How to Play College Basketball (The Blueprint)

How to Play College Basketball (The Blueprint)

All right I’ll be honest I think a lot of players have a misconception as to what it takes to get to that college level college basketball is a very high level game there are a lot of things that are different about it there’s a lot of money involved at really any

Level so you got to make sure you’re on your stuff but with that being said of course it’s doable no matter where you are in the world whether you’re in the states whether you’re International College Basketball is becoming a more International game anyways so it’s doable but you have to know the real

Nature of it and it’s not most of what you see on social media it’s not most of what you learn as a player there are certain things that you’re going to have to take more seriously that you may have never trained or worked on and that’s

Just the nature of the game so I’ll go through all that today and although this is technically about college basketball a lot of it can go for pro basketball internationally so if you’re a young Hooper outside of the states just know this can apply to you and honestly

College isn’t always the best option sometimes it’s smart to just stay in your country work up the pro ranks there and have a great career so I guess think of this video as how to become a highlevel basketball player with the exception of NBA that’s a different story it’s completely different style

But if you get good at all the things are in this video it’s a pretty good bet you’re going to play at a high level let’s get it so number one is getting accustomed to higher speed this means faster players faster Defenders this means the pace of the game right so you’re going

To feel yourself kind of getting up and down the court a little bit more at each level that you go to this is the speed of your decisions which I really want to focus on because every single time you go to a new level these decisions are

Going to have to be a little bit quicker when you catch that ball you’re not going to have time to take a few dribbles back up and then make a decision if you don’t already know what’s going on before you catch the ball and have an idea of what you’re

Going to do beforehand chances are you’re going to be behind the play you’re coming out of the game so get really good at making quick decisions starting to see the game ahead of time and then most importantly being calm through this all I think a lot of the

Time younger players don’t realize how fast college basketball games move simply because of how calm these guys and girls are through these high speeds so if you can handle pressure to make these fast aggressive Defenders ERS look kind of stupid or look like they’re not trying that’s a pretty good skill to

Have but overall it’s about just getting comfortable at higher speed so this means not only getting faster of course but even more so learning how to play composed at these higher speeds it’s going to help you a lot number two is tactical skill and adaptability which in

My opinion is the most important one so we usually consider skill what can you do with the ball right what are your handles looking like how many shots can you make how’s your finishing around the rim and of course all that is skill like I’m not going to deny that but in

Reality it’s way more than that so what I would consider tactical skill is being able to get easy buckets through just being good at manipulating and reading the game of basketball so we got a couple check boxes here number one do you know terminology if you walk into a

College gym and you don’t know what a floppy action is a ghost screen a 45 cut a horn set it’s going to be tough for you so start studying these things now number two do you know how to work off ball and find either easy buckets or

Situations that you can turn into easy buckets or easy drives like Closeouts like advantages and handoffs like maneuvering pick and rolls all these situations that are much more realistic to see in a college game than in ISO number three do you recognize patterns well in other words do you see where the

Help Defenders are moving and what passes to make based on that do you recognize when to start a fast break do you recognize when to feed the post because they have a mismatch you got to start thinking the game on a new level seeing these patterns number four as we

Talked about do you make quick decisions I already said it but I’m going say it again if you don’t speed up your decisions for this next level you’re going to be behind number five do you have a knack for high IQ plays and context so in a late game situation do

You know what to do do you know how to see a new defensive coverage and figure something out this is stuff that comes with experience and being a student of the game and then are you tactically adaptable so what I would consider tactical adaptability to be is being a

Player who can fit into a variety of situations in one system or one team or even one game you may be a spot up player right who’s shooting primarily Corner 3es then your point guard may be out a game and you have to step into that role can you then adapt to that

Situation then maybe you’re playing with a different team or a different coach the next season and you’re asked to do something else can you adapt to that so if you’re able to know the game and understand the game well enough and then put your ego aside and do anything that

The team or the coach ask of you that’s a good bet to play at this level and then lastly I think it’s important to realize that we have to be able to combine this tactical skill with our actual ball skill in other words when’s the last time you worked on catching and

Finishing versus dribbling into the Finish you may be but I rarely see players work on that and it’s one of those skills that’s tough and is needed so when you’re working on your skills you’re finishing your shooting your ball handling work on these in ways that fit

Into an actual basketball game at this level all right next up you got to be freaking strong right if you’ve never sat like close to a college basketball game or even like an open run for high level college players it’s hard to grasp just from watching TV how physical this

Game can be and again this goes for pretty much any professional play as well like this is a contact sport and it’s physical and most of these players whether it’s the guys or the girls game are freaking strong so you got to be strong enough to maintain lines to the

Rim you got to be able to guard bigger players you got to be able to finish with contact you got to be able to handle contact that’s pushing you off your spot off ball you got to be able to handle pressure when you have the ball

And much more now I made a full video about basketball strength and developing it so go check that out but just realize that getting basketball strong is huge here and it’s going to open up a lot for you and this doesn’t just mean working out in the weight room Pumping Iron

That’s part of it but a lot of it is strategy and technique as well make sure to check out that video next up you got to be a shot maker from every level I’m not saying you got to shoot crazy Kobe shots but you have to make somewhat

Difficult shots look easy and by every level I mean three-pointers I mean getting into the mid-range I mean that kind of closer short jumper SL floater area and at the rim and these shots have to be comfortable even if they’re decently contested like a lot of the

Shots that you see at the college level players make them look easy but they do have a pretty good contest you got to be comfortable off bad passes moving in any direction including away from the rim maybe a highp speed sprinting and transition maybe rotating to catch the

Ball because realistically even from the three-point line You’ll rarely get that wide openen standstill three so start to get comfortable with anything become a shot maker work on contested shots not to say that you’re always going to shoot crazy contested shots but if you can get comfortable with a slight contest this

Going to help your chances big time now next up and this should be obvious but players don’t focus on it I never see anything on social media posted about it I rarely see coaches actually teach ing this especially trainers but you have to be able to play defense you got to be

Able to guard if you can’t defend the opposing team any given night you’re not going to play okay period And I know it sounds cliche and it sounds like an old school coach but enjoy defense take pride in it it’s just how it is and if you’re able to defend you’re going to

Find your way onto the court you’re going to get a longer leash and from there now you can start to show your offensive side of things but I see so many good offensive players who never even step on the court because of defense or I guess lack there up now

Real quick skill-wise before we talk about the mental side let’s talk talk about what you don’t need and this primarily comes down to you don’t need literally every move in the books is it good and probably necessary to be super skilled of course but learning hella

Moves and how to do these in ISO situations shouldn’t be your focus what it should be is developing super high levels of skill to finish with contact and Chaos again being a shot maker handling contact as you’re dribbling changing Pace with more simple moves to get by Defenders and most importantly being

Able to get by Defenders ERS very simply in the flow of an offense then once you get cut off once you’re on a roll once you have the leash to do that then you can get super creative with the ball but this should be the last step cuz if you

Look at how most college players score even the top scores and the toughest buckets are pretty simple yes there are super tough buckets but a lot of time this could be off of a cut this could be off of a pick and roll situation this

Could be when they go up at the rim and end up doing a tough finish cuz a shot blocker comes in at the last second and trust me I’m not saying that every colle player just needs to be able to jump stop and shoot an open three let’s be

Real you got to be really skilled to play at this level but learning how to be efficient with those skills you have should take priority over learning a bunch of new ISO moves now the last key that I’ll talk about and this is kind of the secret sauce to this recipe is the

Mental side of things and I just dropped my mental skills academy where it covers all of this stuff in depth plus I can’t really go into all of it right now so make sure to check that out it’ll be in the Virtual Academy Link in the description but the point is here you

Have to be ready for challenges you have to be ready for these big opportunities that you’ve been working your whole life for because if you get here or you get on the verge of it and you’re not ready for that moment and you don’t truly believe in yourself chances are there’s

Somebody out there who is so be a big game player Embrace these challenges and practice every day in the games when you’re playing against Rivals you got to be a game time player not just somebody who plays well in practice you got to be numb to highs and lows right if your

Team wins a big game yes celebrate but you’re right back to that even kill the next day if you screw up a couple times in a game you come out coach is mad at you you got to be able to bounce back from that the next time you get into the

Game there’s no room for going like this in a high Lev college system because there’s somebody to replace you coming straight off that bench again you got to have a high IQ so you have to think the game at a high level and be composed enough to do this in Crazy chaotic

Situations you got to be super diligent to make sure everything’s taken care of whether it’s staying engaged on defense getting offensive boards the simple things that coaches want to see and finally you got to find the perfect balance between between killer and efficiency of course you got to have

Some of that killer in you it’s what makes good player but you also got to learn how to channel that and a compos way that allows you to get easier buckets with that skill and that killer mentality sometimes The Killers got to say nah I’m going to go get this bucket

Myself all that but the other side the more efficient composed player on this shoulder will say okay let’s calm down let’s work with our offense let’s do what the coach wants and maybe make something happen a little bit more simpler for our team other times you got

To let that killer come out it’s the end of a shock clock maybe you’re getting hot maybe you got a mismatch on you you got to go get a bucket and finding that balance is very tough but it’s done by the best players in college now how do

You do all this right I’ve given you kind of the blueprint to all these things that you got to work on and get good at to play at this level whether it’s College international professional whatever it may be now it’s on you to go get good at these things so of course I

Have a library of freaking 500 something videos that you can go check out but I’m also going to be making a video very soon on how to get good at these things on how to just become a very robust basketball player so stay tuned for for

That if you’re interested in any of the Virtual Academy programs they’ll definitely get you right I got no doubt in my mind on that one so make sure to check out that link in the description as always thank you guys for tuning in till next Time

I don’t want to oversimplify this at all… because only .01% of players even end up at this level. BUT, if you have the right ideas in mind in terms of what makes a good college basketball player (or any high level player for that matter), it makes it much more realistic for you. Now get to work!

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