Basketball IQ: what is it and how can it be developed?

What is this quasi-mysterious element called basketball IQ? Is it something latent in most players yet developed by a few? Why is it that you can have two players spend 1,000 hours apiece in a gym and yet one will emerge with a better sense of when to do what and where. What it seems to be is an acquired skill and one that can be improved with the appropriate work and mindset.

With all this in mind, here's Merritt College Coach Keenan McMiller with another in our series of coaches explaining hoops IQ.

His definition

"Basketball IQ is developing an understanding of the game in certain situations. It is trial - error - correct ability. You have to understand your error, what you are doing wrong and what you need to do to correct it until it becomes a fundamental of what you do."

Expanding the skillset/mindset

"Players may already know how to help on defense but what about bluff and recovery? Or learning a jump stop and all the options it offers. You can let your defender go by you, shoot a balanced jump shot, do a reverse pivot and counter move, fake a shot to draw in the defense and kick it to a teammate. It's a position of power rather than always trying to go the hoop."

Learning from video

"I teach all my players like they haven't been taught and some are resistent, even defiant. Some have never watched film and can't see it for themselves but you can't correct an error if you don't know you are doing it. You can't see your options.

I provide my players with access to film and we have film studies. We'll look at 25-30 corrections from the previous game besides looking at film of our upcoming opponent."

So basketball IQ appears to be something similar to muscle memory but imbedded in the brain. A player needs to envision the options available in various situations, determine the best one to use this time and employ it, all of which takes place instantaneously. That takes learning of one's deficiencies, a willingness to correct them and then practice, practice, practice until such decisionmaking becomes second nature.