Why the Griz are done: free throw shooting
Going into this season many fans expected this talented Griz hoops program to continue its upward trend. This really didn't happen as the Griz season ended in a BSC semifinal loss to NAU. I thought I would take a look at a couple reasons why this team fell short of high expectations.
Poor shooting from the foul line was one of the most frustrating aspects of watching the UM basketball team throughout this season. The final NAU game was probably as sickening as any: the Lumberjacks outshot the Griz a full by a full 23% from the line.
The Lumberjacks made 24 of their 30 free throws; the Griz made 7 of 13. Obviously, getting to the line is also a problem but a team should put up better than Ben Wallace type numbers from the stripe in the biggest game of the year. It's easy to see that there is a problem, the bigger issue is finding the cause.
Many basketball experts say free throw shooting is all legs and often declines when a player is fatigued. This can't be the cause because the Griz are so deep that Tinks' substitutions sometimes resemble that of a hockey team.
A second possible cause is technique. None of these guys have overwhelmingly poor technique but with these numbers it may be time to take a look at the Rick Barry method. Sure, it may be a little extreme but it can't hurt at this point.
The most likely cause for the awful shooting has to be their mental mind-state at the line. Let's look at Andrew Strait: Drew shot over 90% from the line when he was in high school but now is down in the 50s. Skill can't just disappear, can it? The best quote on free throw shooting comes from the best player who ever played.
Michael Jordan on free throws and fear:
To anyone who's ever played basketball competitively, how many foul shots are you guys shooting per day? Seems like it should be at least a 100, every day, offseason or not. This is just one of several areas the Griz can improve on to make sure their not sitting at home once the Big Dance starts.
Poor shooting from the foul line was one of the most frustrating aspects of watching the UM basketball team throughout this season. The final NAU game was probably as sickening as any: the Lumberjacks outshot the Griz a full by a full 23% from the line.
The Lumberjacks made 24 of their 30 free throws; the Griz made 7 of 13. Obviously, getting to the line is also a problem but a team should put up better than Ben Wallace type numbers from the stripe in the biggest game of the year. It's easy to see that there is a problem, the bigger issue is finding the cause.
Many basketball experts say free throw shooting is all legs and often declines when a player is fatigued. This can't be the cause because the Griz are so deep that Tinks' substitutions sometimes resemble that of a hockey team.
A second possible cause is technique. None of these guys have overwhelmingly poor technique but with these numbers it may be time to take a look at the Rick Barry method. Sure, it may be a little extreme but it can't hurt at this point.
The most likely cause for the awful shooting has to be their mental mind-state at the line. Let's look at Andrew Strait: Drew shot over 90% from the line when he was in high school but now is down in the 50s. Skill can't just disappear, can it? The best quote on free throw shooting comes from the best player who ever played.
Michael Jordan on free throws and fear:
"I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot. Why? Because when you think about the consequences, you always think of a negative result.Is there any better outlook than this "just do it" approach. The important part of this practice is that the Griz need too be shooting a ton of free throws in practice. Some seem rattled at the line, making a bunch in practice could go a long ways towards calming these guys down.
"...I think fear sometimes comes from a lack of focus or concentration. If I had stood at the free-throw line and thought about 10 million people watching me on the other side of the camera lens, I couldn't have made anything. So I mentally tried to put myself in a familiar place. I thought about all those times I shot free throws in practice and went through the same motion, the same technique that I had used thousands of times. You forget about the outcome. You know you are doing the right things. So you relax and perform. After that you can't control anything anyway. It's out of your hands, so don't worry about it."
To anyone who's ever played basketball competitively, how many foul shots are you guys shooting per day? Seems like it should be at least a 100, every day, offseason or not. This is just one of several areas the Griz can improve on to make sure their not sitting at home once the Big Dance starts.
