How to do a shifty crossover and get easy buckets

Its all about improving skill and getting buckets.

Basketball is a game of skill and the more you have at your disposal, the harder it is for your opponent to stop you. Tired of getting the ball stolen from you when trying to get by your opponent? Do you want to be able to shift the other team all the way across the court, making the crowd go crazy? Then the misdirection crossover is the perfect skill to add to your overall game.

These instructions are the perfect tool for you to learn this useful skill  that can give you a distinct advantage over your opponent. These key steps will teach you how to utilize, speed changes, body language, stance switching, and quick movements in order to execute an excellent crossover and blow right by your defender for easy points. Note that this a step by step breakdown of specific parts of a move, as such when executing this move in real time requires these steps to happen in rather quick succession.

What is a crossover?

One of the most widely used moves for all the positions in basketball, as well as the riskiest is the crossover. A crossover is a move that utilizes quick direction and speed changes to shift the defender off balance. The offensive player quickly moves in one direction to draw the defender towards that spot before quickly going in the opposite direction. This can potentially create a decent amount of space for an easy shot or quick drive to the goal to lay the ball up. If mastered it becomes a deadly tool to confuse and embarrass your opponents, which can also lead to easy points for you.

With fundamentals being simple and easy to learn, pro athletes are able to modify them to fit their specific game and this leads to various variations of the crossover. The specific crossover being explained in this tutorial is the misdirection cross. 

Understanding Fundamentals

Executing the fundamentals of a crossover can be the difference between blowing by your defender or getting the ball stolen. Most coaches and competitive athletes agree that a crossover needs to be a slow to quick move. Which means you start your move off slow in order to throw your defender's focus off and then quickly execute your move to blow past them. Your shoulders must be lower then your defender so you can get past them easily. This low center of gravity also helps with explosiveness by giving your legs more lunging power.

It is also very important to shield the ball with the hand not involved in dribbling the basketball, by having it level with your dribbling hand and blocking any hands that try to swipe at the ball. The ball should be close to your body, because any over exaggerated movements can lead to accidental loss of the ball or defenders swiping it. A tight handle is essential. Keeping your eyes on your defenders position as well as the position of the rim helps with situational awareness as well, but also be aware of where your teammates are encase you need to pass the ball.

So to recap important basic fundamentals:

• Stay lower then your defender
• Slow to quick move
• Shield the ball
• Keep all close to body
• Tight handle is the best handle
• Keep eyes on target

Step 1: Approach your opponent in a slight jog while in a high stance

Note the distance from the defender in order to execute the move

One of the most important aspects of basketball is knowing how to switch the stance your in to effectively create space and confuse your opponent. In general, when a player is standing straight up, they seem less likely to attack the basket and are usually signs they will pass or shoot. This usually causes the defender to either relax on defense or raise up to come forward  because they assume your about to shoot. In some cases the defender will stay in their defensive stance but this doesn't hinder the effectiveness of the move. The key is to come at the defender in motion.

So, for the first step the player approaches the defender in a slight jog while standing straight up and dribbling a the basketball at a slow tempo. It is important that the player has a jogging start towards the defender because this gives them momentum when starting their attack. the slow tempo of the ball dribbling tricks the defender into assuming your not about to attack because most attacking moves utilize hard pound dribbles to move quickly in either direction. It is important to focus your eyes on the defensive players position and the goal. Do not look in the direction you want to go because the defender will move to defend that position.

Step 2: Throw the basketball basketball in the direction you want to go and quickly lower your stance

This is a vital point in the crossover because it use is to setup the defender to be misdirected. Whichever hand you are dribbling with, right or left, throw the basketball in the opposite direction. That means if your are dribbling with your left hand to throw the ball to the right side of your body and with your hand to the left side. This is done while still in your high stance, preferably keeping the ball still close enough to your body to protect from the defender stealing it. This move will put your defender back in a defensive stance as they try an anticipate your next move.

Ball off to the direction intended but still close to body

After you throw the ball to your designated side, quickly lower your stance, which means to quickly lower your body to a near crouch and to dip your shoulders, slightly lower then your defenders. These steps happen relatively quickly so it is important to practice throwing the ball and stance switching repeatedly until you are absolutely sure you can do it and maintain control of the ball. This stance switch will make your defender change position to try and prevent you from driving to the basket, as such the next step will throw off their balance by tricking them.

Step 3: Jab step in the opposite direction you want to go and lean your body to that direction

How it would look from the defenders perspective

After you have lowered your stance and your defender is readily awaiting your next move, quickly step in the opposite direction you threw the ball with the foot matching that direction. So if you threw the ball to your left that means you step to the right with your right foot and if the ball was thrown to your right then you step to the left with your left foot. It is important that this step is hard and quick to force the defenders reaction.  This is called a jab step and is a frequently utilized tool in high level basketball. This opposing step to the direction of the ball makes the defender jump to the side your body is moving because they think that hard step is an indicator of the direction you want to go. Defense in basketball is about predicting opponents moves, as such the defender will be forced to assume that you are about to explode in that direction.

The vital second part to this move is your overall body movement. Even though you don't actually want to go in the direction your stepping, its important to make the defense believe you do. This trick is achieved through your body movement. By leaning your body to the side you stepped, you give off the impression of commitment to that action. This is further strengthened by you looking in that direction you stepped and key part to this step. Deception is a ball handlers best friend so any tools at your disposal must be utilized. You can pretend your calling to a teammate or even pointing in the direction you stepped can make the defender move to that spot to try and prevent whatever action they think your committing too.

Step 4: Push off the foot you jab stepped with to change speed and accelerate toward the direction you threw the ball

The essentials of any crossover moves require speed changes. For the misdirection crossover, the speed change after the jab step is what helps blow by the defender with ease. After jab stepping and leaning to the opposite direction you want to go, push off hard with the foot you jabbed with in order to explode by your defender.

While still leaning in the direction opposite of where you threw the ball, tighten the muscles in your leg you jab stepped with and push downward while quickly moving your body to the side you actually intend to go. Kick off the ground as if you were starting a raise and just too off with a strong start. The strong downward pressure and muscles contracting and extending give a sudden boost in speed and shocks the defender.

Step 5: Kick off with your other foot to fully blow past defender while using off hand to defend the basketball

The final step to the misdirection crossover is to use the foot you didn't jab with to further push past your defender in a further burst of speed. You kick off with the opposite foot from the one you jabbed with to push past the defenders arms and body. If you jabbed with your right foot then this step involves you kicking off with your left directly after that step. The same concept of kicking off the ground downward and leaning forward to propel yourself applies to this step as well just with  This step is the most important step in terms of getting directly to the basketball goal. The resulting extra explosiveness created from kicking off with your other foot helps to extend past defender who is already trying to recover from being thrown off balance. 

After kicking off with your back foot the next step is to use your off hand to shield the ball as you explode past your defender. its important that your hand is level with the ball to insure you can defend against the reaching hands of the defender. After this step is complete all that is left to do is dribble directly to the hoop or pull up for a jump shot.

Recap

Quick overview of steps:

1. Start from high stance and have jogging start
2. Throw basketball in direction you want to go and lower your stance
3. Jab step in opposite direction you want to go and lean toward that direction
4. Push off the foot you jabbed with and accelerate in that direction
5. Kick off with other foot to blow by defender and use offhand to shield basketball

The misdirection crossover is an excellent skill to add to any players game no matter the position because it can be utilized in so many situations. Its a move that's simple enough that any age range can learn it but complex enough that it can be further modified to be used at higher levels of competitive play. I very much like this crossover and utilize it quite often when I'm playing basketball. There are many different crossovers you can learn and each has its own pros and cons but if your looking for easy to learn go to crossover then the misdirection crossover is a great skill to learn.