Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Jackie Young Declares for WNBA Draft

It’s Been Made Official

As the headline states, Jackie Young has just declared for the WNBA Draft. She is forgoing her senior season to leave for the pros. I guess you cannot blame her, as she is predicted to be picked in the Top 3 of the draft. However, after last night, this is a bit tough.

Jackie would’ve been the only player from this year’s power starting 5 to come back to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s basketball team. Now that she has declared for the WNBA Draft, the whole starting 5 will be new next season. That’s a tough transition to take on for Muffett and the staff.

This season, Jackie Young hit more of a stride than even last season. Last season, she had her career high in points against UConn in the Final Four. This season, she surpassed 1,000 total points and also had a couple of triple-doubles. One, most notably, came against Tennessee earlier in the season.

She is a phenomenal player, and a lot of her impact came from things you don’t see in the stat sheet. She has the incredible ability to create shots for herself and drop it into the hoop from just about anywhere on the floor. Her crossovers and shots are tough to beat, and she was a true joy to watch play for the Irish for the past three seasons. We wish her the best of luck. But, honestly and selfishly, of course we would’ve wanted her to stay one more year. That’s the way it goes, though, when you have that type of talent.

New Starting 5

The Irish will look to make the starting 5 from current players but then also Sam Brunelle and Anaya Peoples, two recruits who will be freshman this coming year. It looks like both recruits will jump into the fold right away.