Individual player approach to FT shooting idea

[RUonBrain]

I find the FT shooting situation a bit strange.

Earlier in the season (including Seton Hall if I'm not mistaken), we had some games where we shot a GREAT percentage from the line. All of the players.

Lately it has been horrible, pretty much across the team.

I wonder how much of it is mental and confidence?
When things are going bad and you are frustrated, I can imagine a lack of confidence and focus can creep in.

During the last game, Corey missed the 1st of 2 (this following other misses in the game), and he walked away from the line in disgust and one could clearly see him pouting and he was very mad at himself (understandably).

But that, I believe, helped contribute to him missing the 2nd, which he did.


Something has to change.
Attitude, pre-shot routine. Something.

Personally, I'd like to see Corey (and probably other guys) totally rework their FT routine.
Slow it down. Take more dribbles. Take a deep breath. Take a knee bend. Relax. Lock and load. Then shoot it.
Lots of guys do things like that. Just watch the NBA.
Maybe Coach Knight can help figure this out.

We used to have guys who shot way over 80%. Need to get that back. It is FREE POINTS!

 

[RAC’emUp]

Whatever the routine is it should be simple and relatively quick. Definitely not many dribbles.

Corey also made one after missing the first and getting mad at himself.

On TV it looked like he might have added a hitch in which his right elbow flew out before shooting.

 

[RUonBrain]

I think FT shooting is kind of like putting in golf.
There is no set way to do it, and people have all kinds of pre-shot routines and forms/styles.

I guess you do what works for you, but it would be an interesting study on what characteristics generally are used by the great ones, and what things are common to the bad ones.

 

[goru7]

I find the FT shooting situation a bit strange.

Earlier in the season (including Seton Hall if I'm not mistaken), we had some games where we shot a GREAT percentage from the line. All of the players.

Lately it has been horrible, pretty much across the team.

I wonder how much of it is mental and confidence?
When things are going bad and you are frustrated, I can imagine a lack of confidence and focus can creep in.

During the last game, Corey missed the 1st of 2 (this following other misses in the game), and he walked away from the line in disgust and one could clearly see him pouting and he was very mad at himself (understandably).

But that, I believe, helped contribute to him missing the 2nd, which he did.


Something has to change.
Attitude, pre-shot routine. Something.

Personally, I'd like to see Corey (and probably other guys) totally rework their FT routine.
Slow it down. Take more dribbles. Take a deep breath. Take a knee bend. Relax. Lock and load. Then shoot it.
Lots of guys do things like that. Just watch the NBA.
Maybe Coach Knight can help figure this out.

We used to have guys who shot way over 80%. Need to get that back. It is FREE POINTS!

 

[goru7]

The first part of your post hit the nail on the head. We lack confidence shooting. MIKE was a 75+ foul shooter early and even he is missing because he lacks confidence. You also make a good point about Corey and pouting with the misses, making it worse. Good to great foul shooters stay at the line in their routine and if they miss one ,you would never know it, and they reload and swish the next. We have to get our confidence back, and not walk away from the line when we miss.

 

[RUsojo]

It was really bad for that one game but otherwise we've been pretty true to our average.

 

[TDIrish27]

Never played beyond HS but my HS coach always had us shoot FT's after conditioning to mimic a game situation.

I'm sure that's the norm for most teams.

Until you hit 5 straight you didn't go home-----and it was enforced.

 

[willisneverrana43]

It was really bad for that one game but otherwise we've been pretty true to our average.

Yup. The team will get closer to their average as the season wears on, which is to say below average.

Shooting from the field, however, almost certainly will not. As the percentage of games in which RU has played good teams increases, the shooting percentage from the field won't.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

DON'T get input from past coaches....especially Bannon and Rice. Don't want to paint the picture of the combination of those 2.

 

[RUsty Screw75]

DON'T get input from past coaches....especially Bannon and Rice. Don't want to paint the picture of the combination of those 2.

Corey does not set himself when he is at the line.....he rushes the shot doesn't take a deep breath....before shooting ....our guys pick up the ball from a drybble put back spin an shoot all in jone motion....if one little thing is off it's a miss. keep it simple

 

[richthedentist]

I know for a fact they shoot plenty of free throws in practice and knock them down; it is just a matter of doing it in a game as someone said it is a confidence thing no doubt

 

[RUKnights86]

It is evident as a team that we need to get better at FT's, it has been no secret for the past few years that as a team Rutgers has struggled from the charity stripe, an area where good teams excel and can really get significant points. As an offense like ours struggles with shooting from the field, FTs become even more critical.

There are a really only two players when they go to the FT line that I feel confident that they will knock them both down, and that is Mike & Nigel. Corey is down from 71% last year to 62.5%, and I want to attribute that to the amount of effort he extends but he was relied on just as much if not more last season. For a guy like him who creates so much off the dribble he needs to be in the mid 70s. I always say to people guys who create and big man should really work on the FT game, it can take your game to a whole different level. Unfortunately when our bigs get fouled, I just hope for 1 of 2 and sometimes that I a struggle. Also other guys who can shoot it well (Laurent & Omoruyi) just either do not play enough or create enough to get fouled while shooting.

 

[PatrickRU92]

Bad FT shooters, with rare exceptions, won't become good FT shooters with coaching. we can always find a game where the percentage was much higher but there is a reason why we are at the bottom of the B1G in that dept, and it's not confidence nor coaching.