{"id":2683,"date":"2011-01-26T00:01:21","date_gmt":"2011-01-26T06:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nsr-inc.com\/\/?p=2683"},"modified":"2011-01-26T00:01:21","modified_gmt":"2011-01-26T06:01:21","slug":"the-four-qualities-of-a-college-basketball-scholarship-recipient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/the-four-qualities-of-a-college-basketball-scholarship-recipient\/","title":{"rendered":"The Four Qualities of a College Basketball Scholarship Recipient"},"content":{"rendered":"

Success Rests on a Prospect Possessing Four Characteristics<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It could be easily\u00a0argued that earning a college basketball scholarship is one of the toughest of all undertakings for an aspiring high school athlete.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0akin to finding a hair on the top of Dick Vitale’s head — it’s hard baby!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands of American kids, not to mention those in foreign countries, play hoops in some organized fashion, starting as early as five years old.\u00a0 Late winter\u00a0afternoons, evenings and weekends alike are crammed with youth practices, games, showcases and tournaments.\u00a0\u00a0Hardly a night passes from the middle of November through July that an indoor basketball court in the U.S. goes unoccupied.<\/p>\n

Squeezing through the enormous crowd of aspiring players to emerge with a college scholarship in hand is quite the accomplishment.\u00a0 Think for a minute about everything which has to happen for that singular outcome.\u00a0 Numbers aside, all sorts of variables, predictable and unpredictable,\u00a0come into play.\u00a0 And then, of all the kids\u00a0taking up\u00a0the game during their\u00a0formative years, only a handful, relatively speaking, will actually\u00a0secure the opportunity to play college basketball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A quicker step here, a made shot there, a knowledgeable coach here, a knee injury there — any number of these interrelated incidents,\u00a0could separate the achiever from the dreamer.\u00a0 So, especially early on who’s to say 10 or 12 years ahead which kids will have dodged all the obstacles and grabbed the proverbial brass ring?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A perfect example is Charles Barkley.\u00a0 Could anyone have predicted that a pudge ball of a kid from Leeds, Alabama,\u00a0a\u00a0junior reserve on his high school\u00a0team and only recruited by one college, would be offered a college scholarship and go on to\u00a0become the fourth player in NBA history to\u00a0score 20,000 points, snag 10,000 rebounds\u00a0and dish\u00a0out 4,000 assists?\u00a0 No way, not even the Round Mound of Rebound himself would have dreamed of such other worldly things.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coaches, parents and peers all have a part, however significant or small, in\u00a0a basketball player’s fortunes, but to get there, that is, to earn a college basketball\u00a0scholarship, a prospect has to\u00a0achieve it on his or her own merit and no one else’s.\u00a0 Coaches can’t execute for a kid.\u00a0 Parents can’t shoot\u00a0last second free throws.\u00a0\u00a0And peers can’t look deeply into a\u00a0kid’s soul and make him or her put forth the\u00a0tiniest of extra effort every day at practice to get better then better and finally great.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

How a youngster will respond to winning and losing, praise and criticism\u00a0along with unforeseen outside influences are\u00a0unknowns, too, but they all must go through it as a kind of right of passage because those are<\/em> the trappings of top high school athletes.\u00a0 Yet, something innate allows the successful\u00a0ones to\u00a0progress beyond\u00a0the emotional landmines, unforeseen social trials and physical challenges with which others are inexplicably incapable of coping.<\/p>\n

Looking\u00a0back at hundreds of basketball prospects I’ve\u00a0observed both develop\u00a0into legitimate prospects and fall to the wayside, there are\u00a0recognizable traits of the successful and unsuccessful.\u00a0 Some\u00a0qualities are uplifting while others are sad to\u00a0witness.\u00a0\u00a0But,\u00a0there are four traits which stand out in\u00a0practically every\u00a0basketball, scholarship recipient.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here, then, are\u00a0the four characteristics\u00a0high school\u00a0basketball players must\u00a0have, or\u00a0adopt, to\u00a0win a college\u00a0scholarship offer:\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Talent.<\/strong>\u00a0 If a kid doesn’t have the talent to play basketball at the college level, it’s not going to happen.\u00a0 Granted, extreme height\u00a0will trump talent\u00a0at times, but\u00a0talent is<\/em>\u00a0the overriding issue\u00a0in recruiting.\u00a0 Here’s the thing, though.\u00a0 Coaches will disagree about talent.\u00a0 Some see it as athleticism.\u00a0 Others\u00a0view it as playmaking ability.\u00a0 Some, quickness.\u00a0 Others, game intelligence.\u00a0 It boils down to individual coaches weighing and perceiving the characteristics of talent differently with each one putting more value on one\u00a0feature or attribute\u00a0than another.\u00a0 Regardless, we know that from countless\u00a0evaluations\u00a0over the years combined with retrospective views of\u00a0a multitude of college players’ performances that\u00a0talent is why\u00a0basketball offers are primarily extended to prospects.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Competitive drive.<\/strong>\u00a0 This attribute is second for a very good reason — if there is a lack of talent, competitive desire will often, in time,\u00a0push talent to the next higher level.\u00a0 On nearly every college basketball roster in America\u00a0a coach\u00a0can point to kid and say, “I recruited that one because he works so hard to win.”\u00a0 Every team needs this player, but if it is coupled with excellent talent, i.e. Michael Jordan, then a program can do more than compete, they can win titles and championships.\u00a0 With a modicum of talent,\u00a0the\u00a0basketball player\u00a0who possesses strong competitive drive will positively influence practices and games, giving the team a chance to improve each day and win every time they take the floor.\u00a0 This is the kid who shows up early, works to exhaustion in practice,\u00a0gives one hundred percent until the whistle blows,\u00a0aims to win very\u00a0wind sprint, and pushes other\u00a0players\u00a0to improve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Team orientation.<\/strong>\u00a0 Today’s game revolves around team play on both ends of the floor.\u00a0\u00a0Coaches need every player to fill a specific roll up and down the court, offensively and defensively.\u00a0 It all fits together like a puzzle.\u00a0 Yes, there will be some go-to offensive players.\u00a0 And there will be defensive stoppers.\u00a0 But, the overview of\u00a0practically any\u00a0college game plan\u00a0focuses on\u00a0total team awareness and execution.\u00a0 Gone are the days of\u00a0Pete Maravich and Cheryl Miller, players who\u00a0controlled the game offensively and scored at will while their teammates set screens, rebounded and fed\u00a0them the ball endlessly.\u00a0\u00a0Today’s player has to\u00a0be willing to sacrifice\u00a0individual stats for team wins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Intelligence.<\/strong>\u00a0 Consider these three statements:\u00a0 1) College athletic governing bodies\u00a0are focusing on\u00a0academics and graduation rates more than ever.\u00a0 2) College entrance requirements have become more stringent.\u00a0 3) Winning college basketball\u00a0strategies and techniques are much more complex and advanced in the modern\u00a0game.\u00a0 These are all true statements which point to a single player requirement:\u00a0 intelligence and the\u00a0productive use of it.\u00a0\u00a0The NCAA has been the leader in the effort to require more academically from high school student-athletes to gain eligibility for athletic participation and then to\u00a0remain eligible play.\u00a0 The NAIA with\u00a0its\u00a0newly\u00a0instituted\u00a0academic clearing house is following suit.\u00a0 The NJCAA has a ways to go, but in fairness their\u00a0objectives are more individualized to their communities and\u00a0specific needs as opposed to\u00a0the overall\u00a0association body\u00a0such as the NCAA or NAIA.\u00a0\u00a0Regardless, academic advancements have been made which have forced high school prospects to be more attuned to their\u00a0academic responsibilities.\u00a0 This has in turn produced\u00a0better student-athletes for college athletics and for colleges as educational entities.\u00a0\u00a0The increase\u00a0in academic responsibility has\u00a0permitted\u00a0basketball coaches to\u00a0introduce more sophisticated\u00a0strategies to their players which have improved the technical skills and game performances.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When prospects pull these\u00a0four characteristics together, they are in a position to be recruited by a number of college programs.\u00a0 Without possession of any one of these,\u00a0a prospect is likely to fall short of reaching the goal of securing a college scholarship.\u00a0 The competition is simply too tough and there are plenty of kids available who have these qualities in abundance for a college coach to take a chance on a long-shot prospect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Success Rests on a Prospect Possessing Four Characteristics It could be easily\u00a0argued that earning a college basketball scholarship is one of the toughest of all undertakings for an aspiring high school athlete.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0akin to finding a hair on the top of Dick Vitale’s head — it’s hard baby!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hundreds of thousands of American kids, not … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[10,13,56,79,111],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2683"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2683\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}