College Basketball Decisons

Do you want to play college basketball? It’s okay to answer yes. Most people will tell you that it’s a long shot to make it to the college level, but it’s not up to most people whether you get there or not. It’s largely up to you. If you want to play college basketball in the near future, there are some questions you should be asking yourself now to get yourself ready. Here are a couple of questions to help get you started.

Do I love the game of basketball?

This is an important question because no matter what college you attend, you will be dedicating a lot of time to team practice, individual practice, film study and travel as a part of the basketball team. You don’t have to love the game of basketball to play at the college level (I knew guys who didn’t), but you have to be willing to commit the time to being what I like to call a “full time student athlete”. This means sacrificing some of the recreation time non-athlete students get and dedicating it to basketball. If you don’t love or at least really like the game of basketball, that time can quickly start to feel like a burden and college basketball may not be a fit for you.

Am I good enough to play college basketball?

It is important to gauge whether you have what it takes to seriously pursue playing college basketball. There are a couple of ways to determine this if you’re not sure. You can attend local college basketball games and look to see if you’d be able to play with the guys on the court. Be honest with yourself. Also, do a little research and identify the players being recruited by colleges in your area. Watch their games, and also see if you can go to open gyms where they are playing so you can compete against them. In so doing, you can determine where you’re at in relation to other college basketball prospects and players in your area.

What can I do to improve my chances of playing college basketball?

If you determine that you aren’t good enough to play college basketball, is there anything you can do to get good enough? Is there a skill you can develop into being “college level”? Maybe this is something like shooting, rebounding, or perimeter defense, three things that every college program needs.

How are my grades?

It is a common misconception that it is all about skills and not about the total student athlete at the college level. If you are a high school All-American player, it may not matter if you barely do enough to get by in the classroom. That may be good enough. For everybody else, grades can be a bigger factor. At smaller colleges and universities if you are a good student you may be eligible to receive financial assistance based on your grades. If you don’t need financial assistance, good grades can still be a draw for a college coach. Schools that are members of the NCAA, for instance, are required for their teams to achieve certain academic standards. If the highly recruited players on the team are not contributing positively to holding those standards, the rest of the team can pick up the slack. An opportunity to join a quality team as a good student and a decent basketball player could be your ticket in. Conversely, being a poor student may keep certain doors closed to you.

What college do I want to attend?

A lot of kids don’t think about this question, and they should. Every college or university may not be a fit for you, and you might want to think specifically about it. Is there a school in the city or state I’d like to be in? Is there a school that offers a perfect degree program for me? Will I have a chance to get playing time at this school? Does the team play a style that I can be successful in? Thinking more specifically can help you to make not only a good basketball decision, but also a good life decision. Also, the benefit of identifying the school you want to play at is that you can make a concentrated effort of getting into that school and onto that team. Making contact with the head or assistant coaches, researching the roster and seeing where you fit in, and training with a more specific purpose are all things you can do once you identify what school or schools you’d like to attend.

These are just a couple of questions you should be asking yourself if you are thinking about playing college basketball. Get with your local basketball trainer, who should have experience playing at the college level, to help you answer these and other important college basketball-related questions.

Your College Basketball Season is Over – Now What?

Get Better

Somebody out there is working harder than you to take your spot.  It is your coaches’ job to replace you and your job not to be replaced

Meet with your Head Coach

The first step to getting better is finding out what your coach believes are your weaknesses and how you can address these weaknesses.  If you coach is meeting with your 1-on-1 following the season, seek him or her out and ask what you can do to get better.

Individual basketball workout plan

Develop a daily plan that includes on-court skill work as well as strength and conditioning.  One of the most common things that a player says they need to address in the off-season is to become bigger, faster and stronger.  The best way to do this is to make a plan and hold yourself accountable.  Chart your makes and misses in your individual workouts.  Time your sprints.  Chart you bench press totals.  Once you start doing this, you now have numbers to beat each day, week and month.  This is a great time to find a basketball trainer. 

Competitive Leagues

Be careful here … pick-up basketball can often be a waste of time and a place to practice bad habits.  Sometimes, a game of 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 can be more beneficial than 5-vs-5 with no defense, around the back passes off the backboard and fast break lay-up after fast break lay-up.  Nobody gets better.  If you are going to play 5-vs-5 the best thing to do is to get into a well-organized structured league with officials and players that are BETTER THAN YOU.

Stay in contact with your teammates

Just because the season is over doesn’t mean you should stop communicating with your teammates.  With social media it doesn’t matter if your worlds apart.  Make it a point to drop a teammate an e-mail, text, tweet, etc… to stay in touch and keep communication lines open year round.  Everybody loves a great teammate.

Reach out to new recruits

Shunning new recruits is a sign of weakness and jealousy.  Welcome the new guys with open arms no matter how you feel about them.  Trust your coach and use the new guys as motivation while helping them at the same time.

Give back

The summer is a great opportunity for you to not only work on your game but also to give back to younger players.  Working at a summer camp can afford you to do both.  During the camp session you can teach skills to young hungry players, referee their games and maybe even get the opportunity to coach a team for a week.  During your “down-time” you can work out with a teammate or by yourself, play competitive pick-up at night, go for a run, hit the weight room, talk to a College of High School Head Coach and just spend a week around the great game of basketball in a different environment.  Anohter great way to give back is to visit with your old high school program.  Most if not all programs no-a-days runs a summer program.  Contact your old high school coach and ask him or her if you can come help out, work out with the team or simply visit with them get better.

Don’t Wait

The video games, movies, malls, theme parks, oceans, lakes, and all those fun things will be there once your college career is done.  You only get once chance to play and that window closes very fast.  Your playing days will be over before you know it and you don’t want to regret the fact that you didn’t constantly try to better yourself.

 BasketballTrainer.com would like to thank Coach Eric Werntgen of UMFK for this insightful contribution.

5 Steps to Developing Your Basketball Sweet Spot

Do you know what a basketball sweet spot is?  Here’s a better question – do you know where YOUR sweet spot is?  A sweet spot is a spot on the floor that you love to shoot from because you can make that shot!  You own that spot.  You can knock it down with your eyes closed… okay, maybe not really with your eyes closed, but you get my drift.  It is a spot where you want to get and shoot the ball because you’re very good at it.  Kobe Bryant has his elbow jumpers.  David West has the short corner.  Lamarcus Aldridge has his 18 foot free throw line extended jumpers.  And you can have one too.  I believe that every player should have a sweet spot, and if you currently don’t have one, here are a few steps to developing a good basketball sweet spot.

1. General Repetitions Repetition is an underrated development tool.  It might take your brain one or two repetitions to register something, but it takes you body much longer to register something and make it instinctual.  We’ve all heard of muscle memory.  That comes by repetition.  If you want to build a sweet spot, start by getting repetitions of MAKES.  I recommend at least 40 makes in whatever spot you choose.  That can be broken down into 20 makes at the beginning of your workout, and 20 makes at the end.  You don’t need a partner for this.  Get 40 makes of ball-in-hand jump shots from whatever spot you choose.

2. Varied Repetitions Along with stationary reps, incorporate dribble-into reps and catch-and-shoot reps.  These were very effective for me when I was playing and working on my game.  If you are working on shooting the right wing 3 pointer for example, practice dribbling down with either hand as if in a delayed fast break.  Make 5 shots dribbling down with either hand, then get 10 makes off a pass (being ready on the catch) from a teammate.  For the super serious shooter, also incorporate reps off of cuts.  Set up cones as screeners and curl cut into your spot.  Then straight cut into your spot.  Set an imaginary screen then cut into your spot as the screemer.  The more you are used to getting the ball in your spot in various ways, the more comfortable you will be in that spot come game time, when anything can happen.

3. Contested Repetitions I’m giving this its own focus because this needs special attention.  Most of us practice shooting without defense, but we also need practice with defensive pressure!  You’d be lucky in any competitive game to get more than 5 wide open shots.  You need to be able to shoot with small amounts of daylight.  Do contested reps with a buddy.  Have him or her pass to you then close-out to try and block your shot.  This will help you get your shot off quicker, and will get you practice negotiating defenders while still staying focused on your shot.

4. Mini Basketball Games The next step to getting your sweet spot going is to play mini games.  Play 1-on-1 with a buddy and try to get to your sweet spot to score once every three times you have the ball.  Play games by yourself you shoot 20 times from your sweet spot and mark your percentage.  Give yourself rewards and consequences for certain levels of performance.  Play the “Beat Lebron” game from your sweet spot in a 7 game series and see if you can win the series.  Play games with consequences like this outside of shooting reps and full-court games to get yourself comfortable with your sweet spot.

5. Development Scrimmage The ultimate test (and ultimate confidence-builder) is 5-on-5 full court basketball  action.  In the 5 on 5, practice different ways of getting to your sweet spot with and without the ball, and work on getting your shot off against live defense.  You don’t want to give away what you’re doing to the defense, so only look to shoot from your sweet spot once every 4 times you have the ball. In the other times you have the ball, practice passing from that sweet spot and faking and driving from that sweet spot.  Also remember to try to use screens to get yourself open as the screener at your sweet spot.

We’ve given you 5 doable steps to developing your sweet spot.  Implement these steps for a month and see the results you get.  If you need help with shot form, cutting or screening technique, or being ready on the catch as it relates to your sweet spot, contact your local basketball trainer to help you.  Getting feedback in your loop is critical to accelerating your rate of improvement.  We can’t wait to see you owning your sweet spot!

Do You Have The Basketball Skills To Drive Defenses Nuts?

Most youth basketball players that are good scorers have only one maybe two skills that lead to most of their points. Most kids can shoot, attack the rim and finish, or score using post position. Basketball trainers and coaches love kids that do all of these things and coaches are constantly frustrated by trying devise defensive schemes that stop each of these scoring methods. If players can add the skills discussed below to their offensive games they will increase their playing time and frustrate all the defenders they face.

1. Master shooting 3’s, pull up jumpers, and catching and shooting from all locations:

Be willing to put in the time needed to be a good 3 point shooter not just from one spot but any on the three point line.

Pull up jump shots are a dying skill accept in the NBA. Why is this? Probably a few reasons players don’t put in the time to master the skill, coaches only each 3’s and layups, or lack of understanding of when to shoot them. If you put time and focused development into shooting pull up jumpers they can help you score when driving to the basket isn’t an option (against taller/longer defenders or shot blockers).

Learn to shoot off of screens or flashing against zones. The key to this skill is setting up the screen/cut and then having hands and feet ready for a quick release shot. Watch Ray Allen, JJ Redick, and Steph Curry away from the ball and their footwork as they catch and shoot. Also understand great shoots don’t just have long distance range they have great touch 15 feet and in

2.  Master scoring with your back to the basket:

Try not to automatically think playing with your back to the basket means you have to always be in the post. Yes, being able to catch the ball inside and score is always a good thing but back to the basket scorers can use their body to gain position in other areas as well. The high post is one area where you can use your body to seal defenders and catch the ball with a winnable advantage to score. Also creating a position in the short corner/European post can allow you to catch the ball and score within 10 feet of the basket. These are two spots on the court that can give you great scoring opportunities but you must be ready for contact and indicate contact to gain the position.

3.  Master attacking the rim:

The reason I saved this one for last is because I think being good at the first two can set you up to be great at attacking the rim. Understand that if you can’t shoot then defenders can play off of you and limit your opportunities to attack the rim. On the other hand if all you can do is shoot then defenders will pressure you outside of your range. If you’re good at both then they will limit your touches, play you very physical, and deny you the ball that is why you need to be able to great space using your body.

When you become a good shooter shot fakes become your best friend when it comes to attacking the rim. Once you get an opportunity to attack the rim you must be ready to finish with both hands, using the backboard, not using the backboard, and absorb contact. Finally once you can get past your defender and they know you can finish the job around the rim you can set up the pull up jump shot and find this will be the easiest way to get your shot off as a scorer.