Hope FT shooting won't matter this season..
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Unfortunately free throw shooting will matter. With an inexperienced team you will have a close game and that is where the rubber meets the road. Hit them and win, miss and you get the L.
As long as free throws count as a point on the scoreboard, they matter. As long as Kentucky depends primarily on freshmen, we will have to overcome that. Not all freshmen are bad free throw shooters, but free throw shooting is a skill that usually improves over a multi year college basketball career.
True,Diallo has had half a year in college to work on FT's and other things,he has seen Fox,Monk and others up close.If he is like many of us he works on what he is good at doing and not so much on things he is not so good at doing
To be fair he hadn't played in a competitive game in quite some time before the U19 games.
Washington on the other hand seems to shoot them like most players his size at this stage of his development of the game. In this day of ultra athleticism free throw shooting is becoming a lost art,no one works on it anymore.As athletic and skilled as these kids have become everyone should shoot 70% from the line.They have the physical skills but not the ability to focus and concentrate on the task at hand.
We have to hit them. There is no choice. With as many guys who can handle the ball and drive, we will draw a lot fouls this year.
Diallo and Washington have all the other skills down to a science......... So really no excuse not to practice jump shooting and FT shooting a fudge ton from here until the season starts
I've never understood how players at this high a level struggled at FTs. They really not that difficult. I've never played in front of 24 thousand ppl either
Cal should seriously consider recruiting more pure free throw shooters.
Lot easier in the backyard or in an empty gym than in an actual game.
Still early.. Another 4 months of practice, drills, and scrimmages before the first game is played. And then another 3 months to really bring it together before late SEC and the tournaments.
Still shooting 50% and under from the is bad. Most free throws have very little pressure
One of our ex coaches that I dont want to mention used to make kids hit free throws or run laps or the treadmill until they couldnt take it anymore. It actually forces kids to put focus into shooting FT's which will bring up the FT shooting over time.
I remember Cal making the 2012 team run laps if they missed free throws and look how that Turned out... I dunno ... maybe Cal should try this method more often?? or would that hurt his players coach approach?
I remember Cal making the 2012 team run laps if they missed free throws and look how that Turned out... I dunno ... maybe Cal should try this method more often?? or would that hurt his players coach approach?
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I am very tired of free throws being a major issue, it has cost us a many a game in the Cal Era, I know they are just college kids, and it's not necessarily the staffs fault, I just do not understand how these youth and high school coaches do not put more emphasis on the mechanics.
I am not even 30 years old and I don't want to sound like a "get off my lawn" geezer, but if these kids spent 1/2 the time playing AAU and the other half working on fundamentals and mechanics, the college game would be MUCH better off!!
I am not even 30 years old and I don't want to sound like a "get off my lawn" geezer, but if these kids spent 1/2 the time playing AAU and the other half working on fundamentals and mechanics, the college game would be MUCH better off!!
Cal recruits a lot of athletes who are typically long and lanky. It has an effect.
Free throws are so important because it's the only aspect of the game that you can 100% control. You wont always have a speed advantage, and you cannot control great defense. Also turnovers, missed assignments, off shooting nights are all part of basketball and WILL happen. There's nothing you can do about it. But the free throw line is the savior. It's the one spot on the court that it's given. You'll see stat geeks try and overthink them, claim they're not as important as any other part of the game. It's all bs. Free throws are the deciding factor in a human game where mistakes happen throughout.
Cal has been bit more by free throws than any goat level coach I've ever seen. Imo some of it is self inflicted. Instead of identifying the problem, Cal has always seemed to laugh it off. In 2008 he lost the title in embarrassing fashion because his players couldn't hit any down a 3 minute stretch, and Cal was asked all year about it. His statement was always that they'd hit them when it mattered. IIRC He claimed they didn't work on them at all, and players needed to do that on their own. Practice times nowadays dictate some of that, but even his time at Kentucky has shown the philosophy has some holes imo.
My two biggest gripes with Cal.
Game preparation.
Free throw preperation.
I believe these areas are where he's most stubborn, and they might have cost him as many as 3 titles.
Free throws are so important because it's the only aspect of the game that you can 100% control. You wont always have a speed advantage, and you cannot control great defense. Also turnovers, missed assignments, off shooting nights are all part of basketball and WILL happen. There's nothing you can do about it. But the free throw line is the savior. It's the one spot on the court that it's given. You'll see stat geeks try and overthink them, claim they're not as important as any other part of the game. It's all bs. Free throws are the deciding factor in a human game where mistakes happen throughout.
Cal has been bit more by free throws than any goat level coach I've ever seen. Imo some of it is self inflicted. Instead of identifying the problem, Cal has always seemed to laugh it off. In 2008 he lost the title in embarrassing fashion because his players couldn't hit any down a 3 minute stretch, and Cal was asked all year about it. His statement was always that they'd hit them when it mattered. IIRC He claimed they didn't work on them at all, and players needed to do that on their own. Practice times nowadays dictate some of that, but even his time at Kentucky has shown the philosophy has some holes imo.
My two biggest gripes with Cal.
Game preparation.
Free throw preperation.
I believe these areas are where he's most stubborn, and they might have cost him as many as 3 titles.
I know this often comes up about how Memphis lost a title due to not being able to hit a FT, so I went and looked at the play by play of that game. It wasn't nearly as bad as it is being made out to be. Memphis took a 9 pt lead with 2:05 to go. In a 1 minute and 5 second stretch, they missed 4 straight FTs. They made 5 straight prior to that. And they made 3 straight after that stretch. That's 8-8 excluding a very unfortunate 1 minute stretch. IMO, they lost that game because Kansas went lights out down the stretch, and shot 52% for the game. Memphis shot 40% for the game, but you never hear people harp on their field goal shooting.
I've heard Cal talk about making them hit so many FTs before they can leave practice in a season we didn't win it too. I don't know what the answer is, but I really don't get this idea that Cal undervalues FTs, and I sure haven't heard of a solution that he should employ. It's easy to say we need to hit more FTs, but not so easy to make that happen. The players have to make them. There are terrible teams who shoot incredibly at the line, and great teams that don't. It's not an easy balance, and I doubt any coach has mastered it.
Honestly, you should be able to shoot free throws at high percentage before getting to college. However, much like fundamentals, it isn't a primary focus with the AAU basketball culture.
Not worried about it. PJ and Diallo both shoot around 65% normally and we have guys like Alexander , Green , baker , Knox who can shoot them well. PJ will be the worst free throw shooter we have but he will be around 60-65% so thats not the end of the world .People always worry about this and it rarely effects the team . We didn't lose to UNC due to free throws , We didn't lose to Wisconsin due to free throws , We didnt lose to IU 2 years ago due to free throws ect.
D1 college basketball average FT shooting:
1950: 61.8%
60: 67.4%
70: 68.7%
80: 69.6%
90: 68.9%
00: 68.1%
10: 68.9%
15 (most current season for which the NCAA has the info on their site): 69.2%
And, BTW, 5 of Cal's 8 UK teams have hit FT's at 69% or better. 7 of Tubby Smith's 10 UK teams failed to hit that mark.
See the dig at the end is where you have shown your ass. All of his players say he coaches them hard and gets on them. Players first does not mean softness or an unwillingness to do what it takes to reach their full potential. I agree with those that said you use to have some good takes but recently you've become a basher. A bit more subtle than some but a basher none the less.
If I am a player that wants to add to my point totals and game average, the quickest and easiest way to do that is at the Free Throw line. That's why it is baffling to see, over the years, how certain BIG TIME players struggle at the stripe.
Why don't these kids work incessantly to make an uncontested 15 ft. shot?(especially considering how most of these kids want to raise their scoring numbers)
Why don't these kids work incessantly to make an uncontested 15 ft. shot?(especially considering how most of these kids want to raise their scoring numbers)
Whew man, silents how could you watch that game and think free throws didn't absolutely kill Memphis. Kansas was able to crawl back into that game because memphis couldn't put them away at the line. They missed key free throws that wouldn't have allowed Kansas to keep coming back. I know of no one that makes that claim.
Kansas hit some incredible shots, but they should have never been in the position for them to matter.
It happens. Just like UL missing a ton of free throws against UK in the sweet 16 game in 2014. UK has won a ton of games under Cal where we hit them and the other team didn't.
You are reaching so hard you might just bust your hymen there. Tell me is the coach to the north considered a "players coach?" thats why I asked if using his methods would hurt the players coach image of Cal. Thats all I meant.
I never even hinted at Cal being soft or unwilling to do what it takes. You are creating reasons to get digs in at me .
Oh wait... I mentioned the coach to the north. Does that mean I'm a UL fan and Cal hater? or wait.... I said maybe Cal should try that method so does that mean I'm saying that coach is better than Cal????? What twisting of my posts do you want to try next ?
Tell the truth... is this hatred of me stemming from predicting we'd lose to ucla.... or my bashing of Trump?
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Didn't Cal comment on how he doesn't worry about them years ago? Some ft shooting sure would have helped in 2010.
Cal said after the game that he wished he had double teamed or tried different things against Canada........
Cal must be a cal hater because he pointed out something he should work on
Cal must be a cal hater because he pointed out something he should work on
Oh ouch.... Sorry but you just became a Cal basher in KYFOSSIL's eyes.
P.S. sorry to target you out to prove a point that KYFOSSIL is over reacting to every little thing I say.
You're right. He's never hard on the kids or else they won't like him and he doesn't care about free throws either. Great take.
Did I not say that he used that method in 2012? Pretty much making your dig pointless.
I should of put more in so it read "used this method more" is what i was meaning. So I'm going to correct that mistake and edit my post. from earlier
So your argument is he did something, it resulted in a title, and he hasn't done it since then on purpose? And you theorize it's so players don't get upset with him?
I want to make sure I understand you here.
In his press conferences he sometimes will talk about how he will work the guys with FT shooting? and its a lot of different methods. most years its they cant leave until they've hit shots.... and some times he's tried different things.
So you're all over the place with no point or solution except to get a jab in about Cal being a players first coach and implying that means he lacks the will to push his players?
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