Ball Handling/Dribbling

[jibsey]

This is often talked about but we have a significant number of players who are not tight with the rock and can't dribble well. Traveling,getting stripped, not handling passes, we see it constantly. Not much can be done about it now but it's frustrating to watch. It's a part of recruitment that you wonder if anyone pays attention to.

 

[huskyharry]

This is often talked about but we have a significant number of players who are not tight with the rock and can't dribble well. Traveling,getting stripped, not handling passes, we see it constantly. Not much can be done about it now but it's frustrating to watch. It's a part of recruitment that you wonder if anyone pays attention to.

Those skills, along with passing, have been a key focus in Coach Ollie's recruiting strategy. Coach Calhoun often went after talented players, but players who had the potential to be super if they overcame clear liabilities when they were recruited. Case in point, Stanley Robinson: fantastic athlete but lousy ball-handler, not a good passer and very uncomfortable on the perimeter. Hasheem also was not heavily recruited but developed into a dominant player by his junior season (although obviously still flawed at the NBA level). This has been discussed ad nauseum, but the early departure of so much talent two years ago has contributed to this problem.
Starting next year we add Rodney Purvis and Daniel Hamilton both with great handles and Sam Jr. who I haven't seen play but I read plays a lot of PG, so he must be good as well.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

This is something i have thought about quite a bit lately. We have 3 or 4 guards on the coaching staff, but the guys don't seem to be getting better at handling the ball.

Obviously, this is magnified significantly after a loss like this one, but if DD could learn how to handle the ball in even slight traffic, he could be nearly unstoppable with his skillset. Omar, Neils, and even Kromah could use some work as well.

I agree with above though, we have some ball handlers coming in, paired with Samuel (who, despite this game, has a great handle), and i think we'll be ok. But it's worth keeping an eye on going forward.

 

[johnhuskies95]

We have two guys that can handle the ball in traffic, and while one has a tight handle, he can be very careless at times (Boatright).

I don't think that it's been the reason we've lost any games this year, but a lack of ball handlers killed our season in '06.

 

[Kitaman]

Well it could be worse:

 

[mauconnfan]

This is something i have thought about quite a bit lately. We have 3 or 4 guards on the coaching staff, but the guys don't seem to be getting better at handling the ball.

Obviously, this is magnified significantly after a loss like this one, but if DD could learn how to handle the ball in even slight traffic, he could be nearly unstoppable with his skillset. Omar, Neils, and even Kromah could use some work as well.

I agree with above though, we have some ball handlers coming in, paired with Samuel (who, despite this game, has a great handle), and i think we'll be ok. But it's worth keeping an eye on going forward.

In this day and age if you can't handle the ball by the time you get to college, you can't handle the ball period! Natural abilities, by 18-19 you know whether you're a good ball handler, passer etc………..some guys aren't and we have way too many on the roster that aren't!

 

[aceboon]

This is something i have thought about quite a bit lately. We have 3 or 4 guards on the coaching staff, but the guys don't seem to be getting better at handling the ball.

Obviously, this is magnified significantly after a loss like this one, but if DD could learn how to handle the ball in even slight traffic, he could be nearly unstoppable with his skillset. Omar, Neils, and even Kromah could use some work as well.

I agree with above though, we have some ball handlers coming in, paired with Samuel (who, despite this game, has a great handle), and i think we'll be ok. But it's worth keeping an eye on going forward.

I don't think you realize how hard it is for non ball handlers to become good at handling the ball, as mau put it its something you have to have a natutal feel for and be blessed with. Yes there are drills that you can work on to improve, but if its not something you can already do in your teen years, its going to be very hard for you to become a good ballhandler. DeAndre could do ballhandling drills for hours on end, 365 days a year, and he's still not going to turn into Shabazz.

 

[boog204]

We have two guys that can handle the ball in traffic, and while one has a tight handle, he can be very careless at times (Boatright).

I don't think that it's been the reason we've lost any games this year, but a lack of ball handlers killed our season in '06.

I disagree that it hasn't "cost" us any games this year. Louisville's defense exposes that we do not have guys who are triple threat weapons. We have one guy who is a consistent ball handler/creator and even Bazz got picked once or twice. Against a matchup zone you need to move the ball quickly via the pass and dribble. On top of that our offensive sets are predicated on ball screens. Louisville will jump our screens and double b/c they know that LK, DD, and NG are not going to be able to create anything off the dribble.

 

[Strummer]

I don't think you realize how hard it is for non ball handlers to become good at handling the ball, as mau put it its something you have to have a natutal feel for and be blessed with.

I respectfully disagree completely.

Ball handling is like everything else in life - the more you practice, the better you get.
Piano, kite flying, diving, drinking Rolling Rocks, pitching hay bales, flossing, shooting a .22 at crows - it's all the same. Muscle control and memory.
Virtually ANYBODY can become an excellent pianist.
Virtually anybody can, in fact, become excellent at any activity that requires muscle memory - just put in the time.

Case in point. Me. I started playing ball seriously when I was about 12. I was absolutely horrid with the ball. No handle. TO machine. That was the case through about age 20 - at 20, at UConn, I started playing ball in the field house 2 or 3 hours every day. I forced myself to practice dribbling, even though I usually ended up playing post because I was (relatively) tall. By the time I was a grad student at 25 I had a very respectable handle, I could drive with confidence, and I rarely lost the ball. I was no Shabazz, of course, but the point is, I did most of my learning in my early 20s, and nobody would have confused me with somebody who has God-given talent from birth.

The reason that Daniels and Giffey don't have better handles is because they haven't handled the ball nearly as much as some other guys. At their heights, they probably rarely had ball-control duties. They absolutely CAN improve their handles. It's a question of time and commitment. Plenty of NBA players improved in many areas of their game after the age of 20.

A recent study concluded that, in order to be phenomenal at something, you need 10,000 hours of practice at it.

Look at a guy like Shabazz and Boat - if they started playing when they were 8 and they dribbled for a half hour a day when they were young and 1 hour a day when they were older, they have thousands of hours of ball handling in their memory.

In any event, I'm not arguing that every person can be a virtuoso. Hardly. Genetics dictates that. I am saying that virtually everybody can become very good at almost any activity that requires muscle memory.

 

[Danzz]

We will be getting guards next year but there doesn't seem to be a true PG among them. We still have Boat and Cassell seems to be the guy who will relieve Boat along with Samuels. The new guards make us bigger and will have an easier time passing over the top of defenders so we will be passing more than dribbling to breakdown a matchup zone. It is hard to tell anything for sure until we see the new guys play against Div. 1 competition. We lose ball handling with Bazz gone but gain in court vision. Our lineup next year could look like this:
Brimah
Hamilton
Boat
Cassell
Daniels

 

[Danzz]

I respectfully disagree completely.

Ball handling is like everything else in life - the more you practice, the better you get.
Piano, kite flying, diving, drinking Rolling Rocks, pitching hay bales, flossing, shooting a .22 at crows - it's all the same. Muscle control and memory.
Virtually ANYBODY can become an excellent pianist.
Virtually anybody can, in fact, become excellent at any activity that requires muscle memory - just put in the time.

Case in point. Me. I started playing ball seriously when I was about 12. I was absolutely horrid with the ball. No handle. TO machine. That was the case through about age 20 - at 20, at UConn, I started playing ball in the field house 2 or 3 hours every day. I forced myself to practice dribbling, even though I usually ended up playing post because I was (relatively) tall. By the time I was a grad student at 25 I had a very respectable handle, I could drive with confidence, and I rarely lost the ball. I was no Shabazz, of course, but the point is, I did most of my learning in my early 20s, and nobody would have confused me with somebody who has God-given talent from birth.

The reason that Daniels and Giffey don't have better handles is because they haven't handled the ball nearly as much as some other guys. At their heights, they probably rarely had ball-control duties. They absolutely CAN improve their handles. It's a question of time and commitment. Plenty of NBA players improved in many areas of their game after the age of 20.

A recent study concluded that, in order to be phenomenal at something, you need 10,000 hours of practice at it.

Look at a guy like Shabazz and Boat - if they started playing when they were 8 and they dribbled for a half hour a day when they were young and 1 hour a day when they were older, they have thousands of hours of ball handling in their memory.

In any event, I'm not arguing that every person can be a virtuoso. Hardly. Genetics dictates that. I am saying that virtually everybody can become very good at almost any activity that requires muscle memory.

It depends what your muscles remember. I've been playing golf since I was 12 and I still end up in the wrong zip code. My muscles have a crappy brain.

 

[aceboon]

I respectfully disagree completely.

Ball handling is like everything else in life - the more you practice, the better you get.
Piano, kite flying, diving, drinking Rolling Rocks, pitching hay bales, flossing, shooting a .22 at crows - it's all the same. Muscle control and memory.
Virtually ANYBODY can become an excellent pianist.
Virtually anybody can, in fact, become excellent at any activity that requires muscle memory - just put in the time.

Case in point. Me. I started playing ball seriously when I was about 12. I was absolutely horrid with the ball. No handle. TO machine. That was the case through about age 20 - at 20, at UConn, I started playing ball in the field house 2 or 3 hours every day. I forced myself to practice dribbling, even though I usually ended up playing post because I was (relatively) tall. By the time I was a grad student at 25 I had a very respectable handle, I could drive with confidence, and I rarely lost the ball. I was no Shabazz, of course, but the point is, I did most of my learning in my early 20s, and nobody would have confused me with somebody who has God-given talent from birth.

The reason that Daniels and Giffey don't have better handles is because they haven't handled the ball nearly as much as some other guys. At their heights, they probably rarely had ball-control duties. They absolutely CAN improve their handles. It's a question of time and commitment. Plenty of NBA players improved in many areas of their game after the age of 20.

A recent study concluded that, in order to be phenomenal at something, you need 10,000 hours of practice at it.

Look at a guy like Shabazz and Boat - if they started playing when they were 8 and they dribbled for a half hour a day when they were young and 1 hour a day when they were older, they have thousands of hours of ball handling in their memory.

In any event, I'm not arguing that every person can be a virtuoso. Hardly. Genetics dictates that. I am saying that virtually everybody can become very good at almost any activity that requires muscle memory.

I'm not saying you can't improve, Kevin Durant went from an ok ballhandler, to a great one and someone who can now initate OKC's offense. Steph Curry was a very good ballhandler but he is now out of this world and one of the best in the league. My point is you at least have to have a good base and feel for handling the ball. I'm sure Stanley Robinson's ballhandling ability was one of the areas the staff felt they needed to improve, but after 4 years he was still not a good ballhandler because he just lacked a great feel for the ball. No disrespect but cmon @ interjecting your personal rec league experiences, I'm talking about high D1/pro prospects here.

 

[UConn17]

I feel like ball handling is more something you teach yourself

 

[johnhuskies95]

I disagree that it hasn't "cost" us any games this year. Louisville's defense exposes that we do not have guys who are triple threat weapons. We have one guy who is a consistent ball handler/creator and even Bazz got picked once or twice. Against a matchup zone you need to move the ball quickly via the pass and dribble. On top of that our offensive sets are predicated on ball screens. Louisville will jump our screens and double b/c they know that LK, DD, and NG are not going to be able to create anything off the dribble.

We lost to Louisville because they're just better than us. And they're better than us in a lot more areas than just ball handling.

 

[Kitaman]

It depends what your muscles remember. I've been playing golf since I was 12 and I still end up in the wrong zip code. My muscles have a crappy brain.

I prefer to blame the clubs as I have tried using different balls.

 

[James]

Daniels shouldn't be a wizard with the rock , he's nearly 6'10 with gangly arms. But he definitely should be a safety valve for our guards , well need that this and next year . Our ball handeling looked sloppy vs a junk defense, it'll look superb at times in the ncaas.

 

[SeattleHoop]

We will be getting guards next year but there doesn't seem to be a true PG among them. We still have Boat and Cassell seems to be the guy who will relieve Boat along with Samuels. The new guards make us bigger and will have an easier time passing over the top of defenders so we will be passing more than dribbling to breakdown a matchup zone. It is hard to tell anything for sure until we see the new guys play against Div. 1 competition. We lose ball handling with Bazz gone but gain in court vision. Our lineup next year could look like this:
Brimah
Hamilton
Boat
Cassell
Daniels

I'm sure you just forgot him, but there is absolutely no way Purvis isn't starting next year, especially against defensive pressure. He can handle the ball very well and can get down the court faster than anyone on the team.

 

[Walker11]

From everything I have heard, Daniels has worked on his ball handling relentlessly. I bet that he would impress in solo ball handling drills. For people like him, it comes down to in game experience and developing a feel, e.g. having the awareness to realize the help D is going to close in and swipe the ball.

 

[Wise2]

Omar absolutely has to work on his handle. This is not high school where he could muscle his way to the hoop. He is trying to get it going and if he misses a 3 he also been trying to drive to the basket. however, he is getting stripped ever time he does it. For some reason he goes in and is quickly cut off and another defender comes in and takes the ball away. I'm sure he could do anything he wanted to in HS, but when his 3 ball is gone, his HS moves to the basket are not going to cut it.

 

[mauconnfan]

Omar will never be a great ball handler if he isn't now……..he can be adequate with work but again, if not now chances are really slim he'll start dancing through the lane ever! Same with Kromah and Giffey……..heck Kromah gets away with no left hand…….sometimes!

 

[caw]

We lost to Louisville because they're just better than us. And they're better than us in a lot more areas than just ball handling.

Better head to head certainly. They also had a very fortunate coin flip they lost. If they had won, Cincy could have easily beaten them in the final. Of course UConn would have then lost in the second round.

As to ball handling, it was Harrell who killed UConn. That's it. He is a beast.

 

[aceboon]

On a related note, the issues we've seen against the likes of SMU and Louisville with our guard play once the D is successful in taking them out of the game is why I have no issue at all with Ollie stockpiling guards. Having 3 guys out there with good size to get in the lane and the handles to create for yourself if things breakdown(and more weaponry off the bench) will dramatically improve the offense.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Daniels shouldn't be a wizard with the rock , he's nearly 6'10 with gangly arms. But he definitely should be a safety valve for our guards , well need that this and next year . Our ball handeling looked sloppy vs a junk defense, it'll look superb at times in the ncaas.

DD came to us as an extremely highly-touted wing player with perimeter skills at 6'7-6'8, a hell of a lot closer to a 2 than a 4.

We can let him off the hook for playing out of position at the 4 and not showing toughness in the paint, but we shouldn't also let him off the hook for having much less perimeter ability than advertised.

 

[uconnfan68]

I respectfully disagree completely.

Ball handling is like everything else in life - the more you practice, the better you get.
Piano, kite flying, diving, drinking Rolling Rocks, pitching hay bales, flossing, shooting a .22 at crows - it's all the same. Muscle control and memory.
Virtually ANYBODY can become an excellent pianist.
Virtually anybody can, in fact, become excellent at any activity that requires muscle memory - just put in the time.

Case in point. Me. I started playing ball seriously when I was about 12. I was absolutely horrid with the ball. No handle. TO machine. That was the case through about age 20 - at 20, at UConn, I started playing ball in the field house 2 or 3 hours every day. I forced myself to practice dribbling, even though I usually ended up playing post because I was (relatively) tall. By the time I was a grad student at 25 I had a very respectable handle, I could drive with confidence, and I rarely lost the ball. I was no Shabazz, of course, but the point is, I did most of my learning in my early 20s, and nobody would have confused me with somebody who has God-given talent from birth.

The reason that Daniels and Giffey don't have better handles is because they haven't handled the ball nearly as much as some other guys. At their heights, they probably rarely had ball-control duties. They absolutely CAN improve their handles. It's a question of time and commitment. Plenty of NBA players improved in many areas of their game after the age of 20.

A recent study concluded that, in order to be phenomenal at something, you need 10,000 hours of practice at it.

Look at a guy like Shabazz and Boat - if they started playing when they were 8 and they dribbled for a half hour a day when they were young and 1 hour a day when they were older, they have thousands of hours of ball handling in their memory.

In any event, I'm not arguing that every person can be a virtuoso. Hardly. Genetics dictates that. I am saying that virtually everybody can become very good at almost any activity that requires muscle memory.

"I respectfully disagree completely."

You were not playing at even a college level. There is a difference. Just being "very good" isn't enough for college, let alone the next level. If ball-handling alone was the point of basketball then Marques Haynes would have been the best ever.

You either have the gift to excel or you don't. It involves a lot of things, including genetics, work ethic, etc., but we all have a ceiling. The gifted ones just have a higher ceiling.

 

[James]

DD came to us as an extremely highly-touted wing player with perimeter skills at 6'7-6'8, a hell of a lot closer to a 2 than a 4.

We can let him off the hook for playing out of position at the 4 and not showing toughness in the paint, but we shouldn't also let him off the hook for having much less perimeter ability than advertised.

He was highly touted, not with perimeter skills. I believe he was lauded for his length and shooting ability. Both of which he has. Even watching his HS highlights you see he was limited as a 'creator'. I could see why scouts loved him, guys with his size who shoot like that dont fall off trees. He still has untapped potential as his body grows into a mans body.

 

[Strummer]

You either have the gift to excel or you don't.

No way. It's not binary at all. It's a spectrum, but virtually everybody could be excellent at dribbling a basketball.

Sure, only a handful of people can be Olympic level athletes in track and field.

But it's really a bizarre thought that virtually every college level athlete couldn't get better than DD and Giffey if they happened to have started young and put in a lot of time. It's clearly about practice. The thought that DD is simply not a good enough athlete to master dribbling is silly.

 

[huskyharry]

From everything I have heard, Daniels has worked on his ball handling relentlessly. I bet that he would impress in solo ball handling drills. For people like him, it comes down to in game experience and developing a feel, e.g. having the awareness to realize the help D is going to close in and swipe the ball.

I agree and DD has shown improvement over the last 3 years. His issue appears to be one of balance. He has a narrow base and relative high center of gravity and is easily knocked off balance. I expect next year, he will be incrementally stronger and have an incrementally better handle and he will see some time at the three.