Limiting Turnovers Through Fundamentals

When young basketball players watch their favorite players on TV, they often notice the speed of the game. The NBA and college basketball involve lots of fast breaks, zooming passes and quick dribble drives. As a result, young athletes often go too fast too early. They rush themselves to an advanced level by aiming to replicate the pros, but they don’t even get close. This often leads to turnovers. Lots of them. And nothing can hamper a team or infuriate a coach quite like a bunch of turnovers.

The good news is that this problem is correctable with even the youngest athletes. It all starts with the fundamentals - basic dribbling, chest passes, bounce passes, keeping your head up. Coaches have the responsibility of teaching youngsters about these important foundational steps to the game. Practices and clinics are perfect places to start. However, sports team websites can also be a great place to list and teach the basics. And in time, young athletes may significantly limit their turnovers.

Colorado averages too many turnovers

At the beginning stages of conference play, Colorado has recorded an 8-5 record. But if the team wants to make it into the NCAA Tournament in March, it will have to cut down on the turnovers. Coach Tad Boyle said that it’s become a recurring problem, according to the Daily Camera. After surrendering a season-high 16 turnovers in a loss to Hawaii on Dec. 25, the team relinquished 18 about one week later against UCLA.

“You’ve got to take care of the basketball,” Boyle told the news source. “We’ve got too many turnovers and not enough assists. That’s, individually, something I want our guys to take pride in. They don’t like hearing about it, but until we get it right, they’re going to continue to hear about it.”

Twenty turnovers later, Auburn loses SEC home opener

In its SEC home opener against Florida, the Auburn women’s basketball team forced 27 turnovers. But it wasn’t enough in the 63-50 loss, partly because they recorded 20 turnovers of their own, according to Opelika-Auburn News. While Auburn also struggled to shoot the ball, it was the sloppy play that caught the attention of coach Terri Williams-Flournoy.

“You cannot turn the ball over and win a basketball game,” Williams-Flournoy told the news source. “There were a lot of turnovers. They have 27, we have 20. It was a sloppy game, but the difference is they converted more points off of their turnovers than we did.”