On Tha D
Expanding on Danny's blog-pinion that Memphis deserved to lose Monday night.
Now that the pain from that loss has eased a tad I can look at things a little more logically. Danny and I love to back up many of our hypotheses with some real stats.
So let's drop some knowledge. In Monday's game Memphis shot 63.2% free throws. We won't even focus on Kansas' freakish 93% success rate or Memphis' atrocious 40% from the field.
In sport, as in many things, you have to learn to focus on things you can control. You can't control how big, fast or experienced the other team is. However, you can work on things such as your physical, mental and strategic preparation.
Free throws in basketball. Is there any other situation in sport where you have more control in gaining points? Plz chime in. I'm opening this discussion up. PAT's in football are pretty close but you still have people trying to kill you or obstruct you as you kick; not to mention environmental factors such as rain, wind, snow, kicking surface, etc. Penalty kicks or shots in soccer or hockey? Still gotta worry about a goalie.
Free throws should be a virtual gimme. There is you, the ball and a hoop. That's it. Except for crowd distractions and the potential affects of fatigue, there is nothing else.
I would propose that a collegiate level athlete be able to shoot 80% free-throws while allowing for minor degradations (down to 70%) in performance due to "off games." Holy hell, Joey Dorsey attempted the 3rd most number of free throws for Memphis this season and made 39%. Two players for Memphis made a higher percentage of their 3's than Dorsey did in FTs!!
I can't go say the only reason Memphis lost is because of free throws but when looking at all the ways in which we had to put points on the board, this was the one over which we had the most control.
Now that the pain from that loss has eased a tad I can look at things a little more logically. Danny and I love to back up many of our hypotheses with some real stats.
So let's drop some knowledge. In Monday's game Memphis shot 63.2% free throws. We won't even focus on Kansas' freakish 93% success rate or Memphis' atrocious 40% from the field.
In sport, as in many things, you have to learn to focus on things you can control. You can't control how big, fast or experienced the other team is. However, you can work on things such as your physical, mental and strategic preparation.
Free throws in basketball. Is there any other situation in sport where you have more control in gaining points? Plz chime in. I'm opening this discussion up. PAT's in football are pretty close but you still have people trying to kill you or obstruct you as you kick; not to mention environmental factors such as rain, wind, snow, kicking surface, etc. Penalty kicks or shots in soccer or hockey? Still gotta worry about a goalie.
Free throws should be a virtual gimme. There is you, the ball and a hoop. That's it. Except for crowd distractions and the potential affects of fatigue, there is nothing else.
I would propose that a collegiate level athlete be able to shoot 80% free-throws while allowing for minor degradations (down to 70%) in performance due to "off games." Holy hell, Joey Dorsey attempted the 3rd most number of free throws for Memphis this season and made 39%. Two players for Memphis made a higher percentage of their 3's than Dorsey did in FTs!!
I can't go say the only reason Memphis lost is because of free throws but when looking at all the ways in which we had to put points on the board, this was the one over which we had the most control.
posted by Gary Z at
7:38 AM
5 Comments:
True-free throws should be gimmies, but can you imagine the amount of pressure to be on the court at that moment trying to make your free throws?? I, certainly, would not want to be in that position!
Dare I bring up the Louisville vs Memphis game 2006 when Darius Washington ONLY had to hit his free throws in order for us to win the conference and put us in the NCAA tournament??? Pressure!!
Should CDR have made these free throws-of course(at least some of them). Is he the ONLY reason we lost-no. I can list my opinion if you would like to see ALL the reasons we lost.
Give the KID(what is he, 20?) a break, you bully! lol...yep, I called you a BULLY!
By
April S., At
10:13 AM
40% from the field. Ouch.
I agree that free throws were not the only reason they lost. They had several chances to win. They could have fouled the Kansas player at the end before the tying 3-pointer was shot. They could have made one more basket somewhere. They could have kept themselves out of foul trouble. Could have not given up as many turnovers.
But one extra free throw in regulation would have put the game away, and to me that was the most blaring fact. One shot. One. Free. Shot.
I completely agree that 70-80% should be the norm on free throw percentage.
By
Danny Riley, At
10:51 AM
Fair enough on April's response about pressure. Granted there was tremendous pressure. However, I think we saw regression to the mean. The stellar FT shooting in the tourney by Memphis was a statistical aberration.
When under pressure they reverted back to their most commonly demonstrated behavior-- the behavior they displayed all season-- which was poor FT shooting.
However, pressure is also something you can alleviate t/ practice and psychological coaching. When I first came to UM for grad school I got to sit in on some psych training for the women's volleyball team. That was all pretty cool. We also used to wax practical on the specific topic of FT shooting.
But no one gets big NBA contracts by successful FT shooting so it's a very overlooked and mundane task I think.
By
Gary Z, At
11:22 AM
I guess the real factor in all of this is that free throws were not a huge part of Cal's coaching style, obviously.
I mean, concentrate on free throws and give up working on the Memphis lob(which we used often this season), or practice on free throws for hours at every practice and excuse running to build up stamina(but then we would get pounded because we can't 'keep up' with our competition)...you get the picture.
However, I still agree he should have made them....I just say that's not the ONLY reason we lost.
What about the HORRIBLE refs?? What about the part at the end of the game that the Kansas player had the ball, his foot is out of bounds, the ref is looking at his FOOT and doesn't call it?? From watching the replay, I think Rose did foul the guy, but it just wasn't called. Why didn't Coach Cal call a time out to make sure the guys fouled?? Maybe it is HIS fault....as you can see, we could go on and on...
I guess since we aren't the coach then we can't make that decision of what to concentrate on in practice. If it were easy, we would ALL be doing it, right?
Free throw perfection or not, look how far we came!
By
April S., At
2:30 PM
STILL waiting on a new post from you. You have had too much going on to not have anything to post about! I also heard that we are going to lunch this week?? LOL!
By
April S., At
5:48 PM
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