Free Throw Shooting = Mental Toughness

[LCDutchman]

I don't think I have ever seen a team at any level miss nine free throws in a row.  That is concerning given the pressure that will be applied in upcoming games.  Concentration and mental toughness are taught.  Coaching the same wins games.  Ignoring this problem will be a mistake.

[tower912]

It's on the players.   It's also on them to take ownership on the floor.

[Tugg Speedman]

Let it go ... they had a off night.  As I noted before, trying to fix an anomaly only makes things worse.

But if you insist on micromanaging nine misses in a row, in game we won.  Then micromanage the game at ND.  We made 15 straight into a frenzied student section.  And we lost that game.

So make a bunch, lose.  Miss nine in a row, win.

Also, MU was shooting 70% for the season before the misses.  This is above average.

You're analyzing a non-problem.  An issue that occurred in 90 seconds over one game in a season that had 24 games so far.

Find another reason to bash Buzz (because that is what you want to do) as this is really weak.

[MU1980]

Very well said AnotherMU84.

[Nukem2]

Agreed.  Also need to add in the fatigue factor as the team was playing at a very fast pace from the 16 minute mark.

[Canadian Dimes]

Original poster is lost.  problem with last night is those situations cannot be recreated ortaught in practice.  They have to be lived.  We handled it poorly and still won.  We will be much better equipped mentally next time around for experiencing it.

Same reasons the retards that have never had to shoot clutch FT's in their lives say Mu players need to shoot 100 FTs every day.  Hard to recreat all the issues they had last night in Kasten. 

Lastly, fatigue is an excuse...were they tired...sure they were tired.  But actually alot of those guys that missed FT's played fewer minutes than they normally play.  Did we play at amore frantic pace...yes...but we also subbed more.  Bottom line is those FT's were not missed becuase we were tired.  They were missed menatlly and then one miss menatlly built on the other especially the last 4-5 as they pretty much knew they just needed to make one to seal it. 

[MKEblue]

The greatest coach in MU history, the late great AL, would run his players baseline to baseline in the old gym to the point of throwing up almost every practice and then would make them all shoot 10 free throws. If they didnt make a certain % guess what? they would run again and try all over again. So is fatigue an excuse? sure, but is it also preventable in practice? HECK yes. With that being said the only thing that really gets to me about the free throw situation is watching our players practice dunking in warm ups for two minutes when they should be practicing free throws for two minutes. Idc if they only shoot one FT in that time slot, but If they start hitting all the free throws, then fine go practice dunking.

[GGGG]

The greatest coach in MU history, the late great AL, would run his players baseline to baseline in the old gym to the point of throwing up almost every practice and then would make them all shoot 10 free throws. If they didnt make a certain % guess what? they would run again and try all over again.

Wow.  I wonder if Buzz has ever thought about this revolutionary coaching technique.

And BTW, Al's teams missed FTs in late game situations too you know.

[ATL MU Warrior]

The greatest coach in MU history, the late great AL, would run his players baseline to baseline in the old gym to the point of throwing up almost every practice and then would make them all shoot 10 free throws. If they didnt make a certain % guess what? they would run again and try all over again. So is fatigue an excuse? sure, but is it also preventable in practice? HECK yes.

My high school coach, arguably the worst coach in the history of the sport, did this very same thing.  I think the guys on our team have been there done that since the earliest level of competitive basketball. 

The poor performance at the line last night was not an issue of not being in peak physical shape, or because our coaching staff hasn't thought of having them shoot FTs while out of breath. 

[APieperFan3]

Original poster is lost.  problem with last night is those situations cannot be recreated ortaught in practice.  They have to be lived.  We handled it poorly and still won.  We will be much better equipped mentally next time around for experiencing it.  

Agreed. You can become a better FT shooter by practicing. Average college FT shooter is somewhere mid 60% I would guess? (Edit: 2009 was 69.1%)

So yes, practice your free throws to move up your average...but there is not magic pill that helps you hit two free throws with the game on the line.

"The situations cannot be recreated in practice. They have to be lived."I think the MU coaches understand that....but the MU Scoop coaches don't. Don't quit your day job fellas.

[bamamarquettefan]

I actually believe the only sure solution is for Buzz to follow Al's practice of erasing missed free throws from the scorers books so that the NBA scouts would be more likely to sign his players.

Imagine how Crowder's stock will jump if we fix the books to make him an 85% free throw shooter!  He might become league MVP.

Practice time is limited - and if Buzz has players running shuttles instead of practicing angles on the press, my guess is we would have lost by 10 and not been taking any of the free throws that we missed.

They were exhausted from the run - I would get upset by lack of effort, but not on a rare night of clanked free throws when running on fumes from a 16-point comeback.

[wildbill sb]

My high school coach, arguably the worst coach in the history of the sport, did this very same thing.  I think the guys on our team have been there done that since the earliest level of competitive basketball. 

The poor performance at the line last night was not an issue of not being in peak physical shape, or because our coaching staff hasn't thought of having them shoot FTs while out of breath. 

"My high school coach, arguably the worst coach in the history of the sport, did this very same thing."  - what a wonderful line.  +14!

[ATL MU Warrior]

"My high school coach, arguably the worst coach in the history of the sport, did this very same thing."  - what a wonderful line.  +14!

He never recognized my true talents.

[ChicosBailBonds]

If you have good shooters, you tend to have good free throw shooting teams.

Bo Ryan's team is one of the best in the nation at free throws and the have pretty good shooters. They also practice free throws during practice.

http://www.journaltimes.com/sports/college/basketball/men/article_a092a7ca-17f2-5940-a59d-a14926a404ec.html


ASU also practices free throws in practice, yet they are one of the worst shooting free throw teams despite practicing every day.


http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/2011/01/28/20110128asu-basketball-free-throw-woes.html

[Tugg Speedman]

I actually believe the only sure solution is for Buzz to follow Al's practice of erasing missed free throws from the scorers books so that the NBA scouts would be more likely to sign his players.

Imagine how Crowder's stock will jump if we fix the books to make him an 85% free throw shooter!  He might become league MVP.

I like it, can we do the same for missed 3s?