this past year as a freshman i played starting pg and averaged around 4 steals a game, but i would get beat sometimes by trying to over anticipate the other player. i would also kind of get a little jumpy by moving my feet too much when i'm guarding my man with the ball out on the perimeter. Another question i have is should i let the refs dictate what i do on defense? I ask that becasue for this one game i was playing jv and i was playing good tough defense, but the ref would call me for a foul. I ended up playing like 7 minutes in the game mixed from the 3rd and 4th quarters because our starter got 4 fouls and later fouled out along with me.

DW,

First of all you need to play the game the way the refs call it.. you need to adjust, otherwise you will be sitting on the bench a lot. IF they are calling the game close... back off a little bit.

As for your steals vs getting beat situation.... you have to see IF what you are doing is a benefit or a detriment to the team. IF you are gaining more points than you are giving up - then maybe the steals are a good thing.... BUT, score and time on the clock mean a lot.

IF you are up one and time is running out.... the last thing you want to let happen is to get beat and they score - thats when you control the person you are guarding... don't foul, don't get beat and IF he is going to score its going to be from the perimeter on a jumnper off the dribble with a hand in his face. A TOUGH shot!!

If its late in the game and your team REALLY needs the ball... then you can become more aggressive and look for the steal.

Control the person you are guarding, don't let him penetrate and dish an easy pass for a score... fan him to the sideline.. force baseline and cut him off.. once he picks up his drilbble close out and lock up on him and don't let him have an easy look to dump inside or a pass to another player. You dictate what YOU want him to do... not him. Go to school on the guy, learn what his strengths and weaknesses are and then exploit them.

Good luck and let us know what you are thinking now.

well in that situation i was guarding the only player on their team that could do anything and i ended up completely throwing their offense out of whack. I was also able to force a lot of turnovers which got us back into the game.

Then as you describe it "in this situation" you were doing the right thing... but look at what I wrote before. I used to tell my playes that when you are the "King" you can dictate what you are going to do... when you are the "Queen" - not so much.

Pick your spots.... obviously you controlled their point guard and too their team out of their game. Good job.

it was a pretty crazy game we tied the game with a half court shot at the buzzer to send it to overtime and we ended up winning.

It sounds like you were having a good game. And you are looking for a way to get more floor time?

that was a jv game i started and would play all the freshman games. The season is over now but the coaches were pretty impressed with how hard i was playing. this summer i'm gonna be playin basketball probably almost everyday unless i have a baseball game that day. I really need to improve decision making on offense because early in the season i had a bunch of butterflies because in 8th grade i really didn't play that much and this year i was starting. well i ended up turnin the ball over too much but i improved as the season went along. i remember our 2nd game of the season and all together our team had 42 turnovers :(
we were playing saint clairsville away and we just played horrible. they went undefeated. but when we played them at home later in the year and we were so close to winning, but they had one kid that was lights out from 3 we had him shut down most of the game but then he got a few kinda open looks and drained them. that was a hard loss.

You are young and have plenty of time to learn.... playing will help you to make good decisions... pretty simple. I had a few players that didn't play or even make their 8th grade teams..... went on to be All Conference players by the time they were Seniors. They worked hard on their games and grew a little bit too, that always helps. You get bigger and stronger.
42 Turnovers?????? geezzz, were you just handing them the ball? LOL J/K
It sounds like you improved a lot over the season... a good thing... thats the way its supposed to be.... and I bet the next time you play them you wont forget who that kid is and where he is on the floor all the time.
I watched a Regional first round game tonight... and there were two kids that could just plain fill it up from way past the arc... one a Senior and the other a Sophomore (they have a younger brother 11, and he is supposed to be better than both of them) Must be the genes.

Keep working on your game... look at the parts of your game that needs work and then get after it this summer.... play great defense, handle the ball well, and SHOOT.

if there is one thing i can say about myself it's that i go hard all the time.

Thats a good thing... coaches notice things like that.... keep up the good work.