournament held in Chicago which was sponsored by the
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...
NBA Professional Basketball Team.
In 2017 Young was inducted into the
Chicago Catholic League
The Chicago Catholic League (CCL) is a high school athletic conference based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. All of the schools are part of the Illinois High School Association, the governing body for Illinois scholastic sports. While some o ...
(CCL) Hall of Fame, joining a distinguished list of other Chicago Catholic High School Athletic League alums such as
Mike Krzyzewski
Michael William Krzyzewski ( ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, during which he led the Blue Devils to five natio ...
,
Donovan McNabb
Donovan Jamal McNabb (born November 25, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons, primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. Before his NFL career, he played football and b ...
,
Johnny Lattner
John Joseph Lattner (October 24, 1932 – February 12, 2016) was an American football player. While playing college football for the University of Notre Dame, he won the Heisman Trophy in 1953. He also won the Maxwell Award twice, in 1952 and 1 ...
,
Corey Maggette
Corey Antoine Maggette (; born November 12, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He became an analyst for Fox Sports.
High school and college career
Magget ...
,
Pete Mackanin
Peter Mackanin, Jr. (pronounced ; born August 1, 1951), is an American former professional baseball utility player, coach, scout, and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos, Philadelphia Phillies ...
, and
Ray Meyer
Raymond Joseph Meyer (December 18, 1913 – March 17, 2006) was an American men's collegiate basketball coach from Chicago, Illinois. He was well known for coaching at DePaul University from 1942 to 1984, compiling a 724–354 record. Meyer ...
.
College career
At
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
Jitim Young was one of the top five freshmen scorers in the
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
2000–01 season. Sophomore year Young was vital in leading the Wildcats to a 16–13 record. He became Male Athlete of The Year at Northwestern, as well as Third Team All Big Ten selection as a junior, and his senior year Young was a First Team All-Big Ten performer and was honored to the All Big Ten tournament Team 2004. Young also made All-Tournament Team at the University of Texas El-Paso Christmas tournament (Sun Classic), and was named to the All-District Team.
Young finished his collegiate career ranked sixth on Northwestern's all-time scoring list with 1,521 points. Also ranks as the school's all-time leader in games started (117), and also ranks second in minutes played (3,849), second in steals (215), tied for second in games played (117), fifth in field goals made (548), sixth in three-point field goals made (108), and tenth in free throws made (317).
He led the team in scoring, rebounding, and steals in his senior (17.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 66 steals) and junior seasons (13.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 47 steals). Young was the only freshman starting in the
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
when he suited up for Northwestern in 2000. He led Northwestern to 8 conference victories in his senior season, the first time since 196
Young was the only senior named to the 2004 first-team All-Big Ten as well as the
2004 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament, 2004 All-Big Ten tournament team.
After being in magazines such as ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'', ''
Athlons Magazine'', ''
Street and Smith''. Concluding his career that was also an article featuring Young in ''
Slam Magazine
''Slam'' is an American basketball magazine in circulation since 1994.
History
''Slam'' was launched in 1994 as a basketball magazine that combined the sport with hip hop culture at a time when the genre was becoming increasingly popular. It wa ...
'
Professional career
Although he had a stellar career with Northwestern and the Big Ten conference, Young was not drafted into the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
. He worked out at many pre-draft camps and many coaches and scouts admired his hustle and work ethic but due to his size (6 ft 2 in) and inconsistent shooting ability no teams took a chance on the guard. One predraft camp pitted Young against Big 10 rival and NBA draft pick
Devin Harris
Devin Lamar Harris (born February 27, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player. Harris attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Harris was selected with the fifth pick in the 2004 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards.
E ...
in which Young consistently shut him down defensively. Also in a pre-draft workout with
Andre Iguodala
Andre Tyler Iguodala ( ; born January 28, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The swingman was an NBA All-Star in 2012 and has been named to t ...
Young displayed the talent and athleticism to compete at the NBA level. At Tim Grover's basketball facility in Chicago, Illinois, Young has shown the ability to stand out on the court with NBA players such as
Shawn Marion
Shawn Dwayne Marion (born May 7, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player who played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Marion finished his career as a four-time NBA All-Star, a two-time member of the All- ...
,
Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (; born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three NBA champi ...
,
Jamal Crawford
Aaron Jamal Crawford (born March 20, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2000 to 2020. He is regarded as one of the best ball handlers in NBA history,. He was nam ...
and
Corey Maggette
Corey Antoine Maggette (; born November 12, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He became an analyst for Fox Sports.
High school and college career
Magget ...
.
He started the 2004–05 season in Greece, playing in ten games with Panellinios. Averaged 9.8 points and 4.0 rebounds. He moved on to Dexia Mons-Hainaut in the Belgian League, averaging 12.6 points and 4.0 rebounds in 21 games. Young Led Mons to the Final Four in the Belgium league playoffs. In 2006–07 Young played for the
CBA's
Minot Skyrockets
The Minot SkyRockets were a team in the Continental Basketball Association. They played their home games at the Minot Municipal Auditorium. The team began play in 2005 as the San Jose Skyrockets of the American Basketball Association (2000–pre ...
in all 47 games averaging 14.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 7.8 assists and 2.5 steals. Young Led Minot to the second-best record in the league. He has since signed with a team from the Dominican Republic where he played for the team in the finals. He will play the 2007–08 for MAFC Budapest in the Hungary League.
In 2012-13 Young worked as color commentator for
WGN Radio
WGN (720 Hertz, kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM radio, AM radio station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, with radio studio, studios on the 18th floor of 303 East Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. WGN has a talk radio, news/talk format, ...
covering Northwestern University basketball games. In 2014 Young was named Most Valuable Player in the
USA Basketball 3X3 National Team qualifications. Alongside teammate
Arne Duncan
Arne Starkey Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American educator who served as United States Secretary of Education from 2009 to 2015 and as Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2008. A lifelong resident of Chicago, Du ...
Secretary of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
Team Ariel defeated Team Denver, 21–20. Young got the opportunity to represent
USA Basketball
USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olympi ...
in Russia. He is in the process of completing his first book ''
Monologues Of A Good Man''.
Teams
* 2004–05 Phoenix Suns Summer league, Panellinois Greece (Athens)/ Belgium Dexia Mons.
* 2005–06 San Antonio Spurs mini camp, Chicago Bulls (preseason) Veterans Camp. Young sustained an injury sidelining him the entire year.
* 2006–07 CBA: Minot SkyRockets, Dominican Republic Cupes (Santiago)
* 2007–08 Hungary (Budapest) MAFC Young was named All Hungarian honorable mention team averaging 20 points 5 rebounds 5 assists and 4 steals
* 2008–09 Polonia Warsaw (Poland)
* 2009-10 Elitzer Ramle (Israel) 18 pts 6 rebs 6 asst 3 stls
* 2010-11 Hod HaSharon (Israel) 22.0 pts 5.8 rebs 5.1 asst 2.7 stls
* 2011-12 Ramat Gan (Israel)
United States 3x3 national team
In 2014, Young was named MVP in Colorado Springs, Colorado and he was selected to the United States 3x3 national team for the 2014
FIBA 3x3 World Championship
The FIBA 3x3 World Cup is a 3x3 basketball tournament for national teams organized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). The debut of the tournament then named as the FIBA 3x3 World Championship was held in August 2012 in Athens, Gree ...
. The United States finished in 14th place with a 2-4 record. In 2015, 2016, and 2018, Young has competed in the semi-finals for the USA National Qualification Tournament in Colorado, Springs. Young is one of the best 3X3 players in the country.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Jitim
1981 births
Living people
American expatriate basketball people in Belgium
American expatriate basketball people in the Dominican Republic
American expatriate basketball people in Greece
American expatriate basketball people in Hungary
American expatriate basketball people in Israel
American expatriate basketball people in Poland
American expatriate basketball people in Russia
American men's 3x3 basketball players
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Chicago
Belfius Mons-Hainaut players
Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball players
Panellinios B.C. players
Point guards
Polonia Warszawa (basketball) players