The purpose of this study was to investigate the factor structure of the sports skill domain of basketball and to identify test items to measure in this skill domain. A theoretical model of the hypothesized dimensions of basketball playing ability was developed based on a review of literature concerning basketball skill testing from 1906 to the present day. These dimensions were: (a) shooting, (b) passing, (c) jumping, (d) movement without the ball and (e) movement with the ball. Twenty-one items, including the nine items in the AAHPER basketball skill test for boys, were selected to sample these hypothesized dimensions. The tests were administered to 70 male junior high and high school students enrolled in the University of Minnesota, Duluth basketball camp during the summer of 1975. The hypothesized dimensions were analyzed by use of the following: (a) alpha factor analysis; (b) canonical factor analysis; (c) image analysis; and (d) principal components analysis. Both oblique and orthogonal rotations were performed with each of the four analyses. The hypothesized model was partially substantiated in that the results confirmed three of the factors: (a) shooting, (b) passing and (c) jumping with the only difference being that the factors of movement with the ball and movement without the ball combined into one. Since the following test items best represented the dimensions, it appeared that a battery comprised of these items would provide a quick and objective measure of basketball skill: (a) jump and reach, (b) dribble, (c) speed pass, and (d) front shot.
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David R. Hopkins (1977) studied this question.
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