The Cross Over Movement Blog

There are many concepts that basketball coaches accept, almost blindly as “truths.” Somewhere, someone taught something a certain way and other listened and the ideas perpetuated until one person’a way of teaching was accepted as fact. Unfortunately, most coaches do not challenge “fact.” They accept it and use it. Vern Gambetta writes about the Cascade Effect:

The cascade effect is the tendency of scientists and experts to echo the opinion of their peers even if they are unfamiliar with the research in question…Do not get caught up in the monkey see monkey do syndrome.

These “truths” are everywhere in basketball: static stretching to warm-up, never crossing your feet on defense, always use your left hand on the left side, etc. On a site this week, I argued that watching the waist when playing defense is another of these truths which I call myths. When I questioned the efficacy of watching the waist, I was told that nobody needed to prove anything because it is the best way. I don’t know why the opinion of a few, or even the majority, make something the best without any critical evaluation.

The arguments against watching the ball were unfounded, mainly that a player who watches the ball will be jumping all over the place. I don’t know how we make the leap from a defender watching the ball to a player jumping all over the place like a dog chasing any movement. Instead, I used the analogy of driving a car: if the car in front of me brakes, I anticipate it and I brake; but, if I catch something out of the corner of eye, I flinch. If I watch the ball, I anticipate the move; if I watch the waist and see a ball fake out of the corner of my eye, I am more likely to flinch, and the flinch. Furthermore, if I do not react in some way to a fake (react, not overreact) how am I possibly going to defend the action? When a player makes a shot fake or a jab step, as a defender, I do not know if it is a jab or a drive step or a shot or a shot fake until the action is completed. If I think it is a shot fake, and do not react at all, and it is a shot, he shoots an uncontested shot; if I believe it is a jab step, not a drive step so I fail to react, the offensive player beats me before I even start to move.

Watching the waist and not biting on fakes sounds like good defense. But, is it? The verbal arguments are persuasive and in slow motion appear correct. But, do they work in a game?