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Post by realitycheck on Nov 21, 2019 9:30:10 GMT -6
Two very disturbing trends through the first 5 games are our 3-pt shooting in the first half of games and our even more dismal FT shooting.
Get this, we are 7 for 61 on threes in the first half of our games. That is a stunningly-bad 11%.
On Free Throws, here's our first five games: (we are 30-71 if you take out the ISU game)
Defiance 9-18
Evansville 6-15
UIC 6-12
Indiana State 17-24
Northern Ky 9-26
Some have claimed this is all on the players not the coaches, but Reevo nailed this on another thread. Shooting this bad as a team to start our games and the worst FT shooting as a team I can recall is all about mental toughness and poise. I'm certain we are shooting a bunch in practice. This is not a skill thing or a repetition problem. It's mental and that IS coachable.
I shouldn't listen to the post game because it always pisses me off. A lack of emotion for one and the quote that sent me over last night was "We couldn't overcome the FT shooting...it was so overwhelming." Are you joking? A full-court trap can be overwhelming or vastly superior athletes or massive size on the block or lots of other things may be beyond our control but going 9-26 at the line is not overwhelming if you're an upperclassman playing at home. It's just not.
We miss the lone guy with a true sack from last year more than a little. We can make up his points and assists but not his toughness.
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Post by cardfan on Nov 21, 2019 9:36:17 GMT -6
Two very disturbing trends through the first 5 games are our 3-pt shooting in the first half of games and our even more dismal FT shooting. Get this, we are 7 for 61 on threes in the first half of our games. That is a stunningly-bad 11%. On Free Throws, here's our first five games: (we are 30-71 if you take out the ISU game) Defiance 9-18 Evansville 6-15 UIC 6-12 Indiana State 17-24 Northern Ky 9-26 Some have claimed this is all on the players not the coaches, but Reevo nailed this on another thread. Shooting this bad as a team to start our games and the worst FT shooting as a team I can recall is all about mental toughness and poise. I'm certain we are shooting a bunch in practice. This is not a skill thing or a repetition problem. It's mental and that IS coachable. I shouldn't listen to the post game because it always pisses me off. A lack of emotion for one and the quote that sent me over last night was "We couldn't overcome the FT shooting...it was so overwhelming." Are you joking? A full-court trap can be overwhelming or vastly superior athletes or massive size on the block or lots of other things may be beyond our control but going 9-26 at the line is not overwhelming if you're an upperclassman playing at home. It's just not. We miss the lone guy with a true sack from last year more than a little. We can make up his points and assists but not his toughness. Damn straight! |
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Post by frozenbaugh on Nov 21, 2019 10:09:37 GMT -6
I am still in football mode so I am not as up to date as I'd like with hoops but the team just kinda seems like a hodgepodge of players forming a group called a team. That's not a direct insult on the team itself.
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Post by cardfan on Nov 21, 2019 11:04:52 GMT -6
I am still in football mode so I am not as up to date as I'd like with hoops but the team just kinda seems like a hodgepodge of players forming a group called a team. That's not a direct insult on the team itself. That is almost the exact description I’ve thought of. A hodgepodge of players forming a group called a team. It’s not the player’s fault. It’s Whitford’s complete lack of roster management and inability to add specific pieces that perform specific functions on the floor the way other teams perform as a unit. Hmh would say basketball today is position-less and it doesn’t matter if we have a true point guard or true center/post, but I think everybody else knows what we mean. We just have a bunch of guys running around who can mostly do similar things but no one can shoot, no one can run the team, no one can step up and take over. No Alphas. Just vanilla style players playing in a vanilla style system. Appearance of no real thought into putting a cohesive unit together. |
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Post by redbirdman on Nov 21, 2019 11:37:22 GMT -6
It all goes back to the HC & lack of a plan. Taylor certainly had more of a plan than Whit does in a game. While I think Whit has brought in better players they just like Taylor's players don't get better. I also think Whit's desire to outscore the other team makes watching the game more fun compared to Taylor trying to win 61-59. What was that score last night?
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Post by williamtsherman on Nov 21, 2019 12:21:19 GMT -6
Two very disturbing trends through the first 5 games are our 3-pt shooting in the first half of games and our even more dismal FT shooting. Get this, we are 7 for 61 on threes in the first half of our games. That is a stunningly-bad 11%. On Free Throws, here's our first five games: (we are 30-71 if you take out the ISU game) Defiance 9-18 Evansville 6-15 UIC 6-12 Indiana State 17-24 Northern Ky 9-26 Some have claimed this is all on the players not the coaches, but Reevo nailed this on another thread. Shooting this bad as a team to start our games and the worst FT shooting as a team I can recall is all about mental toughness and poise. I'm certain we are shooting a bunch in practice. This is not a skill thing or a repetition problem. It's mental and that IS coachable. I shouldn't listen to the post game because it always pisses me off. A lack of emotion for one and the quote that sent me over last night was "We couldn't overcome the FT shooting...it was so overwhelming." Are you joking? A full-court trap can be overwhelming or vastly superior athletes or massive size on the block or lots of other things may be beyond our control but going 9-26 at the line is not overwhelming if you're an upperclassman playing at home. It's just not. We miss the lone guy with a true sack from last year more than a little. We can make up his points and assists but not his toughness.
Certainly a lack of poise can lead to FT issues, but I'm not sure that there is such a strong correlation between mental toughness and high FT percentage. Maybe a lack of mental toughness can degrade your FT %, but you can be as mentally tough as the day is long and still be a terrible FT shooter. Matt Kamieniecki is a good example. He played through a lot of back pain, and was an extremely scrappy player who was constantly on the floor after balls and was generally hated by opponents. But yet he was a God awful FT shooter. 52% career. I saw him airball TWO free throws, and barely scrape the front of the rim with another, IN ONE GAME. And I think you can be more or less a big pussy, but still be an excellent FT shooter overall, with maybe some problems in critical situations.
I haven't seen a game and been able to watch demeanor and body language yet, so I don't know myself if mental toughness is an issue with FT shooting, or in general. I have always thought that the loss of Persons would be more of an issue than some people thought, due to his willingness to take things on his shoulders.
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Post by realitycheck on Nov 21, 2019 12:32:22 GMT -6
I guess I'm referring hitting FT's in critical situations Sherm. I agree that if you are lousy to begin with that doesn't help but I think it takes mental discipline to be good at FT shooting and it is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice and form/technique coaching.
I also recall that Majerus was notorious for making guys practice shooting free throws and the penalty for poor shooting was your teammates had to run stairs. Maybe someone on the team could confirm but that was a story I thought a player shared with me once but maybe I'm thinking of someone else. It sounds like a Rick move though.
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Post by williamtsherman on Nov 21, 2019 13:24:50 GMT -6
Related - There is a VERY strong correlation between 3 pt shooting % and FT shooting %. Which, of course, makes logical sense. And also makes sense if you think back through players. Reggie Miller being a prime example.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2019 13:34:00 GMT -6
I guess I'm referring hitting FT's in critical situations Sherm. I agree that if you are lousy to begin with that doesn't help but I think it takes mental discipline to be good at FT shooting and it is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice and form/technique coaching. I also recall that Majerus was notorious for making guys practice shooting free throws and the penalty for poor shooting was your teammates had to run stairs. Maybe someone on the team could confirm but that was a story I thought a player shared with me once but maybe I'm thinking of someone else. It sounds like a Rick move though. Peer pressure (aka running stairs) is a good motivator. You don't wanna be the guy that made everyone else run. |
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Post by rmcalhoun on Nov 21, 2019 14:27:59 GMT -6
hahahahahah Running stairs as a punishment for only missing free throws.. What world do you huys live in.. That would be considered cruel and unreasonable punishment now a days
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2019 14:41:54 GMT -6
Unfortunately, we live in that world where we used to go to NCAA tournaments. That is the crux of our Negative Nancyisms.
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Post by reevo on Nov 21, 2019 14:59:49 GMT -6
Coaching 101. At the end of everyone one of my practices, we ran lines. We would run 3 sets of lines (Killers) under 25 seconds and then each player would shoot 10 free throws. Anyone who shot less than 70% would force the entire team to run killers again. Anyone who did not make the designated time, forced the team to run again until everyone fulfilled the goal of 70%. I had guys puking but it forced them to concentrate and you are damn straight, the peer pressure was intense. You don't shoot 100 free throws when you are not tired. You shoot them under game situations when you are gassed.
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Post by sweep on Nov 21, 2019 15:05:12 GMT -6
Coaching 101. At the end of everyone one of my practices, we ran lines. We would run 3 sets of lines (Killers) under 25 seconds and then each player would shoot 10 free throws. Anyone who shot less than 70% would force the entire team to run killers again. Anyone who did not make the designated time, forced the team to run again until everyone fulfilled the goal of 70%. I had guys puking but it forced them to concentrate and you are damn straight, the peer pressure was intense. You don't shoot 100 free throws when you are not tired. You shoot them under game situations when you are gassed. I have been posting for the last four years that this team has every hallmark of a team that doesn't really get after it in practice. Hell we have guys just going through the motions in games, what the hell does practice look like ? |
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Post by williamtsherman on Nov 21, 2019 15:18:48 GMT -6
I guess I'm referring hitting FT's in critical situations Sherm. I agree that if you are lousy to begin with that doesn't help but I think it takes mental discipline to be good at FT shooting and it is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice and form/technique coaching. I also recall that Majerus was notorious for making guys practice shooting free throws and the penalty for poor shooting was your teammates had to run stairs. Maybe someone on the team could confirm but that was a story I thought a player shared with me once but maybe I'm thinking of someone else. It sounds like a Rick move though.
I think what the players might have feared more was a tongue lashing from Majerus. His image to the general public was a funny, lovable, roly poly guy. But he could turn that same sense of humor into some creative and venomous verbal scorchings. I used to walk home from a class through U Gym during his practices. They would just have those big curtains pulled shut, but nobody ever said anything if you stopped and looked around the edge for a while.
For example, one time during a press breaking drill, somebody failed to advance the ball when they had the chance. Majerus: "Hey, there's a new thing in town....IT'S CALLED THE DRIBBLE!"
I laughed, but nobody on the floor laughed. That was a fairly mild example, but it's stuck with me for some reason.
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Post by cardfan on Nov 21, 2019 15:26:00 GMT -6
I guess I'm referring hitting FT's in critical situations Sherm. I agree that if you are lousy to begin with that doesn't help but I think it takes mental discipline to be good at FT shooting and it is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice and form/technique coaching. I also recall that Majerus was notorious for making guys practice shooting free throws and the penalty for poor shooting was your teammates had to run stairs. Maybe someone on the team could confirm but that was a story I thought a player shared with me once but maybe I'm thinking of someone else. It sounds like a Rick move though.
I think what the players might have feared more was a tongue lashing from Majerus. His image to the general public was a funny, lovable, roly poly guy. But he could turn that same sense of humor into some creative and venomous verbal scorchings. I used to walk home from a class through U Gym during his practices. They would just have those big curtains pulled shut, but nobody ever said anything if you stopped and looked around the edge for a while.
For example, one time during a press breaking drill, somebody failed to advance the ball when they had the chance. Majerus: "Hey, there's a new thing in town....IT'S CALLED THE DRIBBLE!"
I laughed, but nobody on the floor laughed. That was a fairly mild example, but it's stuck with me for some reason.
I still recall some Yorktown resentment because of how hard majerus was on Greg Miller. Even an ugly call into Ricks radio show. At one presser Majerus said “Miller couldn’t guard that pop machine over there.” About Rodney Haynes , “I’ve got a point guard who thinks an assist is a turnover.” Great stuff. |
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