Ok, so this has nothing to do with EST and is more of me on my blogging soapbox. With my boredom and inability to sleep, I still think it's worth typing out.
I took the trip to New Britain, CT Monday evening to watch some men's college hoops. Division I Central Connecticut State - by all accounts a 'low D1', having gone 4-25 last year - played host to Division III Mitchell College, who was the definition of mediocrity in D3 hoops last year. Alright team in an alright conference. I did it mainly to watch CCSU freshman Jahlil Nails (Columbia '15) in his first collegiate 'game' (it was an exhibition), as he was the MVP in what I previously ran for a year before starting EST, the King of Kings College Prospect League. I also used it as a time to observe, though. It's interesting to watch games between teams in different divisions, to see what the difference is.
The main difference was on the scoreboard. CCSU used a strong late 1st half run to take a 22 point lead in the locker room, and they eventually won 94-66. Looking at the final score, one may think it was total domination. A group of Kevin Durants vs. Burnt Hills' JV team.
Definitely not.
As a matter of fact, there wasn't a vast difference from a viewing standpoint. Mitchell had a few guys that could compete, and their best player was every bit as good as CCSU's backcourt (Donavan McClean was legit). From a pure basketball skill standpoint, there wasn't much of a difference. CCSU's guys weren't vastly better shooters; didn't have the ball on a string compared to Mitchell ballhandlers; their court vision wasn't on x-ray mode compared to their opponents. What made the biggest difference was the physical stuff. CCSU was a couple inches taller and 10-20 pounds heavier at every position. Not to mention... Speed. Strength. Athleticism. Quickness.
I made the remark earlier that CCSU won the matchup in groups of '2s'. Each of their big guys got easy buckets by beating their matchup down the court on rim runs a couple times. CCSU finished through tough contact a couple more times. Their bigs outjumped or discarded their defender to get offensive boards & putbacks a couple times, and the guards did the same a couple more times. They recovered on defense quickly to make what looked like an open shot turn into a well-contested attempt a couple times. They used superior speed to turn a Mitchell made basket into a CCSU fast break opportunity a couple times. Add up all those 'couple times', and you've got quite a difference.
There's a couple things you can make of this - and I think both are right. First, there's some sort of a stigma attached to D3 ball in some people's eyes that it's just not good enough; an extension of high school ball. If you're a legitimate D3 prospect getting recruited by solid programs, there's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. I don't care what your know-nothing classmates and their know-nothing parents have to say about your letter from Babson and that it's 'only D3'. These cats can play. Most of your stronger D3 programs have at least one of these two things, and sometimes both - top players on the team that could feasibly play scholarship-level ball, or D1/D2 transfers.
To the other thing - if you get to the point of being a 'really good D3 prospect', or as others would say, 'borderline scholarship kid' - you're not as far off of that good D2/low D1 level as you think. No, you're not seeing ACC-level guys playing D3 ball. But many conference POYs could play in a conference like the America East or NEC, and many of these 1st teamers could feasibly play in the NE10 or CACC in Division II hoops. McClean for Mitchell could certainly play D2 ball, and if you put a CCSU jersey on him, he would've fit in with that clan, too.
There have been others to make that switch as well - a guy I played numerous times with while back in CNY, Matt Hart, tore it up at Hamilton College for a couple years. He transferred up from D3 to D1, and after sitting out a year because of NCAA transfer rules, he's suiting up for George Washington... and just had 7 points in 17 minutes in their coaster of a scrimmage W over Gannon. Keep in mind that numerous friends of mine (yes, contrary to popular belief, I have friends) are living out their dreams playing ball overseas now. And for every Syracuse, Marist and Coppin State that's in Europe, there's an Ithaca... SUNY IT... Geneseo... and the list goes on. Even if you're not getting a scholarship out of high school, put every ounce you have into it for 4 years at the D3 ranks - I know plenty who had to pay their own tuition that are now letting ball pay their bills.
Enough of the sappy D3 stuff. What's the difference that I saw at CCSU again? Physical tools. Strength, athleticism, speed. It impacted everything. It's not just about who can do a court sprint quickest; it's about relocating from the wing to the corner quickly, closing out quickly and being able to cut off the ballhandler, finishing through contact, discarding your defender, quick & explosive 2nd jumps.
My advice to any aspiring college basketball player? I've trained people, but that's not my trade, so I'm not here to give you drills - just to tell you how to do them. Do your drills at full game speed... and then do them a level higher. Push yourself to relocate between shots faster. Push yourself to make your change of direction & change of speed in ballhandling drills more drastic. How quickly can you get from the block to the 3 point line using a pindown screen, catch and be ready to shoot? Make it quicker. Too many times, I see people using the shooting gun the wrong way - 500 lazy jumpers, no movement, just spot shooting from a 'passer' standing underneath the rim. My rusty, out of shape self can still knock down 400 of those. I've never met anyone that can put up 500 legitimate shots going at full game speed with game movements without needing an IV after... or a lunch break in between their two sets of 250 jumpers. It's not all about the sheer quantity of attempts - make every attempt meaningful. Get better with every rep!
Finally, what (almost) no one wants to hear. Make the weight room and plyometric workouts your friend. Not only should you be getting stronger, you should be getting quicker and more explosive in a basketball sense. Even if you don't want to make it your friend, at least let it be that annoying little cousin you have to babysit all the time. You may hate their guts, but you're always taking 'em with you. Maybe you don't love the weights - I enjoyed plyo but rarely looked forward to a lift session. Power through. Make it happen. At least on this night, the difference between D3 and D1 was 10% skill and 90% physical. That's a pretty large percentage of the pie to neglect.
When you're at practice today going through drills, get to work. Don't look at it and say 'I'll focus on that after the season'. Bust yourself getting from one spot to the next in shooting drills. Make that pull-up jumper quicker, work on exploding on the first step and exploding into the shot. Work on making your release a little quicker. Make every rep count. Maybe you'll shoot a lower percentage because of how much more energy you're exerting on the process - but trust in the process. When games roll around and you have to get yourself open against a defender that wants nothing more than to have Twitter bragging rights about putting the lock emoji on you, you'll be able to make it happen. Maybe coaches will notice the college-ready tendencies - coaches that hadn't noticed you before. When you get to the next level, the 'culture shock' they talk about on the court may not be much of a culture shock to you after all.
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