First attempt at sports/basketball shooting - C&C Welcomed

[iolair]

These were shot from a front-row seat at a BBL game yesterday - I originally intended to just check the light levels, but I got carried away! As a non-official photographer, I stayed in my seat rather than moving around the periphery for better angles. These are my favourite three shots, I'm pleased I got anything half-decent for a first attempt, but hopefully will try it again and any tips on how I could do better next time will be appreciated. (BTW flash isn't an option).

Settings for all: 1/350s, ISO 800, Aperture f/2.0
Shot on: Canon 20D, 50mm f/1.8 II.
Shot in RAW. Post-processing limited to crop, brightness (brightened all three half a stop), white balance and noise reduction.

Thanks!

1.

2.

3.

 

[KmH]

The holy grail of stick and ball sports shots is faces, emotions, and having the ball in the shot.

The vast majority of my sports shots are made in the vertical format, rather than the horizontal format.

 

[rlemert]

#1 Has a lot of missed potential. Everything leads the eye to the action going on at the right, but when you get there you wonder what the big deal is since you can't see the ball. The stray arm butting into the scene doesn't help things, either.

The other two, I like.