JUST WATCHING AND WAITING...
Have we improved in the last week at practice?
Free throws matter
I love Alabama basketball. At one time my diary reflected the number of games attended. Somewhere in moves to California and Mexico, it was lost. That disturbed me greatly. Perhaps it will magically appear one day. The exact number of those games was around 1200. Give or take a few. That means in my 71 years on this earth I averaged somewhere around 18 games a season. Even when I moved to Mexico, I still watched about 10 games a year. My love for all things hoops has never abated. One year found me coaching a lower level professional team in Tijuana. I couldn't see every game. So I decided to coach.
There was no language barrier across the border. I found that yelling and screaming sufficed. In quieter moments my limited Spanish sufficed. The team went from somewhere around 3-30. We turned that around to 32 wins. We didn't get to play in the national tournament because my players didn't have the money. But we made our point. We had a nice arena. Some places we played the game was outside. The wind was a factor. Seriously, you always wanted the breeze at your back in the second half. The lanes were European and that made for a much more wide-open game. Big was great as always, but not like in the States. All in all, it is a much better game. Fundamentals were essential. We won games not just we had better talent (frequently, we did). Fundamentals are sadly lacking in the college game now. One of the main thing we taught was shooting free throws. Well, not just shooting them, but actually making them. At the start of early practice, we told them "ganaras el 75% du tus freethrows o no juagras." You make 75 percent of your freebies or you will not play. The end of every practice was shooting free throws. We didn't shoot them before practice. Why not? You need to make them when you are tired. At first, they didn't believe they wouldn't play. At the end of game one three starters didn't play in game two. I realize there are some players who can't do that. Everyone can come close. As a season we ended up making 82%. One game we made 43 free throws.
That brings me my point today. There is no reason why Alabama can't make 75 % of their free throws. We have two players who have good solid fundamentals. Kira Lewis and Alex Reese. We have one who is making that percentage with less than perfect fundaments. Dazon is getting better. And we have the enigma in Don'ta Hall. He has three of the five base fundamentals. But he works hard and he repeats the same motion every time. I have taught free throw and jump shooting for the last 35 years. Here's what you need:
1. You have to make players understand the NEED to make free throws;
2. You have to take your time and focus. We don't seem to do that'
3. Free throws are not a rest period. You have to practice when tired.
4. Don't let poor free throws shooters playin key parts of the game. Let me give you an example. Herbert Jones is a great player on defense. His defense is great. On offense, not so much. I can't even watch him try to shoot a free throw. I feel a waive of nausea wafting up. Now, that is not Herberts fault. He cannot teach himself to overcome the problem.
5. Missing free throws is not a mental thing. Period. It just isn't. If you use the perfect fundaments you don't think about pressure. Fundamentals reduce stress.
6. We have already lost two games due to poor free throw shooting. None of thing comments are about actually shooting.
Tonight we play Penn State. We should win, but we need to make free throws. Losing a game to poor free throw shooting is unacceptable in my opinion. RollTide
Have we improved in the last week at practice?
Free throws matter
There was no language barrier across the border. I found that yelling and screaming sufficed. In quieter moments my limited Spanish sufficed. The team went from somewhere around 3-30. We turned that around to 32 wins. We didn't get to play in the national tournament because my players didn't have the money. But we made our point. We had a nice arena. Some places we played the game was outside. The wind was a factor. Seriously, you always wanted the breeze at your back in the second half. The lanes were European and that made for a much more wide-open game. Big was great as always, but not like in the States. All in all, it is a much better game. Fundamentals were essential. We won games not just we had better talent (frequently, we did). Fundamentals are sadly lacking in the college game now. One of the main thing we taught was shooting free throws. Well, not just shooting them, but actually making them. At the start of early practice, we told them "ganaras el 75% du tus freethrows o no juagras." You make 75 percent of your freebies or you will not play. The end of every practice was shooting free throws. We didn't shoot them before practice. Why not? You need to make them when you are tired. At first, they didn't believe they wouldn't play. At the end of game one three starters didn't play in game two. I realize there are some players who can't do that. Everyone can come close. As a season we ended up making 82%. One game we made 43 free throws.
That brings me my point today. There is no reason why Alabama can't make 75 % of their free throws. We have two players who have good solid fundamentals. Kira Lewis and Alex Reese. We have one who is making that percentage with less than perfect fundaments. Dazon is getting better. And we have the enigma in Don'ta Hall. He has three of the five base fundamentals. But he works hard and he repeats the same motion every time. I have taught free throw and jump shooting for the last 35 years. Here's what you need:
1. You have to make players understand the NEED to make free throws;
2. You have to take your time and focus. We don't seem to do that'
3. Free throws are not a rest period. You have to practice when tired.
4. Don't let poor free throws shooters playin key parts of the game. Let me give you an example. Herbert Jones is a great player on defense. His defense is great. On offense, not so much. I can't even watch him try to shoot a free throw. I feel a waive of nausea wafting up. Now, that is not Herberts fault. He cannot teach himself to overcome the problem.
5. Missing free throws is not a mental thing. Period. It just isn't. If you use the perfect fundaments you don't think about pressure. Fundamentals reduce stress.
6. We have already lost two games due to poor free throw shooting. None of thing comments are about actually shooting.
Tonight we play Penn State. We should win, but we need to make free throws. Losing a game to poor free throw shooting is unacceptable in my opinion. RollTide
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