Upcoming Event: Women's Basketball versus Augustana (Exhibition) on October 29, 2025 at 6 p.m.
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6 p.m.
Women's Basketball
vs Augustana (Exhibition)
South Dakota State University Athletics
Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia
Senior Madison Guebert
2/26/2019 8:04:00 AM | Women's Basketball
by Michele Schmidt, Assistant Sports Information Director          Â
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           While there are those people who've always known exactly what they want to do, there a lot more of us who have spent most of our lives wandering around looking under rocks and behind trees for who we are. For senior Madison Guebert, shooting 3-pointers is exactly what she wants to do.
           South Dakota State's and The Summit League's all-time leading 3-point shooter's basketball career started in a warehouse in Minnesota. Yes, she and her twin brother, Drew, had parents and a sport court in their backyard, but Guebert is adamant that's not how her shot came into being.
           "Nothing was ever forced on us. It's a common misconception because we have a sport court in our backyard. We live right next to a big park with a big field with a basketball court. I think a lot of people always thought that when I was 2 years old, my parents handed me a basketball and tried to teach me to dribble," she said.
           Instead, Guebert and her siblings attended the Minnesota School of Basketball in Apple Valley, Minn. From third grade until this past Christmas, Guebert worked with Brian Ammann, who coached at Augsburg College, North Dakota State and Northern Michigan, in a big warehouse. There the Gueberts worked on their form and did basketball drills.
           "So, my parents said, 'If they go the basketball route, I don't care how tall they are or how small they are, they need to know how to shoot.' So, when they heard that this guy was opening, they signed us up," she recalled. "Ammann said, 'I'm not taking third-graders, because they don't listen, they are pains in the butt, they are all over the place, and not strong enough.' My parents said, 'They really work hard. They listen.' He let them sign us up and that is where we started."
           Guebert didn't start out just shooting 3-pointers. Ammann, who's almost a second father to the Gueberts, was a stickler about that.
           "He said, 'You can't shoot a 3-pointer until you have your form right and you're strong enough. If you aren't strong enough people get really bad shooting form.' He really didn't want us shooting there until seventh grade. In sixth grade, maybe a little bit, but not much. Not too much in seventh grade even, but in eighth grade we started hitting them from three," she said.
           The rest, you might say, is history. Guebert who enters today's game with 79 3-pointers and will finish her career in the top 10 in career scoring with over 1,700 points.
           "When I first started shooting them, was I even close to the 3-point line? No. I was 8 feet short of the basket, but my form was right. Whenever he felt I was getting the form right, he'd let me take a few steps back. Then a few more steps back and a few more. It was a gradual progression backward; which I think is something very smart. This is why I am such a good shooter. I didn't get those bad habits or break my form. Now I'm to the point where 0.2 seconds after the ball leaves my fingers, I can tell if it's going in or not."
           Really?
           "Yes, it's automatic, but it's millimeters. It should come off these two fingers last (index and middle). I can feel the ball if it comes off my pinkie instead. Technically, if it comes off my pinkie first, I'm like what was that?" she giggled. "On my follow through, I know if it's up here, I shot it too high. If it's here, I shot it way up here. If it's over here, I pushed it too far out. It's not like after every shot I'm in my head, thinking 'what did I do wrong?' No, the second I release it and it's rolled off my pinkie, I know I've got to start running backward and it's not going in."
           But what everyone, including opposing coaches, want to know, is where did your quick release come from?
           "You can't teach quickness. Once I had my form down, Ammann said I don't have to take that extra second to get set, get myself together. A lot of it was getting my feet faster. Once I was squared up, the motion becomes automatic. It's a lot about how fast I can set my feet … how quick I can set them," she explained. "If your feet aren't set, your arm isn't going to be ready to go either. If my feet are going that way, then the ball is going to go that way. The form is never different unless I'm hit or you take a bad shot, which you shouldn't be shooting in the first place. You just don't have the rhythm any ways."
           Despite learning so much from Ammann, Guebert still knows she needs some reminders if her shot is just not falling.
           "When they aren't going in, I know what I need to fix. I know what's not going right," she said. "Carissa (Thielbar) might say, 'You popped up too early.' I know what that means. The coaches also know that I know how to fix it. They just give me little small reminders. When it's not going in, they know I know what's going wrong. Little reminders like, I popped up too early, I need to get my legs under me."
           With all of the attention this year focused on Guebert breaking the 3-point records, she is thankful her coaches kept it on the down low.
           "AJ didn't make it a big deal, especially leading up to it. AJ does a really good job of not doing that. He also understands that it can be a distraction. It's not all about me. Who cares if I break the record and still lose?" she explained. "Yes, was it a goal to break the record? Yes, of course because Mike (Jewett) bragged to Jill Young years and years ago that I would do it. So, did I have to do it? Yes. Mike said that before I even got here. It was funny. He told me that after I broke the record."
This story ran in the Feb. 24 version of The Bum, South Dakota State's official Jackrabbit basketball program.
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           While there are those people who've always known exactly what they want to do, there a lot more of us who have spent most of our lives wandering around looking under rocks and behind trees for who we are. For senior Madison Guebert, shooting 3-pointers is exactly what she wants to do.
           South Dakota State's and The Summit League's all-time leading 3-point shooter's basketball career started in a warehouse in Minnesota. Yes, she and her twin brother, Drew, had parents and a sport court in their backyard, but Guebert is adamant that's not how her shot came into being.
           "Nothing was ever forced on us. It's a common misconception because we have a sport court in our backyard. We live right next to a big park with a big field with a basketball court. I think a lot of people always thought that when I was 2 years old, my parents handed me a basketball and tried to teach me to dribble," she said.
           Instead, Guebert and her siblings attended the Minnesota School of Basketball in Apple Valley, Minn. From third grade until this past Christmas, Guebert worked with Brian Ammann, who coached at Augsburg College, North Dakota State and Northern Michigan, in a big warehouse. There the Gueberts worked on their form and did basketball drills.
           "So, my parents said, 'If they go the basketball route, I don't care how tall they are or how small they are, they need to know how to shoot.' So, when they heard that this guy was opening, they signed us up," she recalled. "Ammann said, 'I'm not taking third-graders, because they don't listen, they are pains in the butt, they are all over the place, and not strong enough.' My parents said, 'They really work hard. They listen.' He let them sign us up and that is where we started."
           Guebert didn't start out just shooting 3-pointers. Ammann, who's almost a second father to the Gueberts, was a stickler about that.
           "He said, 'You can't shoot a 3-pointer until you have your form right and you're strong enough. If you aren't strong enough people get really bad shooting form.' He really didn't want us shooting there until seventh grade. In sixth grade, maybe a little bit, but not much. Not too much in seventh grade even, but in eighth grade we started hitting them from three," she said.
           The rest, you might say, is history. Guebert who enters today's game with 79 3-pointers and will finish her career in the top 10 in career scoring with over 1,700 points.
           "When I first started shooting them, was I even close to the 3-point line? No. I was 8 feet short of the basket, but my form was right. Whenever he felt I was getting the form right, he'd let me take a few steps back. Then a few more steps back and a few more. It was a gradual progression backward; which I think is something very smart. This is why I am such a good shooter. I didn't get those bad habits or break my form. Now I'm to the point where 0.2 seconds after the ball leaves my fingers, I can tell if it's going in or not."
           Really?
           "Yes, it's automatic, but it's millimeters. It should come off these two fingers last (index and middle). I can feel the ball if it comes off my pinkie instead. Technically, if it comes off my pinkie first, I'm like what was that?" she giggled. "On my follow through, I know if it's up here, I shot it too high. If it's here, I shot it way up here. If it's over here, I pushed it too far out. It's not like after every shot I'm in my head, thinking 'what did I do wrong?' No, the second I release it and it's rolled off my pinkie, I know I've got to start running backward and it's not going in."
           But what everyone, including opposing coaches, want to know, is where did your quick release come from?
           "You can't teach quickness. Once I had my form down, Ammann said I don't have to take that extra second to get set, get myself together. A lot of it was getting my feet faster. Once I was squared up, the motion becomes automatic. It's a lot about how fast I can set my feet … how quick I can set them," she explained. "If your feet aren't set, your arm isn't going to be ready to go either. If my feet are going that way, then the ball is going to go that way. The form is never different unless I'm hit or you take a bad shot, which you shouldn't be shooting in the first place. You just don't have the rhythm any ways."
           Despite learning so much from Ammann, Guebert still knows she needs some reminders if her shot is just not falling.
           "When they aren't going in, I know what I need to fix. I know what's not going right," she said. "Carissa (Thielbar) might say, 'You popped up too early.' I know what that means. The coaches also know that I know how to fix it. They just give me little small reminders. When it's not going in, they know I know what's going wrong. Little reminders like, I popped up too early, I need to get my legs under me."
           With all of the attention this year focused on Guebert breaking the 3-point records, she is thankful her coaches kept it on the down low.
           "AJ didn't make it a big deal, especially leading up to it. AJ does a really good job of not doing that. He also understands that it can be a distraction. It's not all about me. Who cares if I break the record and still lose?" she explained. "Yes, was it a goal to break the record? Yes, of course because Mike (Jewett) bragged to Jill Young years and years ago that I would do it. So, did I have to do it? Yes. Mike said that before I even got here. It was funny. He told me that after I broke the record."
This story ran in the Feb. 24 version of The Bum, South Dakota State's official Jackrabbit basketball program.
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Players Mentioned
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