Broken record?? FT Shooting still SUCKS!!

[LastWarrior]

Nice win but i'm gonna harp on this every game until we get better...

UNACCEPTABLE FREE THROW SHOOTING...18-31 for 58.1%

[Wade for President]

at a good run in the tourney, let alone a solid season in the Big East...if our free throw shooting continues to be horrible.

Can't remember the last time a team advanced to the Sweet 16 while shooting around 60% for the year.  UNBELIEVABLE!!!

I can't believe how big a thorn in the side ft shooting is for our squad.  If I'm Crean, I'm running free throw drills/competitions until the wee hours of the morning.

[mu_hilltopper]

I think he is pulling out all the stops on FT drills, as his blanket/sleeping at the Al comment would suggest.

The unfortunate truth is that this team .. can't shoot well.  Yeah, last night's FG% was huge, but over half the points came from the paint, not jumpers or FTs.

Last year, I remember thinking, after the first 2-3 OOC games, we're going to win 2-3 more games than expected.

I think this OOC season has shown that we're going to lose 2-3 games more than expected, because our FT and jumper % are too low, and if we're not getting points in the paint at a high rate, we lose a lot of advantage.

[spiral97]

at a good run in the tourney, let alone a solid season in the Big East...if our free throw shooting continues to be horrible.

Can't remember the last time a team advanced to the Sweet 16 while shooting around 60% for the year.  UNBELIEVABLE!!!

I can't believe how big a thorn in the side ft shooting is for our squad.  If I'm Crean, I'm running free throw drills/competitions until the wee hours of the morning.

Then I guess UCLA has no chance either... might as well disregard that #1 ranking in both polls.. with a 130-210 record on FTs (for 61.9%) they're obviously waaaaaaaay overrated.. 

Not saying that you are way off base on your concern by any means.. just saying that no one single aspect of a team's performance can be certain to doom it.  We have several things to improve upon of which I agree FT's are one of the key (and should be one of the easiest) items.  Three point shooting is another (which I think we might be steadily improving on over the past few games - remains to be seen if we can maintain that improvement or better).

As for "running free throw drills/competitions until the wee hours of the morning".. I'm actually starting to wonder if the emphasis is what is causing a lot of our FT shooting woes.. Maybe they're overthinking it now.. maybe the "we can't shoot FT's" mantra has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.. maybe we should focus on practicing everything BUT free throws for a game or two and see what happens (doubtful that our FT percentage would get WORSE - and even if it did it probably wouldn't matter at this point).

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Realistically, it's not guys like DJ or McNeal that are affecting our team FT percentage...it's the guys you'd expect to shoot over 75 percent. That means Fitz and Matthews! Thank God for Barro or we'd be really scraping the bottom of the barrel. I saw where Crean said last night it wasn't a concern. Sounds to me like he's trying to help them not think about it. I'm sure it will improve.

[tower912]

Do we need an exorcism, a witch doctor, Dr. Phil, Stuart Smalley or Rick Barry?    This will cost us in the long run.

[rocky_warrior]

A few things...
1) LastWarrior, nice use of the HUGE font 
2) Good point with UCLA.  Not saying we shouldn't try to improve - because it's possible we could be undefeated now if we had hit more FTS - but if the team can score enough to counteract the bad FT %, then it's a moot point.
3) I also agree that maybe Crean should ignore practicing FTs for a few days.  It's way to mental at this point - the less thought the better.

[Warriorgal]

I attended last nights game with our son and told him I would personally volunteer to work on free thows with these guys.  (I'm a grandma who taught our boys how to make free throws!)  I'd sit on the floor behind each one and move those calves up and get their legs into the throw.  I can't believe these guys are not getting over this hurdle.  And you may be right.......this may be working on their minds ......"I think I can, I think I can......"

[Marquette84]

I attended last nights game with our son and told him I would personally volunteer to work on free thows with these guys.  (I'm a grandma who taught our boys how to make free throws!)  I'd sit on the floor behind each one and move those calves up and get their legs into the throw. 

By any chance is Murff your son? 

If so, it would explain a lot.

[LastWarrior]

Then I guess UCLA has no chance either... might as well disregard that #1 ranking in both polls.. with a 130-210 record on FTs (for 61.9%) they're obviously waaaaaaaay overrated.. 

UCLA & Marquette are two very different teams.  As good/ great as we think we are, UCLA has vastly superior talent to Marquette and that will help them overcome thier FT% in the short term.  But mark my word, if UCLA does not improve at the line, they will not be #1 when the Tourney starts and they definitely will not be National Champions.

[Warriorgal]

I had to laugh outloud, Marquette 84!  Pluh-eeeze!!!  NO - I make no claim to Murrf.........keeping my distance from that! 

[Marquette84]

I had to laugh outloud, Marquette 84!  Pluh-eeeze!!!  NO - I make no claim to Murrf.........keeping my distance from that! 

I'm glad you got the joke--I forgot the 

In the meantime, I think the concern over FT shooting is overblown.   Last season we shot 77% against Cincy and lost, and won close games against ND and DePaul despite shooting 56% and 61% respectively. 

And its not as if we're only winning agaist the buy teams this season despite poor FT shooting.  We put up just 57% against Texas Tech and 63% against Duke, yet won both those games decisively.  That flies in the face of the "we can win against better teams with poor FT

With an average of 18 FT attempts/game, the difference between 73% (last season) and 61% (this season) amounts to about 2 points per game.

Lets not worry about FT percentage, and figure that the improvement in James, Matthews and McNeal makes up for that lost basket.

Would I like better FT shooting as opposed to worse?  Yes.  Would it provide an additional margin of victory or some measure of safety in a close game?  You bet.  Do we have enough other strengths to overcome poor FT Shooting?  Definitely.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I had to laugh outloud, Marquette 84!  Pluh-eeeze!!!  NO - I make no claim to Murrf.........keeping my distance from that! 

I'm glad you got the joke--I forgot the 

In the meantime, I think the concern over FT shooting is overblown.   Last season we shot 77% against Cincy and lost, and won close games against ND and DePaul despite shooting 56% and 61% respectively. 

And its not as if we're only winning agaist the buy teams this season despite poor FT shooting.  We put up just 57% against Texas Tech and 63% against Duke, yet won both those games decisively.  That flies in the face of the "we can win against better teams with poor FT

With an average of 18 FT attempts/game, the difference between 73% (last season) and 61% (this season) amounts to about 2 points per game.

Lets not worry about FT percentage, and figure that the improvement in James, Matthews and McNeal makes up for that lost basket.

Would I like better FT shooting as opposed to worse?  Yes.  Would it provide an additional margin of victory or some measure of safety in a close game?  You bet.  Do we have enough other strengths to overcome poor FT Shooting?  Definitely.

Let's also not forget our FT shooting last year was propped up by Novak's insane 95% plus average.  Not saying if you take Novak away that it's the same as this year, but Novak's shooting lifted all boats so to speak.

UCLA, by the way, shot 17 of 19 last night from the line to raise their average above 60% finally.

[tower912]

By the way, for you young posters, a record was a vinyl musical recording, complete with hiss and pop.  When the vinyl would get a scratch, it would come back to the same place over and over repeating the same phrase.   Back when vinyl was the medium of choice.