Junior Hoops of America

The Rebounder

Rebounding is not sexy.  Most players spend most of their time shooting because that is where the glamour exists.  There is no glory in working your butt off to position yourself just right in order to pull down a rebound that someelse has just shot and that some else will requisition from you in order to shoot.  Most kids don't grow up wishing that they could rebound, but instead, salivate thinking about shooting the winning last second shot or the day that they finally get to dunk.  

Yet, winning teams always are in the top category of the rebounding statistics.  Someone on the winning teams is doing the "dirty work" of "cleaning up the glass".    When it comes down to it, more boards equals more possessions.  How many rebounds a team acquires compared to how many the team gives ups determines whether or not there is a championship team in the making.

But rebounding is not so easy.  It is hard work and it is also an art.  To succeed at the rebounding science one must have jumping ability, crafty positioning skills and an intense desire to want to go after every rebound.  Great rebounders don't just jump up in their space to get the ball, they also go after the ball outside of their space.  They create holes through multiple bodies and "hurl" themselves at where the ball is as opposed to waiting for the ball to come to them. 

An elite rebounder must have obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to going after every rebound.  To them it must be considered an insult when someone else gets the rebound over them.   Wanting to get the rebound has to hurt inside.   There are no "ifs, ands or buts" about it.   Period.

Moving people out of the way is a prerequisite for being a great rebounder.  The desire to get physical must be in the rebounders DNA.  Getting low into the legs of his opponent in order to drive him into the parking lot of the gymnasium must be the goal.  Power, positioning, craftiness and an intense need to have the ball must be in the blood.

The Point Guard

The point guard should not suffocate his teammates' play with excessive dribbling and shooting.  Too often point guards think too much like shooting guards and forget the true role of a point guard.    When it comes down to it, a point guard should almost be a reluctant shooter with a pass-first mentality.   Often, the point guard is the better shooter on the team but that does not necessarily mean that it is the best thing for the team for the point guard to be doing all the scoring.

The intangible benefits of the point guard passing up shots, especially early in games is a confidence payoff for his teammates when they get to shoot rather than the point guard.   In the long term of a full game, many opportunities to shoot will come back to the point guard for his teamsharing approach.

The sacred duty of a point guard is to make his teammates better.  Period.  He has to earn the trust of his teammates and maintain a sense of unity.  He should be a respectable shooter but first and foremost he is a playmaker.  Scoring is not his real function.  He has to keep the other four guys on the floor in the mix of the game passing out the rock to the player who is in the best position to score.

The nature of the point guard has to be one of wanting to be liked. Wanting to make others feel good about being a member of the team and being valued.   This is where the biggest weapon of the point guard, "the assist", comes into play.   The need to "set up" his teammates with assists must be the primary quality that a point guard must possess.    At the end of the day it comes down to the point guard being completely unselfish.  He understands that scoring 15 points with 5 assists does not affect the game near as much as the powerful results of scoring 5 points with 15 assists.  It is as simple as that.

One can say that a true point guard runs the team by keeping the players humming, involved, contributing to the win by capitalizing on the strengths of his teammates thus inspiring team moral and unity.   This result must be one of the key goals of the point guard before his own scoring stat sheet.   The natural point guard feels good about involving others before his own scoring results.  He knows that in the end, the team will be in a better position to win when everyone is involved as opposed to just one player doing all the scoring.

The consumate point guard is the one that moves the ball and who everyone else gets the ball to since they know the point guard will create the oppotunity to get it back to them for the score.  They know the point guard will make the game easier for everyone since the right thing will eventually get done. 

What kind of point guard is on your team?  Is he selfish and wants to score first and pass second?  Does he force up shots even though he has two or more defenders all over him?  Does he refuse to consistenly pass the ball to the open man?  Is he all about how many points he scored regardless if the team won the game?  If the answers are "yes" to the above questions, I guarantee you that your season record will be below .500. 

Unfortunately, the true point guard is a rare breed but if you have one on your team, cherish him because this type of point guard will bring the best out of everyone thus leading your team to a deep run in the playoffs and even to a very possible championship banner.

The Pure Shooter

If you are self-conscious as a shooter you are doomed.  The pure shooter aims not to think but to be in unconcious mode automatically letting his fundamentals and countless hours of training to kick in. 

By simply being on the court, the pure shooter's presence automatically spreads the floor for his team.   When the pure shooter is out on the floor, it is just a matter of time before 3-pointers begin to fall in.   Not only does the pure shooter expect to make his shots, but everyone in the arena expects it as well and usually they are not disappointed.

There is a common belief that to make a shot half the time in the game, you need to make it 70% of the time in practice.   For the pure shooter, 70% is unacceptable.   Without a defender in front of him, the pure shooter is upset is he ever misses.  Most NBA players can dunk, run and jump, but only a select few are pure shooters.

There is a certain aura that the pure shooter evokes when he is on the court.  At any given moment, he can explode to become a game changer.   At times, he does not even have to shoot, just his presence makes things happen on the floor as his opponents scramble to shift defenses just to accomodate the possible scoring threat.

So how does one become a pure shooter?   Some say it begins first by learning the fundamentals of shooting and replicating the form thousands of time.   100,000 shots is the threshold that many say must be reached before one becomes a pure shooter.  Others say that pure shooters are born and not made.  They say that you either have it or you don't.   Traditionalist point to the text book fundamentals while others say that many of the great pure shooters in the NBA have shown to have unconventional forms.  Many have been taught with countless hours of instruction while many others just simply were able to "just do it". 

Whether trained to have the ability to shoot or just being blessed with the gift of the shooting gods, the pattern that emerges from all pure shooters is that they practice their craft to the point of reaching a level of obsession.   They shoot on off days, before and after practice, before and after games.  Replicating the shot over and over again is the common denominator.  The pure shooter just loves to shoot the ball even if it is by himself for endless hours.   Mentally they go into a state of meditation while shooting that few of us have ever reached and when game time arrives, we get to see the pure shooter doing what appears to be magical to us but is is routine to him.

While most of us think too much about the shot and the pressure of the moment, the pure shooter relishes the moment and positions himself to launch his shots as often as he can because to him it is a moment of bliss that only master craftsmen can truly understand.

So You Think You Can Play At The College Level?

So you think you can play at the next level?  You have invested endless hours in individual, club and high school basketball practices and games. 

Lots of money has been spent on training, uniform and tournament travel associated expenses.  You have also burned the candles late into many nights with countless hours studying to ensure that your academic performance attracts rather than detract from your chances of playing basketball on the collegiate level.

The road has been difficult  so far and the time has arrived for you to reach out for that basketball college scholarship.  You have both the game and the grades and now you are ready to take the final steps to make the college basketball scholarship offer come true.

Below are critical steps that can make that dream come to fruition:

No.1: Take the Right Classes

Make sure that your high school core course schedule is in-line with the requirements of your choice of college(s).

No.2: Register With the NCAA

No later than your Junior year, register with the NCAA Eligibility Center to validate your status as an amateur athlete.

No.3: Make Your List(s)

Compile a list of schools you would like to attend.  Make sure to divide them into three sub-lists of four or five schools per list with each list categorized as either the A, B or C list to ensure that you establish a range of best to acceptable schools.

No.4: Create a Video

The recruiting video is one of the most important ways an athlete can attract the attention of coaches at the university level.  Avoid substandard video quality and unnecessary production components.  You should have 10 to 15 highlight plays-- with an additional game half included to show real-time ability.  Keep your video short, simple and as professional-looking as possible. Hiring a videographer might be a worthwhile expense.

No. 5: Research the Schools

Check out the school's website to find out the best coach or school official to contact. Get to know the school’s basketball history to include both information on the coaching staff, current and former players, successes and playing system.   Be knowledgeable about the school and know why you want to attend the institution.

No.6: First Contact

Place yourself on a college's radar in an aggressive--but friendly--way.  It is a good idea to begin contacting coaches in the summer before your sophomore year.

Include an introduction explaining who you are and why you're contacting them and a copy of your recruiting video or a link where they can view your video.   Include all this in a recruiting resume with details such as stats, honors, academic data and contact information for your high school coaches.  Contact can be done by telephone as well but it is highly recommended that you mail your resume first and then follow-up with a telephone outreach.

No.7: Increase Your Game--and Your Exposure--at a University Basketball Camp

School basketball camps generally serve to help an athlete get better and to help an athlete get noticed.  Consider this a job interview and like any job, it's all about networking and creating relationships. Be on your best behavior and be ready to learn as much as possible. You might just get recruited, without even realizing it.

No.8: The Final Choice

When making a final choice on scholarship offers presented, take a close look at the quality of the education at the school, the financial package offered and whether you will get playing time.   For example, are they offering a full-ride? A partial scholarship?  If one school offers a significantly greater financial award, it shouldn't be considered lightly since it helps you to both avoid going into major debt and it demonstrates their interest in you as an athlete and a student.  Will you be receiving playing time on the next level. Do you have a good chance of getting in the starting lineup by your sophomore and junior year?

At the end of the day, choose the school that offers you the best environment for athletic, academic and personal development.

Do You Have The Killer Instinct?

Consider the following hypothetical situation.  Le'ts say that you are playing for your high school or club team and you are having your way with the opposing team.  Pretty soon you've built an almost embarrasing lead---say 30 points.  Now, this is the situation, do you:

1.  Begin to feel bad for the other team and ease up a bit so that they can at least score a few baskets?

2.  Continue playing hard but maybe start taking outside jumpers while letting up on the defensive pressure in order to make the game more competitive?

3.  Never let up for a second, hounding your opponent on defense and punishing him on offense, because the only way for you to win is to do so absolutely and completely, and in your mind only the weak relent, even for a second?

If you answered "3", congratulations.  You share a mind-set with the most competitve life-forms on the planet.   Basketball is not a game for the tentative.  Basketball is almost the equivalent of a "cage fight", and resembling even more like a "street fight".  Winner takes all.  A lack of confidence labels you with the dreaded word "soft" tattooed on your forehead and those with the killer instinct, like sharks smelling blood, will gravitate to you for the kill.

 Call it what you will:  killer instinct, competitive fire, hatred of losing or just a desire to be unmerciful.   At the end of the day in basketball it is what seperates the men from the boys.   It is at once one of the most valuable skills and the hardest to teach.  Some call it "neurological freaks," for having a hormonal and neurological makeup than the rest of humanity.  

The killer instict manifests itself at all times; during practice, during games during summer workouts, during conversatin and even during sleep in highly competitive dreams.   It is something that cannot be turned off, even if you wanted to which the player with this instinct will not want to do at all.

The killer instinct swagger or bravado is one that is not liked by many.  It is often ridiculed and pointed to as somehow being unsportsmanlike.   Those who do usually end up being fans watching the game and if they are playing, end up being on the loosing end of the game.  Put it this way, if my life depended on a bet, I would bet on the killer instinct everytime.

When all is said and done, the legends of the game from every level of play have the killer instinct.  It is what seperates them from the average and even the great and catapults them into the stratosphere where only the legends of the game reside. 

Hate it or love it, the killer instinct is necessary to have to become the best at this game.   It must be hard-wired into the player to truly be elite.  Consider it more than just a survival instinct; it is a necessary weapon that must be wielded with no room for sympathy in order to truly succeed at the highly competitive game of basketball. 

If you still doubt it, dare to play someone that has the killer instinct and you will soon be a raving fan of this critical and yet so elusive element required to be a true champion.

What is a Post-Graduate Basketball Program? For Many It is A Great Choice!

WHAT IS A POST-GRAD BASKETBALL PROGRAM AND IS IT FOR YOU?

A post-graduate basketball program is normally a residential program dedicated to increasing opportunities for post-graduate athletes to be recruited to play college basketball.  Basketball players have the unique opportunity to mature while getting physically stronger. They gain the experience of playing college basketball competing nationally against junior college basketball programs,  and some include playing some of the top post-graduate teams in the country. They gain national exposure through events which attract various college basketball recruiters from across the country.  Many college programs endorse post-graduate programs thus positioning many of the players with an added advantage of being recruited over other athletes as these players have gained experience playing collegiate-level basketball before becoming a college basketball player.

Post-Grad Basketball

Post-graduate program is for the student-athlete looking for an extra year to become more physically, mentally or academically prepared for college without loosing any of their 4 years of college eligibility.

Normally, post-graduate programs operates on a nine-month schedule (September-May) in order to prepare young men and women for the hectic schedule of a collegiate student-athlete after they have graduated from a traditional high school. The programs are optimized to provide the best in basketball training while enhancing the college recruitment opportunities of the student-athlete.

The best programs include competition with (but is not limited to) top junior colleges and high-level prep tournaments around the nation. Athletes participate in two or more on-court workouts per day along with daily athletic performance training. Additionally, they receive mentorship and guidance in the college recruitment and selection process. All the while, the student-athlete continues to focus on individual skill training. Program coaches then work with each player to plan a schedule for individual training, summer camps, tournaments and leagues that will provide maximum opportunity for improvement, development, and exposure in the summer months.

Post-Grad Academics

It's equally as crucial for post-grad student-athletes to continue their academic development while evolving athletically. Elite programs have both in-house and extended academic options either located on their campus or in partnership with local educational institutions near the post-grad program.   Enrollment into the post-grad programs allow the student-athletes to improve their academic profile and SAT scores, further develop study and writing skills, and take Advanced Placement coursework – which can lead to college credit. Enrollment in quality post-grad programs should offer the opportunity to earn college credit and give the student-athletes a true taste of college life on a part-time basis.

With a top level post-grad program that offers a variety of college level preparatory, encouraging instructors and an accommodating schedule, the student-athlete should be positioned to enter college fully prepared academically and athletically.

Costs

Post-Grad programs are not cheap.   Tuition can range from $5,000 to $50,000 per year, although many offer full-ride scholarships for those student-athletes with maximum potential to move on to the next level.   Like all things in life, buyer beware must be in the forefront since there are always bad, good and great post-graduate programs spread out throughout the United States and beyond.  A critical component that should have priority in the decision-making process on whether to attend a post-grad program is to determine if the program is in good standing or accredited by the NCAA and/or the college/university that they student-athelte wants to attend.

BOOK REVIEW: Played Their Hearts Out by George Dohrmann | Must Read!

The NBA has returned to prominence on the backs of such phenoms as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett. The media promotes them, the shoe companies pay them, and America applauds. But how exactly do such players reach the pros? What do they do to get there? And what happens to those who fall short?

In PLAY THEIR HEARTS OUT: A Coach, His Star Recruit, and the Youth Basketball Machine (Ballantine Books); Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Sports Illustrated senior writer George Dohrmann uncovers the tough truths hiding behind the romanticized hoop dreams of America’s basketball prodigies and their families as they navigate this high-pressure world of big business and hoped-for NBA stardom.

This is narrative nonfiction at its absolute best—by turns illuminating, maddening, heartbreaking, page-turning, and ultimately hopeful.

At the book’s heart are the personal stories of two compelling figures: Joe Keller, an ambitious AAU coach with a master plan to find and promote "the next LeBron"—thereby paving his own path to power and riches; and Demetrius Walker, a fatherless latchkey kid who falls under Keller’s sway at the tender age of nine and struggles to live up to the unrealistic expectations his supposed benefactor has set for him. As their fortunes take shape and the pressure mounts—Demetrius finds himself profiled in Sports Illustrated at age fourteen by a reporter who caught onto the hype, while Keller cultivates his business empire—Dohrmann weaves in the stories of numerous other parents, coaches, and players. Some of them see their prospects evaporate as a result of poor decisions and worse luck. Others learn how to thrive in a corrupt system by playing the right angles.

Written with incomparable detail and insight, PLAY THEIR HEARTS OUT is a gripping and thoroughly unique narrative the reveals the inner workings of an American game, exposing what lies beneath so many dreams of fame and glory.

CLICK HERE TO BUY BOOK

Ohio State Buckeyes Trounce The Duke Blue Devils

Aaron Craft (4) of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrates against the Duke Blue Devils during first half action at Value City Arena on November 29, 2011 in Columbus, Ohio

Coach Mike Krzyzewski and his Duke Blue Devils were trounced by Ohio State this week by a score of 85 - 63.    Ohio State Buckeyes have now played seven games and sent seven coaches home with losses. They've won five by at least 31 points, beat No. 3 Duke by 22 and No. 10 Florida by seven.  No other team has accomplished more in the month of November and in such a convincing way.

For Ohio State, Jared Sullinger had 21 points, William Buford 20, Deshaun Thomas 18 and Aaron Craft 17 for the Buckeyes (7-0), who gave the Big Ten a 4-2 edge after the first night of ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups. Craft also had eight assists and five rebounds and was a terror on defense.

Austin Rivers had 22 points for the Blue Devils (7-1), who were coming off wins over ranked opponents Michigan and Kansas in their previous two games.  The Blue Devils had also won their last four games in which both teams were ranked in the top five.

Few would have expected such a lopsided result. Duke came in with a record of 11-1 in ACC/Big Ten games and had beaten its last five Big Ten opponents — including conference bullies Michigan State and Michigan already this season.

Allen Iverson: "Lose Yourself" Video Highlights. Amazing!

Allen Iverson:  The Answer.  One of the best guards ever.  Say what you will about Allen, but on the court in his prime he was a hard-charging cutting edge baller that impacted the NBA at the level reserved for the greats....and he is one of the greats....if in doubt....refresh your memory with this video.   Amazing!

American Streetballers - A Basketball Film Whose Suject Matter Transcends the Sport

Two basketball players are drawn into the lures of crime and gambling on the courts of St. Louis, Missouri tough Northside neighborhoods. Constantly searching for sanity in the midst of alcoholism, racism, and drugs, John Hogan (played by the film director Matthew Scott Krentz)and Jacob Whitmore (played by Jimmy McKinney) find release and therapy while competing at one of the most competitive street courts in the U.S.  Together, the two paint a sad and hopeful portrait with their innocence, concerns, and faith in the unknown.