Perhaps Mike watched the game today and noticed the Razorbacks were successfully shooting free throws. Then he suddenly experienced an epiphany realizing the Razorback Women might also achieve similar success should they practice. Ahh, likely he watched but let free throw shooting his left to divine providence rather than practice and technique.
Should be a fun game.
Free throw shooting is a talent as well as a skill. Meaning some people can’t do it well no matter how much they practice. Spencer was a 60% FT shooter last year, worse this year. Barnum was 68% last year, worse this year. And those two have taken more FTs than anyone else on the team.
Jersey is actually better this year but still not good. So far Saylor can’t make FTs or threes consistently, but she gets points in other ways.
Last year we had two girls you could depend on late in games: Ramirez and Daniels. Daniels is still here. Chrissy Carr seems to be reliable (I didn’t know until the other night that her dad played in the NBA). We haven’t had one come down to late FTs yet but that may be about to start.
Beyond the anecdotal basis of “some people can’t it no matter how much they practice”, are you aware of any validation for this conclusion? I could not locate anything close to a reliable study of the question though there are multiple folks selling their “free throw improvement” system. Clearly, it is a crucial element in
W-Ls thus coaches keeping or losing their jobs. You mention Spencer as slipping in percentage from last year until now and She is one of my greatest concerns due to her game that produces a high ratio of fouls to FGAt/FGM. Similar to Chelsea Dungee she has a drive to the basket game seeking a made layup and/ or drawing a foul. Noting that with a good free throw made percentage this becomes a highly productive strategy for winning but it drops like a rock when you combine a low FT% with an average to a good FG%. Dugee averages of 42.4 FG%, 38.7 3FG %, and 79.0 FT % allow Arkansas to be successful without anything close to the current team’s recruiting rankings.
Now to the other question; does Mike have a clue for ameliorating this team’s dismal free throw shooting percentage? According to the attachment dated prior to his return to our good state he had a systematic method for better free throw results. I hope he can find his files before losses begin to result from this flaw. Team Free Throw Shooting Game - TGK Athletics
Take Shaq for instance. Took more than 11,000 free throws in his NBA career. Made 52% of them. His BEST FT% year was 62%, midway through his career. I read somewhere that he had broken his wrist as a kid and that affected his foul shooting. Given that he was 1 for 22 CAREER from deep, that theory makes sense. And Hack-a-Shaq was a very real strategy; get him to the line in a close game. Think his coaches didn’t try to improve his shooting?
Wilt Chamberlain was another who took more than 11,000 FTs for his career, and his percentage was even worse than Shaq.
Of course you’ll find stuff on the internet that “great foul shooters are made, not born,” but the people saying that want you to pay them a lot of money to make you a great shooter.
Maybe the girls should contact Rick Barry, lol.
These bricks are eventually gonna cost em.
Neighbors says “This( Hogs vs ASU) is the start of the budding of a rivalry….maybe not an exact quote but close.
Is he trying to bring Lady Hog basketball down or build ASU up?
Jeff, despite their size I suggest Wilt and Shaq remain singular rather than representative of a statistically verifiable group. Not to do more than pull a rabbit out of a hat, I recall Joe Kleine (72.3% three-year average) to be a reliable free throw shooter in the tradition of the first Razorback seven-footer, George Kok (69.8% FT four average). I bet there are a couple of along the way that tried every conceivable method to make a free throw in a similar fashion to Wilt and Shaq going back to George Kok’s use of the old grandmaw two hands from below the waist style. Steven Hill and Jason Jenning and Daniel Gafford might fall near or subpar in the Wilt and Shaq category. One that is remarkable is Big O, though consistently better than Shaq shot 64% each of his years on the Hill. By the way, closer to the Necessary family roots, in terms of FT% the old collar up Elvis style Hot Springs product, Clyde Rodhen had a 67.8% FT 3 year average.
Clyde was a high school teammate of my dad. Can FT shooting be coached up? Sure it can. Can you make a Clyde Rhoden into a Rick Barry? No. Which is my point.
I have a little knowledge about this actually. Although my last varsity basketball experience was in 7th grade, I kept shooting FTs just for fun (a neighbor had a backyard court which I regularly trespassed on) and I won the school intramural FT shooting championship in both 9th and 10th grades. I think I was a better foul shooter than anyone on our varsity, which isn’t saying much, and I couldn’t dribble or play defense or rebound, so I was not surprised when the 8th grade coach cut me.
I hit 8 out of 10 in the 9th grade competition and 7 out of 10 in 10th grade IIRC. It’s muscle memory, concentration and dealing with pressure. Hard to make yourself do the exact same things 10 times in a row, or twice in a row with 20,000 people screaming at you. Especially if you just sprinted down court on a fast break and you’re shooting when you’re a touch out of breath. (If it sounds like I’m describing trying to make a 5-footer to win the hole in match play, I’ll also agree with that).
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