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Free Throw Shooting is Driving Me Nuts

Crossblock

Junior
Jan 8, 2019
1,994
3,522
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I have complained about this for several years and it isn't getting better. When I looked up the Statistics this Morning, as a team we are shooting just over 66% from the Line. Last night we went 16 for 29 on our Home Court or 55%. To be fair, a couple of weeks ago we had consecutive games of 80% and over 70%, so we can shoot free throws at times. The inconsistency is puzzling.
Our team percentage rates 222 in the Country. The one thing you can't measure is how many attempts that were missed were front ends of 1 and 1's costing us the opportunity for additional Free Throws.
I have always maintained that by the time you reach College as a Scholarship Player you should be able to have an Average of more than 70%. With the amount of practice time and access to facilities, you should be able to have sufficient time to work on free throws and shooting stroke. If you need to improve, you should be shooting 250 free throws a day in the Off Season. A good stroke for shooting free throws is repetition and muscle memory, just like a Golf Swing.

It's hard to criticize Jackson-Davis for anything, but he is suspect as a free throw shooter. He gets to the free throw line more than anyone on our team. and maybe more than anyone in the Conference. Last night he was 7 for 14. If he hit 3 more free throws, and 2 of those were front ends of 1 and 1's, that's 3 more points on the Board, with the possibility of 2 More. If he gets to the Line that often, he needs ton take advantage.
 
TJD - according to the announcers last night- gets to the line more than anyone in the nation.

When IU ball made sense, getting into the bonus was a weapon. Now, I realize that it really isn't doing us any good. And we also miss the extra free throw on many 'old fashioned' 3 pt plays. It's beyond frustrating. Makes our margin for error even slimmer than it already is.
 
TJD - according to the announcers last night- gets to the line more than anyone in the nation.

When IU ball made sense, getting into the bonus was a weapon. Now, I realize that it really isn't doing us any good. And we also miss the extra free throw on many 'old fashioned' 3 pt plays. It's beyond frustrating. Makes our margin for error even slimmer than it already is.
The biggest frustration in all of this is that Free throw Shooting is the one aspect of the game you fully control. It isn't affected by what Defense your opponent plays, who guards you, whether your Guard was able to pass you the ball when you were in position to score. It's just you and a Basket 15 feet away. It is all dependent upon your individual skill.
 
The biggest frustration in all of this is that Free throw Shooting is the one aspect of the game you fully control. It isn't affected by what Defense your opponent plays, who guards you, whether your Guard was able to pass you the ball when you were in position to score. It's just you and a Basket 15 feet away. It is all dependent upon your individual skill.
of the players who have shot a respectable amount of FTs so far....we only have ONE player (AF) who is shooting better than 70%. AD and RP are in the 60%s. As guards, that's unacceptable. I was then going to go over their shooting, especially their 3pt shooting, but it's even worse.
 
TJD has really bad shooting form , we need someone like the late Dick Baumgartner to work with this team on shooting . I worked his shooting camp several years , and he really knew how to teach shooting . I had 2 daughters who attended his camp and they both shot over 70 percent from the line in HS .
 
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IU's free throw performance is mostly due to being mentally weak.
You can see when the step to the line.
Very little focus or determination.
And when they miss, they don't seem to care.

And yes, I realize that there is no way that I know what's going on in their head.
But they look like, and act like, a poor free throw shooting team.
And that is exactly what they are.
 
IU's free throw performance is mostly due to being mentally weak.
You can see when the step to the line.
Very little focus or determination.
And when they miss, they don't seem to care.

And yes, I realize that there is no way that I know what's going on in their head.
But they look like, and act like, a poor free throw shooting team.
And that is exactly what they are.

we are a team that just gets lackadaisical. Even at the line.

It’s like they don’t care.
 
we are a team that just gets lackadaisical. Even at the line.

It’s like they don’t care.
And then there is my favorite. When your Teammate has two or three free throws coming and he misses the first one. everybody has to get off their space on the free throw lane and come up and high five the shooter and act like you're part of an end zone Celebration, and act like the Shooter accomplished something. You can encourage the Shooter verbally from your position on the Lane. That will also give you time to concentrate on where to go to get position for a Rebound if he misses the 2nd one.
 
TJD has really bad shooting form , we need someone like the late Dick Baumgartner to work with this team on shooting . I worked his shooting camp several years , and he really knew how to teach shooting . I had 2 daughters who attended his camp and they both shot over 70 percent in HS .
I'm glad you mentioned TJD's Shooting Form. To me it looks like he gets very little knee bend, doesn't get his elbow under the ball and just kind of snaps it from head level. The other thing that hurts him is he doesn't have a traditional shot from the Floor. on the rare occasions when he takes a 10 or 12 foot shot he always appears to be moving or drifting to one side, and is never fully in balance.
 
I'm glad you mentioned TJD's Shooting Form. To me it looks like he gets very little knee bend, doesn't get his elbow under the ball and just kind of snaps it from head level. The other thing that hurts him is he doesn't have a traditional shot from the Floor. on the rare occasions when he takes a 10 or 12 foot shot he always appears to be moving or drifting to one side, and is never fully in balance.
Yes and he also cost us two on a lane violation. Front end of 1 and 1 miss then guy sinks 2
 
If your team's biggest problem for the first three years you're head coach, you would think you'd do something about it. Obviously Archie hasn't and what he says about this team's shooting is pure acceptance of "some nights we just don't shoot it well". Isn't that your job to coach up players, fix or improve performance? The shooting form on these guys can be fixed, it's basic - like squaring up, practicing a good stroke., the FT line problems get fixed through work and setting standards and holding people accountable. Is that being done? I too hate the fist knocking and seeming congratulatory response by teammates when FTs are missed. How about players get in other players faces and tell them the team loses when they miss - tell each other and drag each other to stay late to practice free throws. With all of the video available, players should be able to get real time reinforcement of proper technique. As I recall most of these players were not good FT shooters in high school, so Archie knew he had to coach them up on this.
 
I'm glad you mentioned TJD's Shooting Form. To me it looks like he gets very little knee bend, doesn't get his elbow under the ball and just kind of snaps it from head level. The other thing that hurts him is he doesn't have a traditional shot from the Floor. on the rare occasions when he takes a 10 or 12 foot shot he always appears to be moving or drifting to one side, and is never fully in balance.
His problem starts with his feet , they are not squared up to the basket . Get the feet set right ,and the rest of the body falls in line . It's a simple fix , and I can't believe that after 2 years at IU no one has corrected this . If he thinks he can go pro with that form he is destined to the D- league at best . If the feet line up then your legs can give you the power to shoot the jump shot . TJD , and Brunk when healthy are arm shooters , which means they don't use their legs . That's the reason that you don't have to guard them 10 foot out , and the reason they struggle from the line . We have lost several games because we have trouble at the line . In the Purdue game we could have been ahead or close if we just shot 75 percent from the line , late in the game . Instead we are down , have to foul , and they put us away at the line .
 
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