Free Throws

[CauseThatsMyDJ]

Figured this might be an interesting article to one or two people here. Very illuminating.

https://www.hoosiersportsreport.com/2018/12/hoosiers-struggling-to-solve-free-throw-woes/

[FKIM01]

I wish I had an answer, but if a coach of Archie's caliber is without answer, I'm not even going to hazard a guess.  It's obvious that a lot of reps aren't doing much for their accuracy.

[milehiiu]

Two things about free throw shooting. 

Two M's

Mental and mechanics. 

Can't have one without the other. 

[rico]

This is out of leftfield....how many of these kids had fans behind the backboard in HS?  I know when I played ball that bothered me especially in hostile environments.  

[IowaHoosierFan]

Sorry, i for one don't believe any excuse.  These are D1 level players who should be able to average 75% free throw shooting.  Its ridiculous that we're in the bottom of the country in this stat.  One guy has an off night, i can understand that, even get in a slump.  But the whole freaking team is horrible.  This will lose us games and drive the fans crazy.

[milehiiu]

^^^ There are two things that drive me crazy.

1. Missing free throws.

2. Letting the shot clock run out.

[rico]

45 minutes ago, IowaHoosierFan said:

Sorry, i for one don't believe any excuse.  These are D1 level players who should be able to average 75% free throw shooting.  Its ridiculous that we're in the bottom of the country in this stat.  One guy has an off night, i can understand that, even get in a slump.  But the whole freaking team is horrible.  This will lose us games and drive the fans crazy.

As I said in another thread....IU legend Quinn Buckner was a horrible FT shooter.  One of a few(how many I don't know) that won a HS state title, NCAA title, Olympic Gold Medal, and a NBA title.  It happened back in the day.

[Hoosierhoopster]

^^ Agree, but Iowa's point is valid, we're talking the whole team. 

IU traditionally has been a good FT shooting team. It's part of the whole "fundamentals" makeup of our teams. 

For the most part, the guys playing for IU now are strong fundamentally. This isn't a team built on freak athletes without good fundamentals. This isn't a big-forward heavy team without good guards or wings. Why we're shooting so poorly at the line is something of a mystery.

I tend to think it's a largely mental thing that feeds off everyone. The more guys miss the more it catches on. I have to think it can be overcome with focus and repetition and just plain "want to." 

[Hoosierhoopster]

On a positive note:

“We’ll keep working at the line,” Miller said. “That, and (cutting) our turnovers offensively make us a team that can really get better as we improve on those two things alone.”

That's so true. We would've won running away against Ville had we been hitting our FTs. Certainly one way to look at this, is the team is close to being really formidable. Hit our FT's, cut down on some of those unforced TO's, and we're a very strong looking team.

[Billingsley99]

Its obvious we all want and we need it to improve. CBK worried a little about percentage but focused on making more than the other team shoots. If you do that for a year you will win a lot of games 

[Steubenhoosier]

2 hours ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

^^ Agree, but Iowa's point is valid, we're talking the whole team. 

IU traditionally has been a good FT shooting team. It's part of the whole "fundamentals" makeup of our teams. 

For the most part, the guys playing for IU now are strong fundamentally. This isn't a team built on freak athletes without good fundamentals. This isn't a big-forward heavy team without good guards or wings. Why we're shooting so poorly at the line is something of a mystery.

I tend to think it's a largely mental thing that feeds off everyone. The more guys miss the more it catches on. I have to think it can be overcome with focus and repetition and just plain "want to." 

I think that  the free throw shooting woes can be attributed in some part, maybe large part, to the way Archie runs his offense. This is not a criticism at all of the offense. He really focuses on getting the ball in deep, meaning that Morgan and Davis and Smith get a lot of touches. Statistics bear this out in that they are  2-3-4 in free throws attempted, after Romeo.

Morgan is at 48%, Davis 59% and Smith 62%. These are the 3 worst percentages of anyone who has played meaningful minutes. When you have poor shooters getting a lot of possessions, the numbers are going to skew down. 

Can't remove those three from team statistics, but if you could, our FT % would improve from current 63.6% to 68.2%. Not an impressive number, but improvement.

Finally, I think that Romeo's FT shooting skews things quite a bit.As a team, we have shot 217 free throws thus far. Romeo has shot 71, so more than a third. He really struggled at the beginning of the season, thus his numbers aren't spectacular. He has made 49 or 69%. I don't have the game by game stats, but it feels like he has improved quite a bit in the last 3-4 games.

Not sure what to conclude other than our numbers are going to be skewed down as long as we prioritize feeding the post, which I think is the right thing to do. The trade off is that we are providing a lot more touches to three kids that are mediocre shooters at best. Finally, I think the numbers will improve based on Romeo's continued better shooting, if for no other reason than the volume of free throws he takes.

[Hoosierhoopster]

1 hour ago, Steubenhoosier said:

I think that  the free throw shooting woes can be attributed in some part, maybe large part, to the way Archie runs his offense. This is not a criticism at all of the offense. He really focuses on getting the ball in deep, meaning that Morgan and Davis and Smith get a lot of touches. Statistics bear this out in that they are  2-3-4 in free throws attempted, after Romeo.

Morgan is at 48%, Davis 59% and Smith 62%. These are the 3 worst percentages of anyone who has played meaningful minutes. When you have poor shooters getting a lot of possessions, the numbers are going to skew down. 

Can't remove those three from team statistics, but if you could, our FT % would improve from current 63.6% to 68.2%. Not an impressive number, but improvement.

Finally, I think that Romeo's FT shooting skews things quite a bit.As a team, we have shot 217 free throws thus far. Romeo has shot 71, so more than a third. He really struggled at the beginning of the season, thus his numbers aren't spectacular. He has made 49 or 69%. I don't have the game by game stats, but it feels like he has improved quite a bit in the last 3-4 games.

Not sure what to conclude other than our numbers are going to be skewed down as long as we prioritize feeding the post, which I think is the right thing to do. The trade off is that we are providing a lot more touches to three kids that are mediocre shooters at best. Finally, I think the numbers will improve based on Romeo's continued better shooting, if for no other reason than the volume of free throws he takes.

Yes makes sense, but there's really no reason why Morgan in particular should be a poor FT shooter. Look at his 3-point shooting this year, for example. Smith can certainly improve on 62%. I don't know much of Davis's FT shooting, can't really speak to that, and do think Romeo will come up from 69%. As a team, regardless of system, we should not be at the bottom of the B1G. That has to change for us to be in any way shape or form a contender. CAM gets that, I think it will improve, and it has to.

[Steubenhoosier]

5 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Yes makes sense, but there's really no reason why Morgan in particular should be a poor FT shooter. Look at his 3-point shooting this year, for example. Smith can certainly improve on 62%. I don't know much of Davis's FT shooting, can't really speak to that, and do think Romeo will come up from 69%. As a team, regardless of system, we should not be at the bottom of the B1G. That has to change for us to be in any way shape or form a contender. CAM gets that, I think it will improve, and it has to.

Agree completely....especially in regards to Morgan. In his head, maybe?

[Hoosierhoopster]

47 minutes ago, Steubenhoosier said:

Agree completely....especially in regards to Morgan. In his head, maybe?

Yes, FT shooting is largely mental, for most, and Morgan has shown he can shoot and consistently.

[Steubenhoosier]

50 minutes ago, Hoosierhoopster said:

Yes makes sense, but there's really no reason why Morgan in particular should be a poor FT shooter. Look at his 3-point shooting this year, for example. Smith can certainly improve on 62%. I don't know much of Davis's FT shooting, can't really speak to that, and do think Romeo will come up from 69%. As a team, regardless of system, we should not be at the bottom of the B1G. That has to change for us to be in any way shape or form a contender. CAM gets that, I think it will improve, and it has to.

Thought about this for a bit.

First, I never played basketball past 8th grade. My body type was more conducive to playing sports closer to the ground. So I may just be talking through my hat here.

Shooting 3’s comes within the flow of the game. You catch and shoot. Dribble, set and shoot . Pump fake, set and shoot. Within the flow of the game. No time to think. You either shoot or you don’t.

Free throws are different. You are stopped. Everything has stopped. You have time to think, time for doubt to creep in.  Regardless of having a routine, there are interruptions. Players switching in and out. Crossing the lane. Refs giving you the ball, then taking it away. Fans trying their best to distract you.

Again, I may not know what I am talking about. But at least something to consider. That for a decent shooter, making 3’s within the flow of the game at a rate to be considered good , certainly is a more natural feeling and maybe is a more comfortable shot for a guy like Juwan

[Hoosierhoopster]

5 minutes ago, Steubenhoosier said:

Thought about this for a bit.

First, I never played basketball past 8th grade. My body type was more conducive to playing sports closer to the ground. So I may just be talking through my hat here.

Shooting 3’s comes within the flow of the game. You catch and shoot. Dribble, set and shoot . Pump fake, set and shoot. Within the flow of the game. No time to think. You either shoot or you don’t.

Free throws are different. You are stopped. Everything has stopped. You have time to think, time for doubt to creep in.  Regardless of having a routine, there are interruptions. Players switching in and out. Crossing the lane. Refs giving you the ball, then taking it away. Fans trying their best to distract you.

Again, I may not know what I am talking about. But at least something to consider. That for a decent shooter, making 3’s within the flow of the game at a rate to be considered good , certainly is a more natural feeling and maybe is a more comfortable shot for a guy like Juwan

Generally speaking a good 3-point shooter is a good FT shooter. It's about shot form and release. It's one of the reasons many of us expected Vic's outside shooting to improve for example -- the inverse -- he was a good FT shooter with good form, but his soph year shot in the 20-'s from the arc. He improved that to the 40's his junior season. He had good form.

[CauseThatsMyDJ]

Not sure if this has been posted already

https://www.hoosiersportsreport.com/2019/01/morgan-iu-ready-to-toe-the-line-vs-nebraska/