I still wonder why there has to be 2 different 3 point lines in college basketball? The lines are confusing, and the women seem to shoot it better and deeper than the men.
The women play with a different (smaller) basketball. They play quarters instead of halves. Rules are just different is my only explanation.
Wow, learn something all the time. I had no idea they used a smaller basketball. No wonder they shoot so much better than the men from outside. Smaller ball, same size rim.
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There are many reasons, besides the size of the basketball, that the women shoot better than the men. Their fundamentals are better, probably because their game is not played above the rim. For me, it’s exactly the same reason that if I ever had the time to get better at golf, I would watch the swings of the best ladies, instead of the bombs the men play with.
Women (NCAA and WNBA) use a size 6 basketball, up to 28.5 inches in circumference. Men use size 7, up to 29.5 inches.
I don’t know about the size of the college ball but if it is the same size as the ball used by high school girls, you can drop two through the goal at the same time. That is the main reason girls shoot so well. However I agree that because they play below the rim their fundamentals are better around the basket which would be the second reason they shoot better. The 15 to 10 foot jump shot is a lost art in today’s game. All players want to work on are 3’s and dunks.
High school girls also use size 6, so yeah.
You can also drop two men’s basketballs through the hoop at one time.
I’ve never tried it, but that’s what I’ve always been told.
Not quite. The size 7 ball is 9.39 inches across. The hoop is 18. So two balls don’t fit.
Actually, I remember Eddie Sutton, years ago on his weekly TV show with Paul Eels, demonstrated how two full sized basketballs can go through the hoop “at the same time.” He had a hoop on the desk and two balls and put them through together. One was a little off set, but both still went through. His point, as I recall, was about free throw shooting and why it shouldn’t be that difficult with a hoop big enough to accommodate two basketballs at once. An old school coaching move. I’m sure he first saw Henry Iba do it …
I remember something like that. There is some wiggle room in the rulebook on size of the ball, but even the women’s size 6 ball shouldn’t fit two to a hoop (28.5 inches divided by pi is 9.07 inches in diameter; 18.14 is still more than 18.00). The NCAA rulebook specifies that the men’s ball be 29.5 to 30 inches in circumference; the women’s range is 28.5 to 29 inches. I think the key phrase is “a little off set”.
Eddie did put the balls through at a bit of an angle. He was just making a point, one he probably made to all of his teams at one point or another. I have always remembered that segment. I am always reminded of it when watching “Hoosiers” and Coach Dale has his team measure the height of the basket and length of the free throw line at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Like I said, old school coaching …
Remember Eddie doing that. When I see players with as much talent as these guys missing FTs, it drives me up the wall. It is mostly a concentration thing. How often do you see a player throw up the first one and miss and then settle in a little bit and drain the second? I guess shooting 100% is almost not possible, but they should be able to hit 7-8 out of 10. They are just what the name says: FREE. Make them. They matter in a big way and they add to their point totals.
Last year the NBA average for free throw percentage leaguewide was 77.3 percent, which was actually up from 2018-19 despite the long layoff and the weird bubble atmosphere in Orlando. Which sounds pretty good (Hogs are shooting .727 for the year after Saturday’s struggle) but they averaged 18-23 per team per game, so that’s five points the best players in the world let get away in a typical game. (Hogs are averaging 17.3-23.8 so far, losing 6.5 points per game; we missed 11 FTs against Misery).
Our teams over the years have fluctuated; the 1962 team led the nation at .776, but the NC team made only .680 and the runner-up team the next year was even worse. We shot .761 in 2017, .681 in 2018 and .668 in 2019, rebounding to .731 last year behind IJ and Mase. Even after Saturday, we’re close to last year’s numbers and could easily surpass them with some good games. Current FT% is 101st in the country, by the way; Saturday dropped us from .735 to .727.
You know, I wonder if the lack of fans in the stands has an effect on the free throw percentages? According to the NBA stats from the bubble, it does factor in.
If I could hit 80% in HS with about 1% or less than the talent of these player, then the least they should do is to match that. It takes reps and reps and reps of doing it the exact same way each time for hours and there needs to be severe problems when you miss. There sure is in games.
I was 82-84% FT shooter in HS. Best on our team every year. It takes reps and more reps and we ended every practice while dead tired and had to make 25 to 50 FT’s (depending on coaches mood) or make 10 in a row without a miss.
I have noticed for years now free throw % going down. I see NBA guys failing and I think the reason is simple. Kids from day one want to shoot threes and dunk, free throws to them are not important and the game has reflected it.
I seem to see women shoot them better and I bet they do in fact practice them much more than the men do as most ladies cannot dunk so they practice what they can do
I also remember practicing free throws every day and the game has changed.
Like most sports, TV is a big factor.
Those FT numbers I cited above led to another thought. NBA teams play 48 minute games and shoot 23 FTs per game. We’re averaging ~24 in 40 minute games. Yeah we have guys that attack the basket, but so do most NBA teams. James Harden shoots more FTs than anyone and Houston averaged 25 FTAs per game last year; the Clippers led the league with 26 per game. But what the NBA doesn’t have is SEC refs calling ticky-tack fouls, what Bill Raftery calls “small change” (nickel and dime fouls).
I was reminded recently about the difference between the men’s game and the women’s game. I was told it was about time and space. There is more time and space to shoot in the women’s game. It’s no different than soccer. With quicker and bigger players, there is less space and less time. You get into the box in soccer, things get congested and happen more quickly in the men’s game. I believe it was Gary Blair who first explained the “time and space” theory to me. Then, I heard it from a soccer coach. The faster something happens, the more difficult it becomes. I am always interested to hear a veteran college QB explain how the “game has slowed down.” It doesn’t, but the thinking process gets faster.