The Bobcat Nation

i've been so frustrated when it comes to free throws that i decided to look at them a little closer. i was actually surprised at what i found. in our seven wins, we average 71%. in our six losses we are only at 68%. i use the word "only", not because it is a good percentage, but because i have assumed all season that it's way lower when we lose than when we win. one thing that jumped out at me a little, although it's still very early, is while we are 70% shooters on the season, in big sky play we're only 54%. that's just not going to cut it.

Yes, free throws have been killing our chances at winning games this year. I am sorry, but if a team is not shooting 75% from the line, something is wrong. I would put in a drill at the end of practice that each player needs to make 16 free throws out of 20 before he can leave the court. Maybe that will get the kids attention.

BobCatFan wrote:Yes, free throws have been killing our chances at winning games this year. I am sorry, but if a team is not shooting 75% from the line, something is wrong. I would put in a drill at the end of practice that each player needs to make 16 free throws out of 20 before he can leave the court. Maybe that will get the kids attention.

To say that, "something is wrong" if a team is not shooting 75% from the line is ridiculous. Less than 25 DI teams shoot 75% or better as a team. I could almost guarantee you that the coaching staff works a great deal on free throw shooting. You would have to be an idiot to think that the staff doesn't place any emphasis on free throws in practice. Sorry, but you don't become a divsion 1 head coach without knowing the importance of free throws. It is not an issue of lack of practice or ability. Anybody who has played basketball at a decent level knows that in most cases it is about 90% mental.

While I agree that few DI schools shoot 75%, I think that's ridiculous. It used to be that that was considered to be about average. The problem (in my opinion) is that free throws never make it on SportsCenter. So guess what? No one ever shoots them. When I played, FT shooting was about my only strength. And it was because I shot them all the time. I wasn't out practicing double reverse tomahawk jams. I shot free throws. Over and over and over again.

Ok, Maybe 20 free throws is too tough. As a team, I would demand 75% shooting from the line. Free throws are easy for a good player to master, if they put the time in.

Here is article from a coach on how to practice free throws.

http://dickbshootingcamp.com/free_throw_practice.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't think our problem is lack of practice or lack of coaching...it's lack of experience. We don't really have a senior or junior leader. I know Bobby Howard tries to be the one...but he has his own problems. We need someone like Casey Durham to settle everyone down. They are trying too hard. When they play non-conference games they are a lot calmer...they just play and the game flows for them. The other night against the Griz they were tighter than an 8-day clock. This is lack of leadership. Mbunga is the only senior and it's hard to be the floor leader from the center position. We need a guard like Navarre or Hennesy to step up and be the go to guy if not to score...at least the floor leader and leader in the huddles.

We don't need any training videos or books on FT's- those that listened to the post game last night heard Brad say that shooting 17/34 is unacceptable. Only those who don't know diddly sh!t will blame that stat on the coaching staff, like they totally forgot to address that part of the game . Give me a break- the Cats are really young, things like FT's come with experience and confidence. As has been mentioned, it's not a matter of not knowing how, it's a head game.

I disagree-free throw shooting is a coaching thing. I played this game and have watched some of the best and missing free throws is a fundamental crime. It's just not the Cat's but it's prevalent throughout college basketball. Wake up!!! It's what wins games! That performance in Missoula was dismal! No excuses. Practice, practice , practice!

Practice practice practice your free throws fellas. I'm sure they do it every practice.

Look where free throw shooting got Shaq. Do you think he practices his? If I was paid umpteen millions of dollars, I might squeeze in some time to practice my ft's.

BobCatFan wrote:Yes, free throws have been killing our chances at winning games this year. I am sorry, but if a team is not shooting 75% from the line, something is wrong. I would put in a drill at the end of practice that each player needs to make 16 free throws out of 20 before he can leave the court. Maybe that will get the kids attention.

It should be more like 80 out of a 100. Everyday.

GOKATS wrote:We don't need any training videos or books on FT's- those that listened to the post game last night heard Brad say that shooting 17/34 is unacceptable. Only those who don't know diddly sh!t will blame that stat on the coaching staff, like they totally forgot to address that part of the game . Give me a break- the Cats are really young, things like FT's come with experience and confidence. As has been mentioned, it's not a matter of not knowing how, it's a head game.

Are they young, or new? I would say that with 7 out of 13 being either juniors or senior(s), we aren't necessarily young, but new. That is part of what worries me....we consider them young but many only have 1-1/2 years left.

I do agree though that Howard, Rush, Piepoli, and Brown are young--although I don't see what that has to do with free-throws.

LTown Cat wrote:

GOKATS wrote:We don't need any training videos or books on FT's- those that listened to the post game last night heard Brad say that shooting 17/34 is unacceptable. Only those who don't know diddly sh!t will blame that stat on the coaching staff, like they totally forgot to address that part of the game . Give me a break- the Cats are really young, things like FT's come with experience and confidence. As has been mentioned, it's not a matter of not knowing how, it's a head game.

Are they young, or new? I would say that with 7 out of 13 being either juniors or senior(s), we aren't necessarily young, but new. That is part of what worries me....we consider them young but many only have 1-1/2 years left.

I do agree though that Howard, Rush, Piepoli, and Brown are young--although I don't see what that has to do with free-throws.

We only have one senior and that's Mbunga. There is no excuse for him missing his free throws because he is historically a good FT shooter. The others have not had that much PT except Howard and he is historically a bad FT shooter. Tell me you think Howard doesn't practice FT's! It's a mental thing...maybe the UM atmosphere got to them...it sure did from the field! If there had been an Anthony Johnson or Carlos Taylor on our team...the game would have been close. Hell if we would have shot FT's as well as the Griz it would have been into OT!...And they have had trouble from the line this season. This game was an aberration from both sides. We didn't have the experience to counteract the nerves!

LTown Cat wrote:

GOKATS wrote:We don't need any training videos or books on FT's- those that listened to the post game last night heard Brad say that shooting 17/34 is unacceptable. Only those who don't know diddly sh!t will blame that stat on the coaching staff, like they totally forgot to address that part of the game . Give me a break- the Cats are really young, things like FT's come with experience and confidence. As has been mentioned, it's not a matter of not knowing how, it's a head game.

Are they young, or new? I would say that with 7 out of 13 being either juniors or senior(s), we aren't necessarily young, but new. That is part of what worries me....we consider them young but many only have 1-1/2 years left.

I do agree though that Howard, Rush, Piepoli, and Brown are young--although I don't see what that has to do with free-throws.

Poor choice of words on my part, I was thinking young (new) to the program.

bobcatbob wrote:I disagree-free throw shooting is a coaching thing. I played this game and have watched some of the best and missing free throws is a fundamental crime. It's just not the Cat's but it's prevalent throughout college basketball. Wake up!!! It's what wins games! That performance in Missoula was dismal! No excuses. Practice, practice , practice!

as i mentioned i have been to several practices and they shoot a lot of free throws. to put this on the staff is stupid. they can't make them for the players. eventually, the players need to toughen up mentally and make these in GAMES! like i said, they shoot a ton in practice, and from what i could tell....they were making a ton......in PRACTICE!

Helcat72 wrote:

LTown Cat wrote:

GOKATS wrote:We don't need any training videos or books on FT's- those that listened to the post game last night heard Brad say that shooting 17/34 is unacceptable. Only those who don't know diddly sh!t will blame that stat on the coaching staff, like they totally forgot to address that part of the game . Give me a break- the Cats are really young, things like FT's come with experience and confidence. As has been mentioned, it's not a matter of not knowing how, it's a head game.

Are they young, or new? I would say that with 7 out of 13 being either juniors or senior(s), we aren't necessarily young, but new. That is part of what worries me....we consider them young but many only have 1-1/2 years left.

I do agree though that Howard, Rush, Piepoli, and Brown are young--although I don't see what that has to do with free-throws.

We only have one senior and that's Mbunga. There is no excuse for him missing his free throws because he is historically a good FT shooter. The others have not had that much PT except Howard and he is historically a bad FT shooter. Tell me you think Howard doesn't practice FT's! It's a mental thing...maybe the UM atmosphere got to them...it sure did from the field! If there had been an Anthony Johnson or Carlos Taylor on our team...the game would have been close. Hell if we would have shot FT's as well as the Griz it would have been into OT!...And they have had trouble from the line this season. This game was an aberration from both sides. We didn't have the experience to counteract the nerves!

The last thing I would like to see is us to go back to a one man team which we had with Carlos last year. He averaged 20 - 30 and no one else had above 9 a game. This is a much better balance TEAM and in the long run we will be a better team. We need to all take a step back and take a deep breath it was one game. I remember last year after we beat U of M on Jan. 5th we were all talking hosting the tourney and how great we were and then what happened? We got Sacked at Sac St. Hopefully we will keep this all in perspective and move on. To say Howard is having trouble on his free throws is an understatement right now it is a mental thing that he has to work through on his own coaches can't fix it. But when I heard from a friend at the game tell me "Loyal Bobcat fans" in the crowd screaming at him about it way to support the guy. I do not think it is time to start kicking these guys believe me they are doing that to themselves all I am saying is be as critical as you want here but believe in these guys and our coaches and I still think our best basketball is ahead of us this year.

JMHO

We don't need someone to shoulder all of the scoring, but we need someone who can get us through the scoring draughts. Someone who can get us a bucket when we need to answer the opponent. Bobby has done it a few times, but he is not consistent. He may however be the best bet because he has had the most PT besides Mbunga. As far as free throws go...if they can't teach em consistency in the NBA....I don't know what MSU can do!

I listened to Cat Chat last night. Coach Huse was the guest and he said they do not even practice free throws because they only have two baskets to use in the field house. Now wonder we have bad nights shoot free throws which has lead to some several loses this year.

whitetrashgriz wrote:

bobcatbob wrote:I disagree-free throw shooting is a coaching thing. I played this game and have watched some of the best and missing free throws is a fundamental crime. It's just not the Cat's but it's prevalent throughout college basketball. Wake up!!! It's what wins games! That performance in Missoula was dismal! No excuses. Practice, practice , practice!

as i mentioned i have been to several practices and they shoot a lot of free throws. to put this on the staff is stupid. they can't make them for the players. eventually, the players need to toughen up mentally and make these in GAMES! like i said, they shoot a ton in practice, and from what i could tell....they were making a ton......in PRACTICE!

makes sense...very little pressure in practice.

BobCatFan wrote:I listened to Cat Chat last night. Coach Huse was the guest and he said they do not even practice free throws because they only have two baskets to use in the field house. Now wonder we have bad nights shoot free throws which has lead to some several loses this year.

sorry, but there is no way he is serious with that comment. my guess is some sort of motivational tool.

I had the opportunity to talk with Huse some time after Saturday's game, and I asked what do you do after a pathetic free throw shooting performance. Do you make the kids go out in practice and shoot a bazillion free throws at the next practice or what? He told me that you need to discuss the situation with the team but keep your normal practice routine, and not blow the thing out of proportion and really get in there head. The coaches are looking at the players individual routine to see if any tweaks need to be done to follow through etc. If you look at our guy's you have most of them have the skills to be good free throw shooter, but the problems are between the ears. I think Huse has approach is the approach is the most common that I hear now a days from coaches. He pointed out to me that this team shot incredibly well from the FT line against Utah Valley, so they are capable, but he did not make a drastic change and get them locked on the negative.

The whole point of this is that, with in a brief amount of time after the the debacle Saturday Huse was putting together a plan to address this problem. It may not be the change everything around kind of plan but from what I heard it was going to be addressed.

On another note, and from other sources, I can tell you that the players are flat out embarrassed by what happened Saturday, and I really do not think any of US feel as bad as they do. These are not the type of guy's who go home and pout when things do not go their way, I know for a fact that some (if not more) are doing their own work before / after practices.

On another note about a player to shoulder the scoring burden, I agree with Helcat72, I much prefer a much more well ballanced offence. While I admit you will always have a leading scorer and a main option, when I look down a list of leading scorers for indvdual games in a season I like to see 3-4 names pop up. Balanced scoring means you can not always shut down a team by shutting down one player. Last year it seemed that if Taylor was not scoring the rest of the team just sttod arounding waiting for him to score. When he did not score it seemed the team accepted that they were not going to win. I prefer if team try's to shut down Howard then they will need to contend with a Bynum or Mbunga. All that said if someone does have a Rodney Stucky up their sleeves I would take him in a minute but those type of players are hard to come by.