Purdue 65, Western Carolina 60: CLANG!
by BoilerTMill on Dec 7, 2011 10:04 PM EST
in Men's Basketball
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PrintThat's the sound of yet another free throw caroming off the rim. We were spoiled last year with JaJuan Johnson being a steady presence at the line. Before that, Robbie Hummel was almost automatic. E'Twaun Moore was always a good free throw shooter too. This year, however...
I really don't understand why we are struggling so much from the line, especially at home. We cannot ask for a better setting to shoot free throws in, yet this is the second game where it has been atrocious. It is coming from everyone too. Only Lewis Jackson was really hitting tonight. Jacob Lawson is lucky to be a 50% shooter. Travis Carroll is 0-for-his-career. Kelsey Barlow is streaky at best. Terone Johnson and Anthony Johnson have been terrible when they should be so much better. It is just bad right now from everyone. I can understand one or two guys struggling, but the entire team? We need to work with some new quality golf clubs and golf drivers to regain our confidence.
Fortunately, we still were able to do enough and make this a win and avoid what looked like a disaster at the half. It is probably a good thing that the BTN feed crapped out midway through the first half. Judging by Gametracker we were spared just about the worst half of basketball we have played in the last six years. There are not going to be too many games at Mackey where we score only 21 points in a half and still win.
That is the important thing though. Despite all the ugliness, we opened the second half with a 10-0 run and made sure we didn't hang an ugly loss on our record. Sure, we still have a lot we need to work on and only three games to work on it, but it is apparent, after 10 games, that this is going to be a wildly inconsistent team. So far we've managed to win games against Western Carolina and High Point with about a D- effort.
What we need to work on is making those first thirty minutes of the Xavier game our regular play as opposed to an excellent 30 minute stretch. Through the first half tonight we saw probably our best 30 minutes to start the Xavier game and our worst 30 minutes to finish the Xavier game and start the Western Carolina game.
When you think about it, this is still a fairly young team. We've relied on the Robbie-JJ-Smooge troika for so long that it is only now that we're needing Ryno and LewJack to be scorers. Tonight was only the 10th collegiate game for AJ and Lawson. Carroll and TJ are still sophomores. D.J. Byrd has been conspicuously absent, but is battling injury. GDB is, well, he's GDB. He rebounded very well tonight, but every play is a toss-up with him. Marcius hasn't even been playing basketball that long. We've had 10 games to adjust to new roles, so there are bound to be stretches, like tonight, when we look awful. We're still finding ways to win, even if it is against competition we should not be struggling against.
As long as we don't slip in these next three games we will enter conference play at 11-2 with wins over NCAA-caliber teams in Iona and Temple and a nice win over a good Miami team. Both of our losses, while frustrating, are not awful by any means. There is still a lot of basketball to be played. We'll grow out of this stuff and succeed because we have to.
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Glad to have Carolina off my mind.
It’s probably good to face the adversity of being down that badly. It’s tough to simulate in practice, and it’s going to happen again, and the team probably needs to learn to deal with it against tougher teams.
Still, I might be a bit worried if there is another non-straightforward win. Butler still seems quite weak. Xavier’s totally curbstomping them at the half right now.
by Beavis Beefcake on Dec 7, 2011 10:12 PM EST reply actions
It doesn't matter how "weak" a team is
When they play Purdue, we make them look like the Dallas Mavericks. Look, Western Carolina lost by 25 at South Carolina, 32 at Iowa State and 20 at Northern Iowa, and yet they were killing us by 8 in the first half!
I was cursing BTN for “technical difficulties”, but then again, maybe that’s a good thing I get to save the time to do something better instead of getting frustrated at our missed FTs and lost rebounds.
Mavericks
Having shared Maverick season tickets with some friends during the team’s dark years, my first reaction to “look like the Dallas Mavericks” means something very different to me.
I have to remind myself that they are World Champions. Thanks for the trip down memory tollway.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
lol
Yeah, I was thinking what should be the appropriate analogy, and I don’t want to use college teams (for obvious reason since the best team right now are UK and aOSU), nor do I want to use the Miami Heat, and Lakers are over-the-top. So I have to go by the reigning champ.
I think it’ll be more ironic if the day comes that L.A. Clippers become the champ.
I think we've showed a lot of variance
We really did take it to Western Michigan and Northern Illinois, after all. The talent’s there. Perhaps it’s a matter of not “playing like your hair’s on fire” as our coach has said once things start to go wrong. That’s tough to learn.
I wasn’t expecting another double-up, but we definitely have the talent to win comfortably—get to double digits at halftime, and while we don’t want to coast or blow teams out, we want to play smart.
I think with the level of teams we’re playing, 3 wins in the 15-point range would be a good goal to search for. Not that you want to scoreboard watch.
by Beavis Beefcake on Dec 8, 2011 4:32 PM EST up reply actions
You an engineering major?
I like how you use “variance” ;-)
I'm a math person actually
I tend to stare at stats and probably try to make more out of them than is reasonable.
It’s something to do between games :)
by Beavis Beefcake on Dec 9, 2011 6:38 PM EST up reply actions
It looks like
we have a ton of trouble with teams from North Carolina that wear purple.
I'd combine Virginia with NC (they're neighbors anyway)
Can’t remeber their school colors, but VCU and Richmond had me seeing purple last season.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
But maybe only on Wednesdays
Or maybe we don’t play well against nephews of NBA stars :)
by Beavis Beefcake on Dec 8, 2011 4:34 PM EST up reply actions
Illinois also won by 5 (led by 2 with 25 secs left)
That’s the team that beat then-#18 Gonzaga.
It seems the Keady-style teams just somehow played to the level of their opponents. They can be surprisingly good against the “good” teams (us against Xavier, Illinois beat Gonzaga, Tenn lost to then-#8 Memphis by only 2 in OT), and we can also be very bad.
I am hypothesizing b/c the Keady-style team is about effort, and you just usually don’t bring in the effort when your opponent is a cup-cake. You feel bad beating up on the poor little guys. On the other end, they play their heart out in order to have a chance, and before we know it we were down by 8 at the half and scored barely 21 pts.
Sometimes, I wish we get a bad-ass ruthless player, the one who smells blood and goes for the kill. Hummel is just too nice a guy and is never asked to be that person in his career. In the last 4 yrs we have a Red Button, but who can we go to now? (AJ has that fearless scoring mentality, but he is only a frosh and other than his little runner he doesn’t have a consistent stroke)
Really? I didn't see him (well, didn't see the game b/c of BTN)
Maybe he’s thinking, “Geez, after 15 yrs, we still couldn’t put away Western Carolina easy.”
G-Rob - Ruthless
The last ruthless – go for the throat player I remember was Glenn Robinson, and I haven’t seen anything on the court that resembles him for quite a while.
Oh too bad I never get to watch the Big Dog in person
He left right before I came.
I remember against Illinois
Al McGuire, announcing, said “Here’s where Illinois could take a lead” when they cut it to 62-60.
As he was explaining why, Robinson dribbled down the court, pulled up at the top of the key.
65-60.
by Beavis Beefcake on Dec 8, 2011 4:35 PM EST up reply actions
Bad Ass Ruthless Player
If he could keep his head on straight, GDB has the raw material to be cold blooded, boot on the throat kind of guy.
I disagree a bit about Robbie. Wonderful kid, but savagely competetive. If they ever make a movie about Rob, he’ll be played by the sentry rabbit in “Search for the Holy Grail” – a soft fluffy bunny with a mean streak a mile wide!
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
GDB might when he's fired up
But he is never gonna be a big-time scorer. Not to diss him, b/c Kramer won games for us that way too (Alabama, and also 2nd rd of NCAA Tournament after Robbie went down). I really think AJ will be our bad ass guy with his Chicago attitude, and also Davis might be too as he is used to be the big-time scorer.
As for Robbie, yes, he is competitive (witness how he deals with two devastating injuries) and he is our best scorer, but to be that bad-ass guy I envision, you need to be able to create your own shot at will, and Robbie isn’t that type. As he said it himself, he never really asked to score when he teamed up with Scott Martin or E’Twaun Moore. He is a great TEAM offensive player, knowing where to spot up for an open shot, and makes a fair amount of jumpers. But until he can score at will like Dirk Nowitzki, he doesn’t meet my criteria.
OK
I missed the “score at will” aspect in your original post.
You want a rainmaker with a black heart at “Boots Time”.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
Well, come to think of it
You can’t be a bad-ass w/o skill. You can have a bad-ass attitude, but if you get no game, it doesn’t mean a thing.
So you can either be a bad-ass shutdown player like Kramer, or maybe a bad-ass lunatic rebounder like Rodman. But most effectively, be a bad-ass scorer like MJ or Reggie or the Big Dog, coz that’s the most effective way. It’s like, I am so bad-ass and you can’t stop me. When I smell blood, I stomp on your throat even harder. Frankly, I don’t like those type of ppl (and I ain’t one of them), but then seeing this team, I wish we could have one. I am hoping AJ will be that guy next year.
We just weren't ready to play
Just like the High Point game the team was out laughing and joking around in warmups and in the tunnel before the game. They just expected WCU to lay down since we knew we were better and came out really flat. Then when you give a team like that confidence it makes for a long night.
It was a win though, and Lawson played well again. If him, TJ and AJ make free throws tonight we win by 15+ and all three are in double figures easily. I have no idea what it will take to make that happen though.
Urrr
Lawson played well again
In 21 minutes (that’s 7 more than TC and Sandi COMBINED), the Law has ZERO, 0, NIL, NO rebounds, along with a 2-7 in FT. Unless he blocked 15 shots and was 10-10 on putback, I wouldn’t call it a game “played well.”
I won’t dwell on the FT, but as an athletic freak who supposedly can outjump anyone and playing the 5, how can you not even get a rebound in 21 minutes?!?! For crying out loud, the shortest “Little Louie” has 4 rebs by himself.
Unless you mean not fouling out means playing well, then yes, he did play well.
Yeah
He was easily better than the other two, but I guess that doesn’t really take that much to do. Also he did have a cool hustle play where they got a rebound and he chased the guy down and forced him to fall out of bounds. So that counts as 1 board right?
/CoachHopestats’d
I don't deny Lawson played better than TC and SM
and that he has the most upside if he can limit his foul trouble, but that’s a VERY low benchmark to be called “play well.” And yes, I appreciate his hustle play (much better than TC and SM), but still, I just can’t get over how he can have no rebs at all in 21 mins when LewJack got 4 on a bad back.
I always like your analysis charlespig
They are very truthful and a lot of people don’t want to admit some of the shortfalls of the team when it can sound a little too critical at times. I didn’t really start reading this blog until this year but I imagine at some time in the past you’ve said JJ can rebound more. JJ was a 1st team AA, what more could he do is what a lot of people might think. But I was always thinking he should get more boards. I guess you could attribute a lot of it to being out of position due to contesting a lot of shots in the lane.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a glass half full kind of guy (I laugh when I say that cause I just read a quote from Danny Hope saying he was that. I think he’s more like glass spilling over).
But you are absolutely correct. 0 boards for Lawson in 21 minutes doesn’t cut it. I can’t wait for AJ Hammons
Thx, much appreciated
I don’t have too much friends here b/c I just speak my mind w/o any sugar-coating. The perpetual optimists think I am too critical and not supportive enough, and when others trash our players I voice my displeasure on their trashing. To me, criticism is healthy but trashing no, esp to current players. And as an engineering major, I am also extremely sensitive to any logical inconsistencies, which a lot of ppl committing the error would think I’m just being a punk.
LOL, yeah, Hope is definitely not a glass half-full kind of guy but like you said, glass spilling over when there is only one drop left kind of guy.
As for rebounding, I really don’t understand. Sandi had 15 boards a game in high school and I think Lawson did too. So it isn’t like they dunno how to rebound. Rebounding is also about heart, as we see in LewJack the third rebounder behind JJ and E’Twaun last year despite his height. In any case, if only having the time for one, I’d think focusing on rebounding drills would do more help than focusing on FT drills, and that’s what I’d like to see Painter put the emphasis on, and that’s what I’d like to see our bigs improve significantly on.
I think you have more friends on here than you think.
I’ve certainly disagreed with you my fair share, but I certainly respect your opinion and can usually see where you’re coming from. That may be the best part of this community, actually. I mostly respect everyone on here, and with a few exceptions things never get personal or name-call-ey when there are disagreements.
"Hey Jay, what time is it?"
"9:30"
"AND IU STILL SUCKS!"
by Boiler Bandsman on Dec 8, 2011 3:12 PM EST up reply actions
Thx
You are Mike, not Matt, right? (If so, I am doing a better job than T-Mill, lol) And you are the one who posted the Robbie’s FT (after the High Point game), right? That was a great pix that I save it on my hard drive.
I don’t mind disagreement from others. In fact, I’m proud to think differently, and I’d be happy to have a passionate debate on any issue on the grounds that we both approach it in a civilized manner. It’s that instead of trying to get their opinions across, sometimes ppl just resort to name-calling or insulting slur, and just taking it very personally, and that’s why I say I don’t have much friends. However, I do appreciate this community that allows me to get in touch with Purdue athletics, and also to vent my frustration as only few in this world could understand the frustration of being a Purdue fan.
Respectful debate is an honorable thing, Mr. pig
Life would be quite boring if everyone saw things the same way, don’t you think? As someone said earlier, I always find your comments worth the time to read.
As a long term Purdue fan, I share your codependence on the Black and Gold support group that Dr. TMill runs here.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
Thx, much appreciated
Absolutely, a different opinion is very healthy. That’s why I kinda like the IU guys commenting on our site here, coz they sure bring a different perspective and I appreciate that. Sometimes a different voice also brings us a reality check, as a group like this might be dangerous in getting to group-think where everyone only sees things one way.
Yes on both counts.
But I can’t take credit for that pic originally. Someone else in band took it and put it on Facebook, and I just brought it over here.
And I definitely hear you on the frustration thing. Lol
"Hey Jay, what time is it?"
"9:30"
"AND IU STILL SUCKS!"
by Boiler Bandsman on Dec 8, 2011 9:20 PM EST up reply actions
Still, it's an awesome pix, many thx for bringing it over here
…too bad it seems like the entire team still need to work on their FTs
I'm an excellent free throw shooter
and I still have 4 years of eligibility
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
Improved free throw shooting doesn't happen overnight
Barlow worked at it over the summer and that’s where the difference was made, not during the season.
This may be something we have to deal with for the rest of the season, as painful as it sounds.
I think tonight we learned that we miss JJ and E’Twaun more than we anticipated. They were both solid from the FT line.
At least the Paint Crew found a decent tactic to cause opponents to miss their free throws.
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Senior All-American Alto Sax
+1 on the PC
"The goal remains the same"
by TimeToPlayHard on Dec 8, 2011 2:48 AM EST up reply actions
from my count
the ‘popcorn’ tactic was a good 7/8 in making them miss!
What is the popcorn tactic?
Since BTN forgot how to televise, I didn’t see the game – what is the popcorn tactic?
Individuals rapidly stood up and sat down at random
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Senior All-American Alto Sax
Prairie Doggin'
is the name for this in a workplace full of cubicles (for you students who have not yet seen cublicle farms.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
Prairie Doggin' can have other (less tasteful) meanings as well though
I’d steer clear of that one…
BTFU!
Damn Kids
You change the meaning of everything. Makes us old farts look clueless and out of touch.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
urbandictionary.com
Heck. I’m still looking up stuff people wouldn’t tell me in high school.
by Beavis Beefcake on Dec 8, 2011 4:38 PM EST up reply actions
When I was in school
Parents didn’t have urbandictionary.com – Thank God.
BTW – we called it brown cappin’ in my day.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
Us and our Dan Fogelberg records
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
I have to say that I thought the same thing you did
Prairie Doggin’ is just…
No.
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Senior All-American Alto Sax
TJ played the hardest today
We got our usual performance from Rob and an average game from an hobbled Lewjack but TJ played his guts out the entire time he was on the court and I hope to see more of that. If he could get his runner to fall more consistently he could be that 3rd or 4th scorer and seems to be becoming a better defender every game by getting in your jersey defense and key steals now and then. Just hope he keeps it up!
Boiler Up!
I actually thought Barlow played very hard today as well. I agree that TJ was also in attack mode and putting out a lot of effort
But especially at the beginning of the game, it seemed barlow was the only one putting forth effort. Just my observation
Now that I think about it, TJ was huge in this game
His baseline drive in the second half brought us the lead again.
He also had a killer 3 later in the second half.
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Senior All-American Alto Sax
I hope LewJack feels better
With him hurt or out we are not the same team. On the other hand I don’t want Painter to risk getting him hurt for the long term.
Yeah, I'm also worried about LewJack
First it is the foot, now it sounds like the back too. This just doesn’t sound good and he really needs some rest, which we can’t afford to give him when we are winning only by 5. This is the last season for LewJack so it’s now or never. I am sure as long as he can walk he’ll play (how effective that would be is another question).
Kelsey earned a couple points in my book tonight.
He sort of mini/half-heartedly Bernie’d for me tonight at the beginning of the game (I play bass in Boiler Brass) when he scored his first bucket. Good to see the guys at least having fun, even though Ryne looked absolutely pissed after the game -rightfully so.
TJ is also molding very quickly into our 6th man. He has improved so much, even from the beginning of this year. He is going to be an priceless tool for our new Baby Boilers in the next two years. Color me an optimist, but I see 1st team Big Ten out of him Senior year.
Will A.J. Hammons please get here so we can see what a man child that has post talent can do? Carroll is just not cutting it for me. He was taking 18 footers in the shoot around and clanking a majority of them…
haha are you talking about Barlow's celebration after an and one?
I laughed for the entire free throw about that
Love TJ. Think he’s undervalued and has great potential.
"The goal remains the same"
by TimeToPlayHard on Dec 8, 2011 2:51 AM EST up reply actions
One word: Confidence
This team lacks it, big time. We’ve got a lot of talent that isn’t meshing right now. Now, we’re still eeking out some wins so that’s okay. Our two losses aren’t “bad” losses. We’re not in a terrible spot at the moment. You don’t have to be an expert to watch our games and see that we look really disjointed and void of any swagger. That’s what’s ailing this team. We have an abysmal free throw percentage, our team defense hasn’t hit its usual “Purdue” stride, and we have bigs missing open lay ups. Look at the teams playing the best ball right now (aOSU, UK, etc). They have a fire in their eyes. We look dazed and confused. Until that’s remedied, I don’t believe we’ll see notable improvement. On that note, can we please stop bashing players here? I’m just as upset as the rest of you, but we don’t need to break these guys down any more than they already are. They need building up. Just my two cents.
by One of these days on Dec 8, 2011 7:52 AM EST reply actions
TC needs confidence more than anybody
Sandi too. When you’ve got the ball and you are standing under the basket, put it up! Don’t hesitate and take an extra dribble!
One nitpick...
Don’t “put it up”….DUNK IT FOR GOD’S SAKE!
"Hey Jay, what time is it?"
"9:30"
"AND IU STILL SUCKS!"
by Boiler Bandsman on Dec 8, 2011 3:13 PM EST up reply actions
x2
My rule of thumb: Criticizing, yes; Trashing, no. We don’t ditch our comrades when they are down; we support them. Like it or not, TC and Sandi will be here for the rest of the year, so we might as well try to help lifting them up rather than stepping on them.
As for fire in the eyes (of aOSU/UK players), well, true, but then as long as we have that in March I am happy. Too many times we got that in Feb and that fire flames out in March, so I am not overly concerned not having it in Dec.
There was a game last night?
I really enjoyed the Shembechler ICONS show they were showing instead!
Ever Grateful. Ever True.
Was it just me?
Or was this one of the worst refereed games in a very very long time? From sitting in the crowd it looked atrocious. Maybe some of the calls looked different on camera. Not trying to make excuses, but it seemed that a lot of bad calls ended a lot of our runs in the second half.
I dunno, I was there and there were some atrocious calls.
I reference the end of the game when Ryne got absolutely mauled and no foul was called. Generally speaking, players will let something go when the game ends. Ryne was still fighting for a foul call after the final buzzer.
I think there was one official that simply underperformed. He had two blatantly missed calls that his cohorts overturned.
to sum this up, at one point Painter was screaming at the ref
Lew was bringing the ball up the court and the guy was hitting him all the down, very physical. Lew took an elbow (Id guess it knocked the air out of him) and Painter had to call a time out. Painter screamed “Look at him!!” at the ref as Lew lay on the ground gasping for air. Ya very bad all around. In the middle of the game, Refs wouldn’t call a foul on anything, when Western Carolina was making a late push. at the end of the game (under one minute) they were calling fouls when they breathed on us! Let the freakin game end!
I blame the shifting of the Paint Crew for all our missed FT's this year....
#Pileonmorganburkewhilewecan
Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team
Lost control of the remote
Damn BTN cost me control of the remote. My wife and daughter wanted to watch X Factor but there was no way that was happening when the beloved Boilers are playing, but when it switched to the icons, I lost
We are not alone
Free throw shooting all about concentration and repitition. The great ones like Robbie and JJ Redick follow the exact same routine each time, I don’t see TJ or AJ doing that right now.
But we are not alone, an excellent shotting Florida team was 15-32 in free throws and was 2 for 14 at one point and they basically play 4 guards that can shoot and one big guy. So it can happen and suddenly come back as well
Exactly
FT is mostly 1) muscle memory (u can get that via repetition), and 2) mental. We need to understand where the issue is to “fix” it. For some, they really need to shoot A TON of FTs to develop that muscle memory. For others, it is about the mental aspect, which is harder to fix but also can be done in heartbeat.
Also, FT shooting can vary widely from game-to-game. The more we emphasize on the “poor FT shooting”, the more it actually weighs on the players’ mind, and ironically the worse they shoot. The reason is, instead of letting the subconscious (i.e. muscle memory) do the job, they try to overthink and micro-manage every bit and rely on the conscious mind to shoot. (For more, read: “Clutch”, “Choke”, or “Nerve”. They all essentially talk about the same thing)
You are right
Once they miss a few they seem to be changing routine which is like starting over, whereas the good ones like Robbie focus on the routine that got them there
Exactly
Just stick to your routine instead of starting over.
I’d assume guys like AJ and TC who can shoot jumpers are having problems mostly due to the mental aspect, while guys like Lawson just doesn’t have the muscle memory and need to shoot A TON of FT like GDB did. If we can just improve our FT% (which is very much doable if we are 3-sigma from our norm), we could have beaten High Point and Western Carolina, and we would seal the deal at Xavier. The players just need to get this “issue” out of their head and just shoot.
I recall reading something about a player who sang during free throws
It kept him from overthinking the shot.
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Senior All-American Alto Sax
Nowitzki
sinking clutch free throws, Dirk Nowitzki divulged Tuesday the secret to his success.
"You just try to relax," he said. "There are a lot of things going through your mind. I try to sing sometimes to kind of take the pressure off."
I think it was even David Hasselhoff
Germans love him, you know
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
"don't think of a bear"
And don’t think of how not to think of a bear, and so forth
I think Tolstoy played that game as a kid, and of course people told to, failed. Yeah, it’s pretentious to bring up a reference like that, but I’ll get worse.
When I used to play chess I sometimes started dwelling on stupid details more than I needed to. It took me a while to notice this, but once I did, it was more a matter of stepping back and doing the simple things I’d known for so many years. Or I made one mistake and then started compounding mistakes by saying “I have to change things up” etc. It’s amazing how you can lose your focus once things start to go wrong.
But also I realized that after a while there was stuff I used to worry about that seemed automatic, and that overthinking helped me to realize why I didn’t need to think about stuff, and not just in chess. But in the meantime, overthinking left me with no energy for more basic thinking in other places.
What’s tricky is, you can’t force or teach people to do that. You can’t present it as an optimization puzzle. It may be a matter of remembering other stuff that comes naturally and sort of visualizing that and having faith that you’ll be able to work on other stuff the same way, given enough time.
I suspect that the younger players will learn this, and the older ones will push them. But I think it’s the sort of thing best taken care of in the offseason. But for now, this is more than enough overanalysis of why/how not to overanalyze.
by Beavis Beefcake on Dec 8, 2011 4:45 PM EST up reply actions
Exactly, we always seem to compound the previous mistake by dwelling on it
this is more than enough overanalysis of why/how not to overanalyze.
LOL, that’s OK, we are doing the over-analyzing part. The players just need to do some meditation and chill :-)
If I were an opposing coach.
I would tell my guys to be as physical as humanly possible with Purdue. To the point where a foul could be called on virtually every possession. Yes, I may have to go a little deeper on my bench but ultimately, it should work in my favor. First, the refs will have a difficult time calling all the fouls that are taking place. Second, if I’m smart about who to foul (not RH) it’s like a turnover. And I would trade that for a foul every day. Third, I get the added benefit of wear and tear (and possibly frustration) on the Purdue players that could affect them at the end of games. To a certain extent, I think this is already happening. Lewjack is being put through a grinder now every game. And none of our bigs are going to get a shot around the basket without getting hammered. Until we start making them pay for playing physical (at the line), it will continue, and deservedly so.
by Hummel's figurines on Dec 8, 2011 5:21 PM EST up reply actions
Hansons
This is exactly the strategy proposed to get the best use out of the three bigs playing behind JJ last year. 15 fouls per game worth of frustration and annoyance – especially effective vs poor foul shooting squads. All this while JJ took a blow – just like the three hosers in the old movie.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
Good in theory, but ...
Then you put the other team in bonus or double bonus, and then any touch foul to a good shooter and you might lose 1.75 pts on average.
The Hansons really need to do 3 things: run, rebound, defend. They don’t have to worry about scoring or anything. Just do those 3 things and I am happy. Lawson is definitely running and playing some kind of defense with his shot-blocking ability, but no one is doing the rebound whatsoever.
As someone who was a marginal at best BB player in school
I can’t for the life of me understand how players at this level can be that bad at FTs. I learned by the 7th grade how to make a FT, through repition and muscle memory. To this day I could go a year with touching a BB and shoot a better % than most of these guys…just makes no sense to me.
How to coach free throws
You bring up a good point. You can’t coach them and, quite frankly, you shouldn’t have to. These guys know how to do it. They have been shooting free throws from the same distance for years. Half of it is to keep a constant pre shot routine. The other half is all in between the ears. These guys lack confidence. It’s written on their faces and this is the number one place it’ll show up in the stat line.
by One of these days on Dec 8, 2011 7:15 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
The Yips
There’s a strong case to be made that shooting FTs is alot like putting in golf. Both are aided by good fundemental technique, lots of practice and an automated pre-shot routine.
Outstanding putters sometimes go into streaks of poor putting that threaten their entire career (golfers can’t get by on good defense). When in this funk, known as “The Yips”, players doubt all of their training and become willing to try anything that they think may work. Pressure situations only amplify the effect of the disease.
It could be argued that putting is much more challenging than shooting free throws. In golf, every putt is a different length. The dimensions of a FT are identical every time. Putts must travel over inconsistent surfaces that can cause the shot to change speed and direction. FTs travel through thin air. FT shooters have two chances to make each shot. Putting greens do not have backboards.
Golfers on the other hand, don’t have 15,000 people screaming at them while making their shot, unless of course it’s Tiger and all his girlfriends are present.
I’d suggest that Painter should bring in Dave Pelz, the Putting Doctor, to work on the mental aspects, but Pelz went to IU.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
Don't Remember Exactly
but i did look it up a few years ago and it was quite ordinary…
by ZoKnowsDefense on Dec 9, 2011 12:53 PM EST up reply actions
Ha...
as someone who’s two sports have always been BB and golf…i can tell you that there is no argument about putting being more challenging than FT shooting…it is 1000% without a doubt harder. I don’t care about the crowds and such….heck, mentally its more pressure to have people deadly silent watching you than it is them screaming and jumping around.
Then throw in the fact that no two putts are identical, and the conditions are constantly different….ughhh…golf, the most frustrating game to play in the world…and it ain’t even close.
I think his argument has some weight
I’m a lifelong golfer as well. I’m nowhere near pro status, just an 8 handicap. I don’t say that for any reason other than to say I know the game. I don’t pretend to think that a 30 foot snake of a putt is easier than shooting a free throw and I don’t think boilerslim is saying that either. The principles transfer, though. 90% of basketball is about athleticism, reflexes, and God-given strength and agility. Things happen so fast that, most of the time, players don’t have to stop and think. In golf, it’s 90% mental. You have to mentally prepare yourself for every shot and immediately forget about the bad ones. This is why you see pro golfers with such a fine physique and raw athleticism like John Daly and Craig Stadler. Haha. In shooting free throws, though, the player has time to think about all the things that can drive golfers crazy…keep your elbow in…don’t push it….what have you. Hence, if basketball players don’t have their minds right, it will show in their free throw percentage. They develop the basketball equivalent of the yips, or the shanks, or whatever you want to call it… Good analogy….
by One of these days on Dec 9, 2011 10:55 AM EST up reply actions
Exactly! (I also to call hoops for BTN)
My point was that the mental aspects of the task are similar, particularly for a slumping player in pressure situations. Both allow ample time to think and often let the shooter begin to question their training.
Another model from golf that may apply to FT shooting is the big/little muscle theory. It’s used to explain why a golfer who can consistently bomb it a mile and split the fairway can also be a terrible putter.
The idea is that pressure and stress affect the small guiding muscles of the human body more than the big muscles that do most of the heavy lifting (pun intended). This is why some players go to long putters – to eliminate many of the little muscles in the hands and lower arms from the putting stroke.
Live play in basketball, comprised of whole body movement and quick reaction, makes heavy use of the big muscles. In FT shooting, the small guiding muscles, again in the hands and lower arms, make a larger contribution to the overall motion than the large muscles do. In addition, a troubled mind has more time to influence them.
The point is, these two activities in pressure situations share many mental and physiological similarities. Techniques used to cure treat putting slumps may be applicable at the charity stripe.
"There's no hope until Hope is gone!"
Maybe we should have someone
from our NCAA champion women’s golf team give ’em some pointers…
by One of these days on Dec 9, 2011 6:53 PM EST up reply actions
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