Abstract
Basketball has a high demand on a player's neuromuscular system due to a high volume of explosive high-intensity actions. This study aimed to examine the seasonal variations on game demands and players' neuromuscular performance during the Non-Conference (NON-CONF) and Conference (CONF) seasons in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball. Seven NCAA Division I Basketball players' (20 ± 1.2 years, 1.95 ± 0.1 m, and 94 ± 15 kg) match activity profiles were tracked in 17 home games (7 NON-CONF; 10 CONF); furthermore, players performed a repeat hop test on a force platform the day before competition to assess neuromuscular performance. A t-test for paired samples was used to analyze the differences between NON-CONF and CONF. Results indicated no significant differences in Total Distance, Peak Speed, Acceleration, and Deceleration loads when comparing NON-CONF and CONF match-play. Regarding neuromuscular performance, Jump Height (p = 0.03; ES = 0.43) was negatively affected during CONF. Moreover, a trend toward a decline in Peak Force (p = 0.06; ES = 0.38) was found in CONF. Conversely, no differences were obtained regarding Reactive Strength Index and Contact Time. In conclusion, match-play demands remained constant across the season whilst neuromuscular outputs were inhibited during the CONF season.
Highlights
Basketball is an intermittent sport in which repeated high-intensity explosive actions are performed during match-play (Steenland and Deddens, 1997; Calleja-González et al, 2016a,b; Svilar et al, 2018; Vázquez-Guerrero et al, 2019)
The purpose of this study was two fold: (1) to examine and compare the match demands in both a NON-CONF and CONF tournament of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Men’s Basketball Championship; (2) to investigate how neuromuscular performance outputs and neuromuscular fatigue levels change throughout the course of the complete collegiate basketball season
The main findings from this study indicated that: (1) no difference were found in matchplay demands when comparing NON-CONF to CONF seasons and (2) neuromuscular performance (i.e., Jump Height (JH) and Peak force (PF)), assessed with a repeated-hop test, was negatively impacted during the CONF season
Summary
Basketball is an intermittent sport in which repeated high-intensity explosive actions (i.e., jumps, accelerations, decelerations, and changes of direction) are performed during match-play (Steenland and Deddens, 1997; Calleja-González et al, 2016a,b; Svilar et al, 2018; Vázquez-Guerrero et al, 2019). Seasonal Variations in NCAA Basketball basketballers from superior competition levels (Ziv and Lidor, 2010) For this reason, coaches and sport scientists have long been interested in the study of basketball game demands (McInnes et al, 1995; Abdelkrim et al, 2010a,b; Sampaio et al, 2015; Puente et al, 2017; Ferioli et al, 2018; Svilar et al, 2018, 2019; Vázquez-Guerrero et al, 2018, 2019) and the players’ neuromuscular profile (Caterisano et al, 1997; Gonzalez et al, 2013; Edwards et al, 2018a,b; Heishman et al, 2019, 2020). This is especially relevant in contexts where the season lasts for long periods and the competitive calendars are schedulecongested, as in the National Basketball Association (NBA) or college basketball competitions
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