In baseball they say to keep your eye on the ball. When it comes to dribbling In basketball things couldn’t be more different. Where should you be looking when you’re dribbling? At the ball? At the floor? Nope, you should be looking at the defense and your teammates.
Get used to looking away from the ball. When you learn to drive a car, they say to be mindful of the fact that you will often drive the car in the direction you are looking. You look to the left and unconsciously you begin to steer towards the left. Eventually you get to the point where you have overcome that natural urge to drive the car in the direction you are looking. The same goes for dribbling. Don’t look at the ball. At the beginning look where you want to take the ball or look at what others are signaling you to do or even just look straight ahead so that you see the court in front of you.
Most important is looking at the person guarding you. You want to be able to predict what they are going to do and the best way to do that is to watch them. If your eyes are on the ball that’s just not going to happen. Use this time to predict their next move and figure out yours.
Get used to having your head do one thing while your hands do something completely different. It takes A LOT of practice to get there but don’t get discouraged. Just make it a habit while your playing and practicing to keep your head up. This is also a safety concern. If you’re constantly looking down at the ball, you are not looking at where you’re going.
Let’s go back to rhythm again for a moment. Try looking at the ball and concentrating on your dribble while keeping a rhythm. It can be very difficult to keep even pressure on the bounce. It almost messes with your head a bit. Looking away from the ball is a much more natural feel after a while and it becomes very easy to feel that rhythm. Even rhythm can be affected by looking at the ball so keep your head up at all times.