I need your opinion

[rainmaker]

To learn to watch off-ball, tape a college game from a TV broadcast. Watch the game as usual, until there's an off-ball foul. Then rewind the tape until a few seconds before that off-ball foul. Watch to see the foul develop. The first time you try this, you won't succeed. So rewind and try again. Once you clearly see the foul as it develops, rewind and watch it again. Then in your next game, watch off-ball as much as you can, until you catch a real foul. Once you've got that under your belt, it's a lot easier to look off.

As far as what else to watch, I think the easiest way to maintain a proper focus is to speak to your self out loud. You can do it quietly, but doing it out loud helps keep your attention "out there" and not in your head. Speak the numbers of the players in your primary, and do it by match ups. "13 on 15, 32 on 44" and so on. Then aDD a sort of running commentary, again quietly, but out loud. "14 screens 31, 31 dodges around, 44 drops to the basket to catch a pass...." Another way to talk at this level is to try to see the plays. Is defense in a zone or a match-up? Is offense running the pick-and-roll to the left, or the right? When the coach yells, "33 crimson" what does that mean?

Once you can do this with consistency, start adding the thought and the word, "legal". 14 screens, legal, 31 dodges, well, legal, 44 drops to the basket, no contact so legal..." There's a lot more legal stuff to concentrate on, so it's easier to keep your head in the game. As you watch a play develop, you'll see the illegal stuff more easily if you're also watching for the legal stuff.