Love and free throws!

[muskieman]

I know Sean has talked about it in a coach's show. Love has improved and they did tinker a little because when he shoots, his arm crosses in front of his eye. Many player have weird (to us) stances. Drew, for instance, stands almost sideways, but it is not the stance that makes him a great foul shooter.

[millersdad]

62 percent free throw shooting for the season is not good. I believe that, in fact, he could get that up to 82 percent or 20 percentage points if he tried a new stance and of course got more repititions or practiced the shot more and I think that he owes that to us as fans. If I were an XU player and I had a 62 percentage free throw...worst of the starter you can bet my butt that I would be practicing so many free throws that I would wear a hole out on the floor. Great players and great teams see a weakness and work on it. What would Michael Jordan do if he was shooting 62 percent from the line? Point made!

[Mr. Neutral]

<<you can bet my butt that I would be practicing so many free throws that I would wear a hole out on the floor.>>

Hasn't Miller repeatedly pointed out that Love shoots at least 100 FT's at the end of every practice. I don't recall hearing him say it about any other player. So, to say that Love's not putting in the effort re his FT shooting appears to be completely off-base.

<<What would Michael Jordan do if he was shooting 62 percent from the line? Point made!>>

MJ was a 6'6" shooting guard. Love's a post player. The Bulls won in '92 with Bill Cartwright (a very good FT shooter) shooting .604 for the season. He also won 3 titles with Rodman at PF, who never shot over .560 at the line during that run.

Could Love be better? Yes. Will he? My guess is yes. But given that Love shot .286 from the line last year, it's safe to assume that he'll continue to improve.

[Ron 68]

If Jason makes 82% of his free throws he will have the 4th highest percentage in the league. That's pretty optimistic for him don't you think? But why stop there? Why not expect him to make 90%. All he has to do is move his feet a little, right?

[CarlosTheJackal]

I think it is fairly obvious that minutes and scoring have declined because of foul issues. Love is seldom the go to guy, more of an offensive putback roll.

The foul issues have come along primarily because he is being much more aggressive on the perimeter, jumping out like the other forwards are to prevent the ball screen. My initial reaction has been "WHY is he getting fouls 30 feet from the basket?"

Why is he doing this at all? Because the coaches have apparently decided Love, like the other 3-4 and 5s, needs to be able to do this for our disruptive defense on opposing guards to be effective. And it is a very disruptive and active defense when it works. It forces the shooter to look and see the open and less desirable shooter, gives us time to switch and protect the post.

It is a good sign that a kid we had to hide in the low post last year is being trusted to jump out like this. There will be learning curve now, but the more he becomes quickfooted and quickwitted as the remaining games progress, the better we will be in the A10 and NCAA tourney. Right now, it is costing him those 1-2 "stupid" fouls. If in the long run he masters how to close the trap without fouling, we will be even more awesome on defense.

[Wisexuowl]

Yep, in his first post on this thread, Mr Neutral (?) certainly was defending Love. Having said that though, guess he could resist slipping in the lower FT% for the whole year to offset his 75% FT% in A-10 play.

It is perhaps the nature of some MM posters to always find something to nit pick about ... students at games, attendance, coaching, whatever ... even when we are #12th in the country and on top of the A-10.

Just who would have complained if at the start of the season, when MM was loaded with how we can possibly win with no center (5). Miller was faulted for not making a deal with the Heat for Shaq, Duncan was vilified for being "soft" and Love was "another bad recruit."

Well, the "five" position is doing very well thank you ... together Love and "Softie" are averaging 10 rebounds a game a game and 15 ppg. Betch that "5" total would rank this duo damn high nationally if such numbers were kept.

BTW, in A-10 play Love is shooting FT's at a 75% clip ... no mtter where his feet are. What nonsense one can dream up out of the latest issue of My Catholic Messenger sports page and "Tip's From Dick Campbell."

[finalfourorbust]

Xavier's team free throw percentage is one of the tops in the country at about 76% and Love's free throw percentage has improved dramatically since he has been in the starting lineup and shooting more of them under game conditions. Memphis is the #1 team in the country and their team free throw percentage is about 64% and I seriously doubt that it is a result of a coaching deficiency.

[muskieman]

62 percent free throw shooting for the season is not good. I believe that, in fact, he could get that up to 82 percent or 20 percentage points if he tried a new stance and of course got more repititions or practiced the shot more and I think that he owes that to us as fans. If I were an XU player and I had a 62 percentage free throw...worst of the starter you can bet my butt that I would be practicing so many free throws that I would wear a hole out on the floor. Great players and great teams see a weakness and work on it. What would Michael Jordan do if he was shooting 62 percent from the line? Point made!

You make me laugh with your beliefs.

In the past five NCAA men's basketball tournaments, all but one of the teams has met or exceeded the longtime season foul-shooting average of 69 percent.
Here are the figures, compiled by Gary Johnson, associate director of statistics at the NCAA.

University of Florida: 2006 national champion, 74.4 percent free-throw percentage, 34th out of 326 teams in Division I

University of North Carolina: 2005 champion, 72.5 percent, 54th team out of 326

University of Connecticut: 2004 champion, 62.3 percent, 312th team out of 326

Syracuse University: 2003 champion, 69.4 percent, 163rd team of 325

University of Maryland: 2002 champion, 72.6 percent, 55th team of 321 M


You must go crazy with stats like this...BTW do you really know how to shot free throws or are you just stirring the pot?

[skyhops]

I'm not as concerned with his free throws as much as him getting blocked on layups the last few games. He has shown great improvement this year, but lately has looked uncoordinated and slow. Duncan has derserved the majority of the minutes lately (providing he is not in foul trouble).

[ford]

i didn't hear the radio show last night, but I thought someone mentioned in their recap that mack said they had worked with Love on his free throws, and part of that was getting him to slow down his motion. I think that's a good way to approach it for a big man, sometimes it's hard for them to get all the pieces to work together in a fluid motion, so slowing it down to a "slow motion" seems like it would help the shot not come off flat, which is his problem.