That says to me that these kids don't find details important. Nobody can tell me that a guard athletic enough to play D1 basketball and puts in the work cant shoot 75% from the free throw line. When only 1 of these guys shot over 70% at their last stop it shows they have not worked to make themselves well rounded basketball players.
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Unbelievable Stat
- Thread starter alabamahusker
- Start date
Agree with this, but also suspect that it wasn't a priority to their earlier coaches. Could be a reason they weren't getting play time at the last stop either. Hopefully Fred can coach em up, as free throws are definitely something that most people can get better at. I wonder if there's been such a rush to just get the team playing together that they hadn't had a chance to worry about foul shots.
The announcers during the G Tech game said Coach H said he had his players spend more time on free throws then ever this year so he is obviously addressing it.
Okay - I had heard that he started addressing it in practice after the season began when they were shooting so atrociously as a team. I don't know the whole history, but we could both be correct. Getting the players working together would take precedence IMO.
First of all, free throws are archaic. They are from the days of two-handed set shots. The game has changed so much that they seem ridiculous now. Who wants the game to stop for :45 to watch a guy do something he can’t and doesn’t even care to do? If a guy fouls, he
runs over to the end of the baseline and his team plays with 4 until his team gets possession. Game would delay for maybe 10 seconds. Foul while playing with 4, then play with 3. If you get fouled making a shot then 1 technical foul type free throw for the three point play, no rebounders. Also, the nonsense of fouling to stop the clock would end. Nothing worse than taking the second fastest American sport (hockey 1st) and having it come to a standstill while a team fouls every possession.
Second, the technique for shooting a free throw is completely different than shooting a jumper. Compared to a jumper a free throw should look more like trying to shoot the ball onto a shelf and have it stay there. Most guys don’t bother developing that level of touch. I’m guessing guys that are good at shooting a running floater are good at free throws.
runs over to the end of the baseline and his team plays with 4 until his team gets possession. Game would delay for maybe 10 seconds. Foul while playing with 4, then play with 3. If you get fouled making a shot then 1 technical foul type free throw for the three point play, no rebounders. Also, the nonsense of fouling to stop the clock would end. Nothing worse than taking the second fastest American sport (hockey 1st) and having it come to a standstill while a team fouls every possession.
Second, the technique for shooting a free throw is completely different than shooting a jumper. Compared to a jumper a free throw should look more like trying to shoot the ball onto a shelf and have it stay there. Most guys don’t bother developing that level of touch. I’m guessing guys that are good at shooting a running floater are good at free throws.
The HUSKERS beat Duke 83-79 on 4 Hannah Whitish free throws last Wednesday. I'm happy keeping FT's as part of the game. This isn't that ice game with a penalty box so leave the FT's alone.
The only small part of what you said that I agree with is “most guys don’t bother” and that is exactly the problem. Free throws are a big part of today’s game and the strategies involved as well so if you want to play this game at this level you would be a fool not to “bother” to work on this skill. Do you think any NBA team on the planet wants a point guard that shoots 55% free throws handling the ball during crunch time. Get real.
That doesn't seem to be a good excuse. If that's the issue, then they should just shoot it with their same technique for a regular jumper. They can use any technique they want. If it mattered to them (which it should, its part if the game), they would find something that works for them, and use their own time to practice it if necessary.
Bingo
Yeah, that won't slow the game down at all. Not to mention remove rebounding (part of the game) from the equation.
And second, well, that's just incorrect. Every shot coach preaches shooting with touch so the ball stays on the rim and has a better chance of going in.
As a DIV 1 scholarship ball player you should at the very least hit 60% of your freethrows….this is going to be a long, long year....that Creighton game was brutal....in that game I usually root for the team that has the best chance to make the tourney and that's usually Creighton...anyways GBR?
My point was that they should ELIMINATE them from the game. We agree that no one bothers and it is because they are “boring.” Kids don’t want to practice them. The game has changed. They stop the game, are uninteresting both to fans and the players shooting them. In figure skating they used to make skaters do perfect figure 8s as part of the scoring. Nobody gave a crap about it anymore so they eliminated it. People want to see jumps etc., you know, more exciting stuff. They used to call traveling and palming, but people like offense. Free throws suck!
They already shoot a free throw after a foul on a made basket. How would it be any slower? It was the only situation where I couldn’t really come up with an alternative off the top of my head. I guess you could just give them the third point. Don’t worry, you can still see people rebound all of the other missed shots.
I am not incorrect. Someone posted that the scientifically best way to shoot a free throw is underhanded. Try that with a 6’9” swing man in your face. There is a different technique for free throws - things you can’t do when shooting a jumper. Yes, you always use as much touch as possible on any shot, but you can use more on a free throw. That touch needs to be developed, yet the very people that play the game don’t even care. Go to a park where pickup is played and see how many free throw shooting contests break out. The free throw’s time has come and gone.
One last thing. If the game had originally been designed with having one defender leave the floor until possession was regained after committing a foul and they changed it to stopping the game for :45 and watching a guy shoot two uncontested 15 footers, you wouldn’t believe your eyes. It would be like baseball originally just putting the guy on first on an intentional walk and then changing it to actually throwing the four intentional balls. It would be like “what in the hell is the point of this?”
Spoken like someone who rarely sits through a game, but follows the sport via ESPN highlights. Free throws aren’t the problem, officiating that panders to the playground game is.
Basketball is a great game when it’s played as it was designed. Few things are more boring than watching a guy endlessly dribbling the ball. Toss in the inevitable palming to give them even greater confidence in their ability to bounce a ball, then bail them out continually when they drive to the basket and flail away with something that may or may not resemble a shot, and you create an ugly game with too many free throws.
Free throws are like special teams in football. If you have that as a hole in your team, someone is going to exploit it. You may have to bench a top player because he’s a liability late in a game. Or you may have someone use it to get back into a game if your team sucks at the line. And if we are going to be honest, there isn’t a higher pressure shot with the game on the line. If you don’t have your big boy pants on and can’t hit an unopposed shot from 15 feet, then it sucks to be you. And nothing sickens me more than making excuses for laziness, or rewarding a weak mind, which are the primary reasons guys aren’t good at the line. If guys would rather practice a windmill dunk or their bitchin’ crossover, then they can deal with the humiliation of clanking FTs that could be the difference in winning and losing. Be a complete player, or plan on being a spot player.
If your goal is to have a better, more entertaining game then call palming, traveling and player control fouls when the offense is initiating the contact, and dump the flagrant foul. Not allowing a defender to chose to foul in a physical manner only encourages offensive players to drive the lane. That doesn’t mean we allow guys to foul to the point of injuring, but getting knocked to the floor is sending a message. It challenges the offense to decide if driving is worth it, or do they decide to just pull up and shoot a jumper...create a choice, and let toughness be part of the equation.
There are problems with the game, but the free throw isn’t one, it’s the actions that cause the free throw that hurts the game.
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