Does the road to Division 1 Womens Basketball go through jump shots, block shots or 3 pointers?
Not exactly.
The road to Division 1 womens college basketball goes through ACADEMICS.
ESPN Rise’s Clay Kallam wrote an article describing a necessary process of getting to Division 1.
It all starts at the NCAA Eligibility Center (www.eligibilitycenter.org), and the fundamentals of this game are academic. To play Division I basketball as a college freshman, high school athletes must first complete 16 core courses in English (four years), math (three years), science (two years), social science (two years), plus five other courses that qualify as core courses. Oh, and just taking them isn’t enough — a minimum grade-point average is required as well.
ESPN Hoopgurlz’s Mark Lewis is no ordinary sports writer. Check out his bio:
Mark Lewis is the national recruiting coordinator for ESPN HoopGurlz. Twice ranked as one of the top 25 assistant coaches in the game by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, he has more than 20 years of college coaching experience at Memphis State, Cincinnati, Arizona State, Western Kentucky and, most recently, Washington State.
If someone with over 20 years of college coaching experience is offering advice, I would definitely listen.
Mark Lewis makes some great points in his latest article on Hoopgurlz:
It seems today that the willingness to spend time in the gym or studying and following the game is taking a back burner to simply playing games.
What do you hear college recruiters claim is missing? Focused skill workouts in addition to the games and practices of both high school and club teams.
Although shooting workouts are imperative, so are ball handling skills, footwork, passing and cutting and a host of other parts of the game that aren’t just going to appear come game time.
When you are shooting, be sure your goal is shots made and not shots taken. It doesn’t matter if you got in 500 shots before school if you only made 75.
Good coaches will tell you that skill development is about repetition.
TV coverage of both the college and WNBA game continues to grow, along with internet coverage, offering more opportunities to learn basketball from some of the best in a flat-screen classroom.
It’s great to know that Maya Moore is a great player or that Brittney Griner is changing the game. But beyond that know what exactly it is that sets Moore apart from the rest or why Griner made such incredible strides in her game since the start of her freshman season.
