Last Updated on June 22, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake
I was reading a post from a father trying to get his son into Division 1 basketball. If you want to get into Division 1, you don’t need to practice your shooting percentages. That’s not what it’s about. You need to work on your athleticism, coordination, and dribbling skills. The only shooting I remember at tryouts was driving to the basket and making layups. If there were shooting drills, they were about watching the fundamentals rather than the shooting percentages.
Never once did I care if I made a shot during tryouts. Never once did I fear not making Division 1 basketball. Shooting might become somewhat relevant as you get older, but it’s never going to be watched closely. The people judging aren’t taking note of your percentages. If you show good fundamentals, they can tell by looking at you how likely your shots are to fall; they can sense how intimidated they are by you on the basketball court. If they don’t want to play against you, they value you.
That type of value doesn’t come from percentages. You could shoot a high percentage and not seem intimidating still because what’s going to happen to your shot when a defender is on you? Without good basketball coordination, those judging will wonder if the shot will still go in because you have to work your way around that defender. Focus on the fundamentals of the game and your body’s ability always. Speed is more important than a percentage. But speed can also be substituted for other things.