Watch This If You Want To Play College Basketball.

For most players who are serious about basketball, they usually have goals and aspirations to make it to the college level. And since you're watching this, there's a good chance that you do, too. The reality is, though, so do hundreds of thousands of players in your own grade. So if you don't have a plan to follow, then you're really fighting an uphill battle. In this video, I'm going to go through the exact process that you should follow if you want to give yourself the best chance of making it to that next level. And when I say process, I really mean how you can become the person who's qualified to make that jump to the next level. Because if you don't become that person, your likelihood of making that jump becomes much, much lower. But if you become that person and focus on developing the traits that are necessary, you give yourself the best chance of achieving your goals. Let's get into it. When we talk about the percentage of high school players who move on to play at the college level, and that's every level combined. So it's D1, D2, D3, Nai Juco, basically getting on a college roster at any level of college basketball, it's about 3 to 4% of high school players will go on to play at the next level. We'll keep that number in mind. We're going to talk about what this actually means a little bit later on, but I wanted to bring that up real quick before we get into it. The first thing you need to understand when we talk about the process to follow becoming the player who's qualified to make that jump is that you have to be great at something to get to the next level. You have to excel at something that's going to be valuable to a team at that next level right there. The best players at the high school level are the ones who get recruited to play at the college level. But maybe more important than just that, maybe looking a little deeper than just that, the players who get recruited are players who have certain traits that college coaches find valuable and can. Can see as having value to their team. So a point guard who can facilitate an offense at a really high level and can pass at a high level is a really great communicator. A. A college coach might see that in a high school player and say, hey, that can help my team. So I'm going to recruit that player because I see that they can fill that role for me or that need for me. And that's how a player gets recruited. And if you're an athletic wing defender, who can guard multiple spots. A college coach might see that and say, hey, that player would fit in well with our defense. And that's a need that we might have for this coming cycle here. So we're going to recruit that player. They're the majority of players who go on to play at the next level, do something really, really well, right? And at the high school level, they're generally great to elite at that one thing, or maybe more than one thing, but at least one thing. They're great to elite at that. And because of that, that's where they can add value at the next level. Right there, where you want to, you want to be is again, let's say a college coach is going out and watching a player play. You have to be polarizing or you have to be somebody who jumps out for a reason, right? You can be pretty good at a lot of things at the high school level. You can be a pretty good shooter, be pretty good at handling the ball, pretty good at playing defense. But if nothing really jumps out, then what role are you going to fulfill at the next level? When everybody's bigger, faster, stronger, and, you know, everybody in high school does something really, really well. But if you're in high school and you're not doing something really, really well, then what do you. What are you fulfilling? Because again, a coach is going to go recruit and they're going to say, hey, I see that that player can really shoot the ball and that can help my team, or that player can really facilitate an offense. That player can really rebound well. And I see how that translates. So your goal has got to be, I need to make sure that I do something really, really well. Because. Because that's what's going to get you in a position where a college coach looks at you and says, hey, that is something that can apply to my team, that can help my team. And we're going to talk in a second. I'm going to give you a list of some traits that you can focus on. If you're elite at these things, or at least one of them, you give yourself a potential in. Again, the goal is to get your foot in the door, and you do that by doing something really, really well. Like I said, we're going to touch on what exactly that means, and some. A list of some exact things in a second here. But when it comes down to it, you have to be honest with yourself and realize, like, hey, what do I kind of naturally do well and what do I not do well? Okay, if you're 6:1, maybe at the level you're at in high school, you rebound really, really well and that's like your best thing. But at the college level where everybody's bigger, faster, stronger, that rebounding might not be as translatable. So is there something else that you can do really, really well to make a college coach say, hey, that that player can help me in this area. And that's where you've got to be. You got to be honest with yourself about what that actually looks like for you. And you know, if you're someone, if you're a junior in high school and you're not really a ball handler, it's never really been what you do. It's not really natural to you trying to focus on becoming an elite point guard over the next two years. Probably not something that's going to translate well for you if it's not something that you, that you have already been doing right. Maybe instead of that, you're a pretty good shooter. So your goal becomes, hey, how do I become eliminated elite at this skill right here so that I have myself an end? You got to be honest with yourself and about what you do well and what you don't do well. Going on to the next point is you need to know who you can afford to be and who you can not afford to be, right? Everything is fair, but it's not always equal. The insanely gifted 6 foot 9 player is going to be allowed to do more things wrong, to mess more things up than, than the 510 guard who's not insanely naturally gifted. That that guard, that smaller player who doesn't have the same natural abilities is not going to have as long of a leash to have other issues as that player who's bigger, faster, stronger and very naturally gifted. So really what that means is that if you aren't just the best player, you've got to make sure that there aren't other things that potentially hold you back from getting an opportunity at the next level. So do you compete harder than everybody else? Do you play hard all of the time? Again, if you're supernaturally gifted, way bigger, more athletic than everybody, you can afford to maybe not play all that hard all the time. And you're still going to be someone who a coach will look and say, hey, regardless of that, they're still going to be able to help my team. If you don't have that, then you're not going to be granted that same, that same sort of leniency with that. Do you communicate at a high level? Usually at some Point, there's some sort of communication between a college coach who might recruit you and your high school coach or your au, you coach. What would that conversation go like if that college goes asked like, okay, tell me about this kid, are they going to be able to say, oh yeah, very trustworthy, does the right things, or are you a headache? Right. If that coach is being honest, what, what are you, you know what I mean? And again, if you are somebody who is super talented, you might be able to overcome that. But if you're not, if you're a borderline player, that you got to make sure that you do everything that you can to put yourself in a position where you gain those opportunities, right? And this could absolutely be a reason why you may not get an opportunity. You need to know what you are, be honest with yourself and be who you can afford to be and don't be who you can afford to be. So going back to what I mentioned earlier, here is just a list of traits that are valuable at the college level. Pretty much any team out there is going to find these traits valuable. And if a coach is going out and looking to recruit players, generally it's because they fill one of these needs. So number one is shooters. And this could go for a bunch of different roles that involve that. So obviously as a guard, you know, being able to shoot the basketball, but then being a wing, shoot the ball, maybe your coach likes to have, you know, versatile bigs who can shoot the ball. Maybe they run a lot of pick and pop stuff and like to have fives who can shoot the three as well. So really any of those areas, being able to shoot the basketball is a plus. Can you make shots at a high level? Right, Specifically catch and shoot threes. But you know, also, hey, can I, can you hit mid range shots when needed? When they run you off the line, are you able to play in the in between area as well? So shooters are a huge thing that a coach can look and say, hey, if you're an elite shooter, chances are you're going to be able to help somewhere, right? Obviously that kind of plays into the next thing, which is defensive versatility. So can you guard multiple spots at a high level? Right. I think this is a really, a really valuable thing. Like are you switchable? Like, can you go out there and start on the other teams too, but be able to guard one through four, Right? Can you say, hey, we can switch things because this guy can guard every spot on the floor? Right. If you, if you're like a wing player, can you guard One through four and then hey, if you get switched onto a five, you can handle yourself for possession. So you become incredibly valuable to a team when you have that sort of defensive versatility. If you're an undersized guard or even just a normal sized guard, are you enough of a dog that you can guard one through four, right? And you can, you're able to overcome some sort of that lack of size, right? We're going to talk about that, that trait in a second as well. The next thing is rebounding. So are you, can you rebound at a high level? And this can, this obviously goes for, for big. So if you play the five, like can you clean up the glass at a high level? That matters for sure. But even as a guard, like if you're a really, really good rebounding guard, and let's say for example, you have another trait that you're really good at, maybe you're a great facilitator, which we'll talk about in a second here, or you're a great shooter, but you also a super high motor and you, you pull a lot of boards. That's huge because now all of a sudden you're gaining extra offensive possessions with offensive boards or you're helping to finish possessions and take away possessions and shot opportunities from the, from the other team by pulling defensive rebounds. And rebounding is such a huge thing regardless of position. But if you can add this as like an additional trait, if you're a guard or a wing player, that's a huge thing to have as well. But rebounder, that's the next thing. And then kind of going alongside that sort of is having inside presence, so the ability to protect the rim. Right. If you're a five especially, can you guard the other team's five? Can you guard other good fives at the college level and not need help? Can your team say, hey, you can throw the ball into your five against our five and our five is going to be able to handle themselves in there. We're not going to have to send stunts or doubles or any of that sort of stuff because we have a good enough five that they're going to be able to get stops by themselves on an island. Because what it's going to do is it's going to allow your teammates to not have to help off of their guys quite as much. Meaning we take away those opportunities for easy kickouts and difficult closeouts that lead to, you know, drives and all that sort of stuff. So are you able to win that one on one matchup inside as that Five and then going along with protecting the rim too. It's like if you are someone who's a great rim protector, it allows your defense and your teammates to be much more, to take much more risk, be much more aggressive on the perimeter. They can hunt double teams more often. They can go for, you know, skills more often, they can jump past lanes more often because they know that if we get beat, we have somebody back there who can help us, who can protect the rim, right? Who, even if they beat us, they have to go finish over that guy. And that's a tough thing for them to do. So when you have a player like that, it completely changes how you can defend. So having an inside presence is such a big thing and such a valuable trait as well. Going with that I kind of mentioned already, but facilitator. So can you create for others? Can you. Are you able to lead and communicate at a high level? Can you bridge that gap between the coach and your teammates on the floor? Can you be that, that in between? And when you can do that, like, do you understand how to make other players better, how to get guys in a certain spot, how to get the ball to. To your teammates where they need to get it at? And can you consistently do that without turning the ball over? Can you consistently make good choices? That's a very valuable role, obviously, in the game of basketball as well. And then the last one that I want to talk about is probably the most, maybe, maybe the first one you might think of, but by far the least common at this level. And that's just a bucket getter, somebody who can say, hey, we need 20 from you and they're going to give you 20. And no matter how the defense plays them, they're going to go and they can score from wherever, whenever. It doesn't matter how you guard them. Those are very valuable players at the college level as well. I say that last because it's the least common. Right. The majority of players, like, the majority of players who watch this are not going to be this. Most players are going to do one or two of these things, maybe three of these things really, really well. And obviously as you gain more of these traits, that's when you have the opportunity to become more of like a bucket getter, someone who can kind of just go take over. But obviously having. Having players who can put the ball in the basket at a high level is very valuable as well. So if that's what you do, being great at that is obviously something that is going to catch the eye of a coach. Looking for a player that's going to help their team as well. So this is where we kind of go back to that, that 3 to 4% number that we talked about earlier when we talk about knowing, okay, where am I? If I want to be a college basketball player, I need to be great at at least one of those traits, right? At the high school level, people should be able to look at you and say, hey, they're great, they're a great shooter or they're a great rebounder. And that trait might be able to translate for you to that next level. So what exactly does that mean, though? Let's, let's, let's think about what that number represents. If you play, let's say you play in a high school conference with 10 teams, right? And we'll say your team's one of them. Let's say on those 10 teams, you. There's 10 players who get varsity minutes on those teams. We'll make it easier. 100 players right there in your conference who play. If we go by the number, three or four of those hundred players are going to go on to play college basketball. Again, that's at any level of college, any level of college basketball. Three or four players in your conference will do that. And you can substitute that out for your area, your region, your district, whatever, the 10 teams that you would play or the nine teams that you would play and your team. Obviously, that's not exactly how it works because some conferences the top 30 players are all college players, and in some conferences there's no college players. Right? Obviously it varies based on where you play and all, all sorts of different factors. But again, the average is three to four. So taking that, we'll look at, hey, does what I do, does, do I have, Am I good enough at one of these traits to consider that something I can hang my hat on? When we look at it from that perspective, are you one of the three or four best in your area, in your conference, in your region, in your district at that trait, Are you one of the three or four best shooters in your conference? Are you one of the three or four best rebounders in your conference? Are you one of the three or four best facilitators in your conference? Are you one of the three or four best inside presences in your, in your conference, in your district, whatever? And chances are, if you can say yes to that, then you probably have a trait that will translate. And if you can't say yes to that, then that lets you know that you need to focus on becoming better at that area. Right? Whatever. Again, being honest with yourself, saying, hey, this is what I already kind of do well, and doubling down on that and becoming great at it again, there's no use in being okay at a bunch of different things. You've got to be great at at least one thing. And when we say great, we really mean, hey, am I one of the three or four best in my area at this or in my league at this? And if you really want to ensure that that's something that catches people's attention, that's what you've got to focus on, being that. That's where you've got to get that ability too. And the last thing I want to mention, I kind of talked about this already. But when we look at it and we look at the college players out there who get playing time, this is at every level. D1, D2, D3 Naijuko the players who play right on, on half decent teams or good teams, right? The players who are actually getting playing because there's, there's plenty of players on college rosters out there who are not very good. Just, just straight up not, not, not very good players. Right? And you know, obviously there's a lot of players who don't get on the floor who are good, who just happen to be in a situation where they're not playing as much or there's other great players ahead of them. But there's plenty of players who aren't very good. But when we talk about the players who get on the floor consistently, there's a certain level of competitor that you have to be to be able to play. Because again, the difference between high school and one of the many differences between high school and college basketball is that in high school there's much less pressure because end of the day, if you don't win, like the majority of high school coaches aren't losing their job over a losing season or a couple losing seasons, right. Generally there's got to be more stuff that goes wrong for a high school coach to lose their job over a record. Right? At the college level, it's a little bit different because this is what these coaches do. Like this is their full time job for the majority of them, this is how they feed their families, right? So they have to win and they're going to put players on the floor who give them the best chance of winning. So there's a certain level of competitor that you have to be able to be. And a lot of times the disconnect for high school players, they don't Compete hard enough to get on the floor to be able to play. I kind of mentioned it already, but if you're undersized, right? Do you have enough of a dog in you to be able to guard multiple spots? When I say dog, like you can see it when you watch it, right? If you've watched it better on basketball enough, you know, when you see a player who has that dog that, that just. There's a loose ball that they shouldn't get, that they get anyway, there's a rebound that they shouldn't pull, that they pull anyway. There is, you know, a layup that they shouldn't make, that they make anyway, right? They go out and they defy what they, what should happen and they get the job done regardless having that ability and that trait. And it might look different for everybody, right? For a super quick point guard, it's going to look a little different than like a bigger, not as quick, longer wing player, right? They might play in a different way, but you can tell when you watch somebody like, are they doing everything possible in their, in their ability to win a basketball game? And that's a huge disconnect for a lot of high school players. They don't play nearly hard enough to be able to say, yes, I have that ability. And again, a college coach should look at you and say, that player doesn't play hard enough. They don't have the motor to be able to win at this level where everybody's bigger, faster, stronger, everybody's good. And you're not going to recruit a player who you don't think is going to help you win games. And at the end of the day, if you can't compete hard enough, then again, you're not going to win, you're not going to be very good. So on top of the traits, right, can you look at yourself and say, okay, again, am I one of the three or four best competitors in my conference, in my area, in my district, whatever the case may be, can you hold yourself to that standard as well? And if you have that and you have a trait that you're also great at, then you're probably going to not only find your way onto a college roster, you're probably going to be able to find the floor as well, right? When obviously that's the goal, is to be able to get there. Not just get there, but be able to play as well. So how much do you contribute to winning? How much of a competitor are you? How much does winning mean to you? Because at that level it has to mean more to you right? And again, the players who have that are players who are ultimately successful at that level and get there. So again, kind of takes you through it right there. What I want you to do as well is click the top link in my description down below. Get my free Elite Perimeter Score program to help you develop some of these skills. I also have a link to all my other online programs as well in the description below. I appreciate you for watching. Drop a like and subscribe if you're new and leave a comment for me as well if you got something out of this. If you have a question or a suggestion for a video going forward, forward. Again, I appreciate you for watching. I'll talk to you soon. Peace.