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Post by steveaztec on Jan 19, 2010 21:49:23 GMT -8
As I watch the miserable Aztec free throw shooting and cringe...
And I read how frustrated Aztec fans are getting (and rightfully so)...
It has become very clear to me how to improve the free throw shooting...
Everyone is calling for the Aztecs to practice MORE on their free throw shooting......This is the opposite of what should be done.
We are not a good free throw shooting team.....BUT....part of the problem is that 3 of our best free throw shooters are shooting horrible.
It is "mental". No amount of practice of free throw shooting is going to help that.
The best thing for Coach Fisher to do over the next 3 days is to tell the team to not even shoot a free throw after practice. If not for one day.....probably 2 days.....and possibly even 3 days.
DJ Gay.......Tyrone Shelley......And Billy White are all decent to good free throw shooters.
The epidemic we see right now with Aztec free throw shooting is due to the fact that they are thinking about it too much........not that they are not shooting enough free throws in practice.
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Post by AlwaysAnAztec on Jan 20, 2010 9:25:42 GMT -8
Gotta disagree. The way you get better in sport, any sport, is practice, practice, practice. I seriously doubt that these guys have put much into free throws because it is not 'cool' or flashy. I would bet that they have spent much more time in their lives practicing cool dunks than un-cool free throws.
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Post by uwaztec on Jan 20, 2010 13:37:57 GMT -8
Guys... I think Tapley can make free throws. Why isn't he getting the inbound pass in situations like last night? Shelley is struggling, I knew he wasn't going to make those 2... why is he getting the inbound pass in a critical situation on the road? If I am off base here.... tell me in order who you want shooting free throws in crunch time right now?...let's say top 3.
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Post by steveaztec on Jan 20, 2010 20:18:44 GMT -8
Oh, this could become a good topic. Good questions.
I am one that doesn't look at stats or how they did the last 2 games. I like to look long term for a full season.
I want the following 3 players going to the line in the crunch for the Aztecs......Regarless of what they did at Utah or at home against TCU....
-DJ Gay
-Tyrone Shelley
-Billy White
Now those aren't the 3 greatest free throwers ever, but DJ Gay and Tyrone are pretty much 70%'s for most of their career. Billy came on last year and it is all mental with all 3 of them at this time in my opinion.
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Post by steveaztec on Jan 20, 2010 20:22:30 GMT -8
Gotta disagree. The way you get better in sport, any sport, is practice, practice, practice. I seriously doubt that these guys have put much into free throws because it is not 'cool' or flashy. I would bet that they have spent much more time in their lives practicing cool dunks than un-cool free throws. I can't see giving more than 15-20 minutes to free throws in practice. Just to many other more important things to teach and learn. You could spend one hour on free throws a night if you want, but that would take away 45 minutes of practice on breaking a press, rebounding, offense, team defense, etc. It is one or the other. The players need to practice free throws on their own (and about 50 or 75 a night in practice). I think we have a team a bad free throws shooters (around 55%) and 4 guys who are now mentally challenged at the free throw line and more practice shooting free throws will not help those 4. DJ....Shelley...Billy......KD.....And probably Leonard. |
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Post by johneaztec on Jan 22, 2010 13:38:50 GMT -8
Steves right. It's all mental right now, and no extra amount of free throws are going to help the mental side of things. Once each of these individuals make a few in a row, they'll get on a roll. It's the same thing on hitting a baseball during a slump, which is due in part to a lack of confidence, once you get a couple of hits, you go on a roll.
It's not a bad thing to have them take a day or two away from free throw practice, just to get away from the stress of it, coaches do it all the time.
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Post by uwaztec on Jan 22, 2010 14:37:37 GMT -8
Man...we better get it together for tomorrow night! I could see BYU in a foul-fest if they are down by any amount in the last couple minutes..... could be an adventure. I'm sure BYU loves to go to the line in crunch time.
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Post by aztecwin on Jan 23, 2010 7:24:15 GMT -8
Man...we better get it together for tomorrow night! I could see BYU in a foul-fest if they are down by any amount in the last couple minutes..... could be an adventure. I'm sure BYU loves to go to the line in crunch time. We are in tough no matter what with BYU this year. Now it is almost like we would be better off to be close, but behind, at the end to avoid the problem of having to make free throws down crunch time to keep a lead. We would be in a rough spot even then if BYU can make some free throws if we were behind a point or two.. Lets just blow them out so that it will not matter.  |
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Post by uwaztec on Jan 23, 2010 22:36:46 GMT -8
So free throws was a non-issue in that game! Man, what happened to our "mo" in that stretch when they ran off 15?? And Tapley should be getting that outside shot more...especially he could have taken the last one, he was open in the corner. Tapley is our best and most consistent outside shooter!
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Post by aztecwin on Jan 24, 2010 8:12:08 GMT -8
So free throws was a non-issue in that game! Man, what happened to our "mo" in that stretch when they ran off 15?? And Tapley should be getting that outside shot more...especially he could have taken the last one, he was open in the corner. Tapley is our best and most consistent outside shooter! We were just beat by a better team. BYU has three very good players and they did not get rattled at the end. They made big shots when it counted. BYU deserves its ranking. Now lets not get down and blow the season. |
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Post by steveaztec on Jan 24, 2010 11:38:44 GMT -8
Tough loss.
To keep up with my outlook on life, which is to find the positive first...
I was very impressed with our Aztecs last night. They took the #12 team in the nation, which shot lights out (and they weren't open shots), and played very well......right to the end.
Should we have won? Yes. Am I depressed with that loss? No
____________________________________________________
Defense was good for the most part...Free Throws were much better...Effort was very good. We got beat by a real tough team.
Areas to improve in that are driving me nuts....
-KD and Carlwell arguing visibly on the court early. We MUST be a team. Not point the blame at each other. That was very disturbing to me and the most disturbing thing all night. It says to me that the players are fighting behind the scenes.
-Basketball IQ. Players seem to have it or don't have it. You can improve it over time, but man we make some bad decisions. That isn't coaching (unless you blame the coach for recruiting a player with a low Basketball IQ).
Case in point....All the things that happened last night good and bad and we have a breakaway 3 on 2 after a steal that can get us within 1 point with about a minute left.
On that 3-2 (in a very short time), we did everything wrong. That is basketball IQ. Our guy with the ball was not a good ball handler (not sure he had time to get it to a ball handler).....Two of our 3 on the breakaway were way to close to each other....Our guy with the ball, did not take the ball to the middle....And then our guy with the ball tried to split two defenders (who were fairly close to a double team on D because our 2 guys on the break were so close together)....The ball is knocked away and goes back to BYU. That HAS to be turned into 2 points....It wasn't.
Note to players (and I have no doubt Fisher and staff have mentioned this a million times)...On a fast break...
-Get the ball to your best ball handler.
-Ball handler (good or bad), get the ball to the middle of the floor.
-Wings, flank out and cut to the basket at an angle.
-Ball handler continue to attack the basket from the middle until some one stops you. When they stop you (because it is a 3-2), one of those wings are wide open. Hit him with a pass and he has the easy layup......If no one stops you, take it to the hoop and score.
____________________________________________________
That is drilled into your head from 7th grade on....or at least it used to be.
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Post by AztecWilliam on Jan 24, 2010 12:23:03 GMT -8
My vote goes to the "it's largely mental" school of thought regarding free throw shooting. By this time all Aztec basketball players have shot thousands and thousands of free throws, counting both in practice and in games. Taking a rest for a day or two might help. Can't hurt.
Now, I will say this about free throw shooting. If a player has a lousy average even in practice, then perhaps he needs to work on technique. That's where coaching comes in. But if said player can sink 70% or more in practice, he should not fall to 50% or 55% in games. If that happens, then the mental aspect must be considered.
I also like Steve's suggestions regarding real-time tactics on a 3-2 fast break. We hear a lot about BB IQ. Surely, teams that reach the final four have players with lots of BB IQ. I don't know how a coach goes about increasing his players' IQ in that area, but something must be done. Until then, S.D.S.U. will simply struggle along, relying on its impressive physicality to win games. We need both physicality and BB IQ in abundance.
AzWm
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Post by steveaztec on Jan 24, 2010 13:35:41 GMT -8
On basketball IQ....The best way to improve it, is to recruit it.
Of course that is easier said than done. The Top 10-15 schools have their choice of those players.
I think Coach Fisher and staff are in a dilemma with recruiting right now (and not a bad dilemma). We still aren't getting the top players, but we are close. Fisher is choosing athletic over basketball IQ. I probably would too in his spot.
The next step up in recruiting is getting athletic along with basketball IQ.
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Post by AztecWilliam on Jan 24, 2010 23:14:34 GMT -8
On basketball IQ....The best way to improve it, is to recruit it. Of course that is easier said than done. The Top 10-15 schools have their choice of those players. I think Coach Fisher and staff are in a dilemma with recruiting right now (and not a bad dilemma). We still aren't getting the top players, but we are close. Fisher is choosing athletic over basketball IQ. I probably would too in his spot. The next step up in recruiting is getting athletic along with basketball IQ. This sounds correct. If we can continue to recruit players such as Leonard, we will probably continue winning 20 games a year. If we can also add a player or two each recruiting cycle with plenty of basketball smarts we may start winning 28-30 games. The one question mark, and it's a huge one, is this: who will replace Fish? AzWm |
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Post by steveaztec on Jan 25, 2010 7:23:59 GMT -8
On basketball IQ....The best way to improve it, is to recruit it. Of course that is easier said than done. The Top 10-15 schools have their choice of those players. I think Coach Fisher and staff are in a dilemma with recruiting right now (and not a bad dilemma). We still aren't getting the top players, but we are close. Fisher is choosing athletic over basketball IQ. I probably would too in his spot. The next step up in recruiting is getting athletic along with basketball IQ. This sounds correct. If we can continue to recruit players such as Leonard, we will probably continue winning 20 games a year. If we can also add a player or two each recruiting cycle with plenty of basketball smarts we may start winning 28-30 games. The one question mark, and it's a huge one, is this: who will replace Fish? AzWm Thats a big question William and one I fear. I would think that by the time Fisher leaves (I am guessing 3-4 years), we should be on a roll as a program of... -8 straight 20 win seasons. -8 straight post season tourneys. -We will probably add at least 2 more NCAA invites (maybe 3 or 4). -Hopefully have one or two NCAA wins. -Avg. attendance up to about 9,000 a game (from the 7,200) it has been for the last 4 years. That should make us a very attractive job. To tell you the truth though, that hire is still one of my biggest fears. We did very good with the Brady Hoke hire in football, but I thought we should have went more for a big name like Bowden or an Erickson. I would hope we would jump our salary and go after a vet, not an up and comer. |
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Post by AztecWilliam on Jan 25, 2010 14:51:49 GMT -8
I was thinking that Fish might want to retire as early as the end of the 2010-11 season. That could well be one of the Aztecs' greatest years. If so, it would be a great time for Fish to end his career. Also, he will be 65 this year. He's already had prostate cancer and may decide to relax and take it easy.
But I do worry about the choice of Fish's successor, no matter when he retires. Don't forget that we could have hired Rich Brooks or Dick Tomey after Tollner was fired. Imagine where our football program would be today if one of those two, or perhaps another solid HC with a winning record, had been hired! Instead, we settled for. . . well, you know that story.
AzWm
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