Pre-season recruiting evaluations and visits are starting to slow down with the high school basketball season fast approaching. During the fall it’s always fun to try and get out to workouts seeing what different recruits are working on going into the season. Meanwhile, our guys on campus just wrapped up our allotted 8-days on the floor so we’ve been able to get a small sample size of how our personnel meshes in relation to system installation and developing role opportunities.
For most, the jump from high school to college comes with a learning curve. But similar to the high school guys, our newcomers have tapped into these pre-season workouts looking to mitigate the length of time it takes to competitively adjust during the regular season. Going into my 14th season of coaching these have been some takeaways of mine as a player and coach when it comes to transitioning from high school to college.
Learning The Value of Space & Positioning
Yelling out weakside positioning in high school seem more call and response between coaches and players. I was simply following instructions as opposed to intentionally trying to distort any space defensively, let alone understand it.
“Help! Help! Help!”
Or, “Gap! Gap! Gap!”
Now, this speaks more from personal experience than from a coaching observation. It was about not letting your matchup score at the high school level. In college, not being in the right spot catches the coaching staff’s attention before the ballhandler even looks to score.
Coaches can quickly identify the difference between a defensive stop or a bucket based on concepts such as the low-man forgetting to rotate or players taking an incorrect angle on a close-out. And from an offensive perspective, how many conversations are held with post players when it comes to the depth of their rim run or having spatial awareness around the rim? The best scorers continue to learn the significance between separation from a defender and field-goal percentages. On both ends of the floor spacing and positioning are a high-priority.
Efficiency & Shot Selection
My answer is always the same whenever a coach asks, “What am I looking for most while evaluating a player from a recruiting standpoint?”
Who shows the most potential to do more with less _______ .
Less dribble moves. Less shots. Less two-way closeouts. Less turnovers.
This isn’t an indictment on the next generation of athletes where every kid has a shot doctor or trainer. Firm believer that players today are more talented than ever as far as dribble moves or finishing packages around the rim. The separation occurs from having the wherewithal for the when/where to shoot or executing a move to finish.
Part of the efficiency learning speaks to what players were able to get away with as a high school player. Maybe one kid had the ultimate green light and the only way for that team to compete was taking half of the entire teams field-goal attempts. It’s likely different role come year one at the college level. Or the point-guard with such a high-usage rate that the offense depended upon his/her orchestration might be challenged with ball movement being equally as important as ball control.
Simply from going from one style of play or program to another will cause growing pains for college freshman. But, its been my experience that the one’s most ready at the earliest points in the season are very well aware of what they do well with albeit humility to avoid any early limitations or skill disadvantages.
Basketball Conditioning
This might resonate a little less now given the current circumstances for UNC Football. However, I will likely forever steal this concept from Bill Belichick when it comes to defining sport conditioning. *Start clip at the 1:20 mark.*
It’s one thing to be in shape, where you can run up and down the floor without getting fatigued. The other form of conditioning occurs when that level of physical endurance matches mental capacity to consistently operate at a high level, sustaining play while on high-alert.
In the dwindling minutes of the 2nd half where timeouts are still being preserved for end-of-game possessions, are the players on the floor out-thinking and out-executing the opponent? It’s during pivotal stretches of the game where any sequence can likely shift the final result. Maybe its a late empty-ballscreen and the weakside defender hugs up forgetting their assignment to prevent an easy roll and finish at the rim. Then on the other end of the floor coach is calling for a particular action and whiffs the screen leaving a defender to run through the passing lane for another easy bucket. There are hundreds of scenarios.
It is different at every level. Again, the range of talent on the floor during a high school game can sometime offer allowances to the more talented player’s lack of attention to detail. During a college, or any game where there is less disparity; discipline of playing hard while playing smart is a significant advantage.
Coach's Climb 