🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Yeah. Not my words.

An article in my local paper this morning says " Kansas coach Bill Self rarely wastes time (italics added) in practice working on free throws. Instead, he leaves it up to his guys to squeeze in the work......."

Then - in another article he (Self) goes on to say " We've won the last three games (against Utah, Georgetown and Florida) from the free throw line, knock on wood. "

I'm confused.

So...........what's he saying? That he knows that we must shoot free throws well to win, but he doesn't want to "waste time" working on them in practice?

Maybe he shouldn't "waste time" in practice on offensive rebounding or turnovers and leave it up to the guys to squeeze in that work as well.

@nuleafjhawk Your point is obviously correct .. free throw practice is not a waste of time. I bet Self limits the free throw practice to situations when the guys are tired after running up an down the court; then he has them all shoot 10 or 15 free throws while tired. As you know, practice time is limited, so that's probably what the author is referring to. That he wants them to practice free throws, but it's difficult to allocate precious practice time to it. I'm quite sure "on their own time" means come to the gym where a team manager or someone can monitor. I'd also bet Self makes them run, get a bit winded, before practicing.

@HighEliteMajor I'm sure you are right. I sometimes just like to come at it from the cynical, eyebrow raised angle!

@nuleafjhawk do you watch the post game shows? The guys have said when they are not in the drills, they are shooting free throws. I also assume they do a lot of shooting on their own.

@Crimsonorblue22 Gurley has said on post game show for each missed, in-game FT, the guy shoots 100 the next practice.

@globaljaybird and I think they have to hit 80, or another 100? Something like that.

Whatever they're doing... I sure hope they keep doing it cuz we rawk at the line this year!

And at least we're not like Shaq...

"O'Neal's primary weakness was his free-throw shooting, with a career average of 52.7%. He once missed all 11 of his free throw attempts in a game against the Seattle SuperSonics on December 8, 2000, a record. O'Neal believes his free throw woes were a mental issue, as he often shot 80 percent in practice. In hope of exploiting O'Neal's poor foul shooting, opponents often committed intentional fouls against him, a tactic known as "Hack-a-Shaq". O'Neal was the third-ranked player all-time in free throws taken, having attempted 11,252 free-throws in 1,207 games up to and including the 2010–11 season. On December 25, 2008, O'Neal missed his 5,000th free throw, becoming the second player in NBA history to do so, along with Chamberlain.

@nuleafjhawk

I will guess that practice time (as regulated by the NCAA) is precious and with a young, inexperienced team, the great majority is spent practicing "team" play and learning the "system" and free throws are not the top priority; however, they do practice when they are not involved in the plays that is being taught. I understand that players are also "encouraged" to practice on their own as much as needed and when time does not count against official practice time; obviously the result hare great so far. This is from the after game interview...

Kansas junior forward Perry Ellis

On why you have shot free throws so well this year:

"I mean we have been shooting them on our own. When were not in on a play in practice, we go shoot some when we aren't involved so that's the key."

Free throws against Syracuse - National Championship

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@wrwlumpy The 4 for 20 behind the arc didn't help, either. Worst loss in KU history. We had bunches of games back when Roy was coach where we were putrid from the line. The group we have now is the best free throw shooting team I can remember. Greene relishes shooting clutch free throws. He might be the best FT shooter we've ever had. Kind of hard to beat 100%, eh?

@wrwlumpy Thanks for that reminder lumpy..... My eyes are still burning (and my heart is still hurting) from that pathetic display of "skill".

Oh well, it seems as though this team is on the right track. RCJH.