Diary Series: Drew Dawson, Asst. Coach - Hartford

Success in basketball requires an athlete who can collect external stimuli, visualize an effective response and convert the response to physical movement. Clearly, there are differences in the physical movement capabilities of athletes that are generally referred to as athleticism. This includes things such as speed, lateral quickness, vertical leaping ability and strength. However, given the rigorous selection process at the Division 1 level, differences among athletes are relatively small. Generally, the physical differences associated with athleticism are not nearly as important as the “response gap” in an athlete’s game.

The response gap has two components. Basketball IQ and something I refer to as 'movement efficiency'. The former consists of selecting the correct actions and the latter is the speed and precision at which the actions are executed. Basketball IQ is relatively straightforward: it is understanding the X’s and O’s of the game. This is built through playing experience, breaking down film, studying offensive and defensive schemes and building a response repertoire through situational analysis. Movement efficiency is associated with “seeing” the game and is related to the time between the decision to act and the initiation of the correct physical movement.

Depending on your tactical approach, high levels of basketball IQ are essential but IQ cannot be realized without efficient movements. In fact, many times a game is won or lost in the movement efficiency of the players. A key to improving this efficiency is making fundamental basketball movement second nature to the player. In terms of fundamental actions involving perimeter play, players must learn to effectively separate from screens – successfully catching the basketball ready to score. To do this, players must build-up efficient footwork.

All players can improve footwork but it is generally more critical for underclassmen, specifically, freshman. With seven freshmen in our program, our staff has made large efforts to continue the skill-development process of our young players. As a freshman begins his collegiate career (especially, entering conference play where most sets and schemes are known and heavily documented), he finds many shots tipped, blocked, or never shot at all. For most, this becomes frustrating which opens the door for us to further break down their game, expose inefficient footwork and provide corrective action.

How you define the right footwork varies from program to program; however, regardless of how you teach and build-up proper footwork – a continuous emphasis on the importance of improving footwork will assist the respective player’s ability to exploit scoring opportunities while aiding the overall execution efficiency of the group.

All the best as conference play gets in full swing. Go Hawks.

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