Free Throws Again

[nyg]

A great effort goes to waste.  Free throws cost us the Fl. State game and now this game. 

Terrible, terrible, terrible.  Don't know what else to say or what is going on in the players mind.  What an effort on the road.   

[Norm]

Does Buzz still not have the players shoot free throws during practice?

[Niv Berkowitz]

This whole practice thing needs to cease. The guys who missed at the end have shown they can hit free throws....when it's non-crunch time. Doing it in practice isn't comparable to having to hit them at Morgantown. Just ain't so.

Young team. This is a game that a young team loses. Last year's team does not lose this game. You take the good with the bad. I'm as disappointed as anyone, but hopefully DJO and Jimmy will make them next time. And...they all look at the film.

You can't lay this one on Buzz as much as people are trying to.

[Norm]

So, when the guys practice free throws on their own, do they blast music or simulate deafening crowd noise? Do all the players have to stay until all of them make their last 5 free throws in a row? DO any of them have to run laps when they miss two in a row?

After two years in a row of having MU players miss FT's at the end of the game, I'd say there's probably some correlation as to why they can't make any of theses baskets with not practicing any in a controlled practice situation.

[chapman]

So, when the guys practice free throws on their own, do they blast music or simulate deafening crowd noise? Do all the players have to stay until all of them make their last 5 free throws in a row? DO any of them have to run laps when they miss two in a row?

The answer to those questions is no. Buzz is like a teacher assigning homework that doesn't get graded.  Some people might do it to practice for the test, but some won't do it at all and most will just go through the motions.  Force them to be accountable for making free throws like the dozens of other coaches whose teams don't routinely choke games away and they're also going to put in a better effort on their own time.  That way you can build "mental toughness" instead of just preaching it.

[77ncaachamps]

I think we need to "sticky" an official thread on why FTs are not practiced.

I wish they made those, but a whole game can tire your legs out.

[ChicosBailBonds]

This whole practice thing needs to cease. The guys who missed at the end have shown they can hit free throws....when it's non-crunch time. Doing it in practice isn't comparable to having to hit them at Morgantown. Just ain't so.

Young team. This is a game that a young team loses. Last year's team does not lose this game. You take the good with the bad. I'm as disappointed as anyone, but hopefully DJO and Jimmy will make them next time. And...they all look at the film.

You can't lay this one on Buzz as much as people are trying to.

Honestly, I haven't seen anyone lay this on Buzz, but I haven't read all the posts so I suppose there could be some people.  The kids missed free throws and didn't play very good defense in the last minute...Buzz did a nice job getting them prepared and ready to go in a tough environment.  Unfortunate game that we let get away.

[RawdogDX]

So, when the guys practice free throws on their own, do they blast music or simulate deafening crowd noise? Do all the players have to stay until all of them make their last 5 free throws in a row? DO any of them have to run laps when they miss two in a row?

After two years in a row of having MU players miss FT's at the end of the game, I'd say there's probably some correlation as to why they can't make any of theses baskets with not practicing any in a controlled practice situation.

are we in the bottom third in ft%?  Must be, otherwise people wouldn't be bringing this up. Right?

[soloWarrior]

missed the game tonight...sounds like the same ol thing...missed ft's in crunch time.

i'm not blaming buzz.  the players need to man-up and knock down their ft's.

u gotta have ice in your veins.

if these guys can't gather enough confidence to shoot from the charity stripe with purpose...then they deserve to loose. even a heart-breaker.

bummer

[downtown85]

Is there a way to practice FTs when you are fatigued or under a lot of pressure? 

I am just asking the question because the guys seem to make them in normal game situations but miss when they are under pressure and at the end of games.  DJO didn't look very confident (just the look on his face as he was just about to shoot) on front end of the one-and-one he missed.  As he shot it I said to myself that it wasn't going in.  The shot barely hit the front of the rim and bounced down. 

Jimmy on the other hand looked confident this time and I just think it was an unfortunate miss.  Against FSU however, it became psychological. 

Are their techniques where you can duplicate the psychological pressure of the game while taking some throws?

[willie warrior]

Face it!!! We blew a 5 point lead with 46 seconds to play. They scored 6 points in that time--we scored none. We missed the front end of two bonuses--DJO and Butler. We played poor defense.

How is it they could score 6 and we none. It was a blown game, and you hang those on coaching. Huggins must have known more than Buzz in this one. Hate Huggins, but his team got the job done and ours caved.

FT's were costly. If we are not practicing them--we should.

[tower912]

Completely wrong on the coaching.    One of the best schemed, best coached games I've seen Buzz have.    Timely use of TO's, good substitution pattern, turned a liability into an asset by having our little guys pressure their big guys, slowed the game down, used the clock.....he outcoached Huggins.    In the end, the players have to make playes.    If our FT shooters make free throws, this is a completely different board today.    Buzz can't make the free throws for them.     
Last year, coaching an 8th grade girls team, we lost a game by 4 in which we missed 5 breakaway layups and shot 4-18 from the foul line.   I couldn't sleep.   One of my players' parents sent me an e-mail about how impressed he was with the job I did with the girls, to not beat myself up, that it is on the players to make shots.     
All a coach can do is put his players in the best possible position to make plays.    It is on them, not Buzz,  to make the free throws.     Going back to Mizzou, it is on our guys to make their shots and Lazar to not make a 5th grade mistake at the end.   Same deal

[tower912]

Or.....we can blame the coach's decision to go with those    *&%^$#@$$%!@#$% light blue unis........

[NotAnAlum]

ditto, ditto, ditto
This one is not on Buzz, he did nearly everything right.
This is not a young team as some have said but it is an inexperienced team.  Other than Zar none of these guys have been relied on to do anything in crunch time.  This is one of the downsides to having the 3 Amigos around for so long, they were the MEN in this situation.
They say you get experience after you need it.  Very true here.  I just hope these guys don't become resigned to losing these games because IF WE ARE LUCKY the rest of the Big East season will come down to these kind of games.  The alternative is MU getting blown out.

[RawdogDX]

Yeah we are terrible at FT's.  73% as a team.  That has to be last in the NCAA right?

stupid trolls.

[Big Papi]

I think we were very spoiled when Diener and Novak were around.  They were automatic at the end of games.  Haven't had a great free throw shooter since.  McNeal and Matthews were a step below with Matthews being close to what Diener was.  

I don't see a star player on this team that wants the ball at the end.  I don't see a player on this team that is a very good free throw shooter.  

Blown games at the free throw line happens when you don't have a legit big time point guard.  A legit big time point guard with ice water in the veins makes this problem disappear.  Has nothing to do with practicing free throws in any environment.  Here is hoping that Jr is a good free throw shooter or has ice water in his veins.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Yeah we are terrible at FT's.  73% as a team.  That has to be last in the NCAA right?

stupid trolls.

Don't think they are trolls....what people might be saying is how do we shoot free throws in the clutch?  I always loved the stat on tv when it showed FT % as a whole and what it was in the last 2 minutes.

There have been some unfortunate losses for MU in the last two years due to an inability to hit free throws in the clutch.  FSU, West Virginia, Villanova, Syracuse, etc.  I have no idea what our FT % is in the clutch, it might be outstanding....perhaps I only remember the losses as a result of us not being able to seal the deal.

[Jay Bee]

DJO couldn't find his nuts and completed gimped in the clutch.  He's a helluva player and I'm glad he doesn't waste the NCAA-allowed practice time shooting free throws... he just didn't come through in the clutch.

Sounds like some folks think we should bring in a band and screaming fans at the end of every practice and have the fellas shoot 500 FT's each.  You're nuts.

PS - Mazzulla's free throw 'shot' was the worse thing I have ever seen, Shaq included.  

[Marquette84]

Completely wrong on the coaching.    One of the best schemed, best coached games I've seen Buzz have.   

I don't think one can absolve the coach 100% in these situations. It is incumbent on the coach to provide the proper motivation so the players have confidence. Either that wasn't done, or it wasn't effective enough.  The coach has to take at least some of the blame for that.  It wasn't as if our guys looked confident and just missed a shot.  They didn't look like they believed they could win.

We don't know what Buzz said in the huddle--Did he talk about setting up quickly on defense after a miss?  That would represent a huge coaching mistake--any psych major would tell you that the language that you use in those situations is  "After Jimmy makes his 2nd shot . . . "     

I also don't buy that these are "young" or "inexperienced" players--Butler is half way through his junior year, and has been in enough close game situations to understand what is going on.  DJO is halfway through his sophomore year.  The reason you bring on a Juco is so you don't have to go through freshman jitters.  If we bring on Jucos who have to play like freshmen, we might as well just bring on freshmen.

[MarquetteDano]

PS - Mazzulla's free throw 'shot' was the worse thing I have ever seen, Shaq included.  

I think Roziak wrote where Mazzulla was shooting with his other hand since his shoulder is in such pain.

[StillAWarrior]

Is there a way to practice FTs when you are fatigued or under a lot of pressure?...Are their techniques where you can duplicate the psychological pressure of the game while taking some throws?

I'm not taking a position on whether or not MU should practice free throws a part of official practice, but I will share an interesting method that my son's coach uses.  Typically at the end of practice (or earlier in some cases if they have a bad FT shooting game), he lines all of them up on the FT line extended (i.e., stretching all the way across the court at the FT line).  He picks one to shoot.  They must make two in a row.  If they miss, the entire team must run a ladder (sprint to the base line; back pedal back to the half-court line; sprint to the base line; back pedal back to the other base line; sprint to the base line; back pedal back to the FT line extended).  If they make the first one, the coaches yell, blow whistles, etc. for the second FT.  Then he picks another one.  If he misses, same drill.  I think it's interesting because it does a couple of things.  1) there's the pressure the kids feel because they don't want to make their teammates run; and 2) they typically are pretty winded when shooting.  Their in-game FT shooting has improved.  However, these are only seventh graders, so any good coaching (and I think they are getting that) will result in improvements.  I'm not saying this is the greatest drill ever, but it does address some of the typical "in game" scenarios that are not present if someone just sits and shoots FTs.

[Hards Alumni]

I'm not taking a position on whether or not MU should practice free throws a part of official practice, but I will share an interesting method that my son's coach uses.  Typically at the end of practice (or earlier in some cases if they have a bad FT shooting game), he lines all of them up on the FT line extended (i.e., stretching all the way across the court at the FT line).  He picks one to shoot.  They must make two in a row.  If they miss, the entire team must run a ladder (sprint to the base line; back pedal back to the half-court line; sprint to the base line; back pedal back to the other base line; sprint to the base line; back pedal back to the FT line extended).  If they make the first one, the coaches yell, blow whistles, etc. for the second FT.  Then he picks another one.  If he misses, same drill.  I think it's interesting because it does a couple of things.  1) there's the pressure the kids feel because they don't want to make their teammates run; and 2) they typically are pretty winded when shooting.  Their in-game FT shooting has improved.  However, these are only seventh graders, so any good coaching (and I think they are getting that) will result in improvements.  I'm not saying this is the greatest drill ever, but it does address some of the typical "in game" scenarios that are not present if someone just sits and shoots FTs.

we did this way back in 5th-8th grade basketball.

[ChicosBailBonds]

we did this way back in 5th-8th grade basketball.

Yes, when FUNDAMENTALS are taught.  John Wooden taught it at UCLA until he quit in 1975.  Other coaches still do it.

That being said, this is a good free throw shooting team....except at crunch time it seems.

[tower912]

I'm not taking a position on whether or not MU should practice free throws a part of official practice, but I will share an interesting method that my son's coach uses.  Typically at the end of practice (or earlier in some cases if they have a bad FT shooting game), he lines all of them up on the FT line extended (i.e., stretching all the way across the court at the FT line).  He picks one to shoot.  They must make two in a row.  If they miss, the entire team must run a ladder (sprint to the base line; back pedal back to the half-court line; sprint to the base line; back pedal back to the other base line; sprint to the base line; back pedal back to the FT line extended).  If they make the first one, the coaches yell, blow whistles, etc. for the second FT.  Then he picks another one.  If he misses, same drill.  I think it's interesting because it does a couple of things.  1) there's the pressure the kids feel because they don't want to make their teammates run; and 2) they typically are pretty winded when shooting.  Their in-game FT shooting has improved.  However, these are only seventh graders, so any good coaching (and I think they are getting that) will result in improvements.  I'm not saying this is the greatest drill ever, but it does address some of the typical "in game" scenarios that are not present if someone just sits and shoots FTs.

For fun, we added this.   If you make both FT's, you are offered a third.   If you miss it, the team runs.   Make it, the coaches run.   Or do nothing and nobody runs.    You learn quickly who wants the ball and who you WANT to have the ball.  Apropos of nothing, just something to try at your next practice.

[4everwarriors]

Should have Hack-A-Mazzula.