I think you went overboard a bit "I." I think the point here is that you are really, really digging deep to find a fault. Every team, including the great teams of all team, have a weakness. Yes, the free throw shooting troubled me, but we won the game and we are playing pretty damn good ball right now. All you are doing is nit picking...
No correction, all I'm doing is making a simple statement about freethrows. Thats not digging deep, thats just making a simple statement. Those of you whining about my comments are the ones digging too deeply into this simple post. Man you guys hate the truth don't you. Lets just all be jolly and never point out flaws, you guys are taking a simple post a bit overboard. I honestly did not read anything on this board that stated that one has to post only positive points about LSU's teams. So what is the problem here. LSU is poor at freethrows, get over it.(the world won't end due to this fact, I promise you this)
"When asked whether or not Brady would emphasize free throws more in practice, the coach shrugged it off. "I've been coaching 28 years," Brady said. "Is it in the novel [for] me just to all of a sudden emphasize free-throw shooting? I'll take care of that. But I appreciate you reminding me of that, in case I've overlooked it.""
Eddie Paulubinskas is a former LSU player, and a former NBA and Euro-League star, and a world record holder for CONSECUTIVE FREE THROWS! He's also-by the way-a very accomplished artist, a heckuva teacher of the game, and a DYNAMITE track and field coach! He's free for the asking...I know this for a fact...But I guess we're okay...We don't need help there...
TE... Since you are so smart to bring in Paulubinskas you might want to check on the NCAA rule that was put into place that was created by Dale Brown's bringing in Walton, Jabar and others. A team cannot bring in a coach or teacher that would not be counted against his staff. The only way he could come in and help is if we had an open spot on our staff. At that point, he could not come in and give individual help to players without us committing a major infraction of the NCAA rules... Brilliant TE... anymore facts you want to bring to our attention?
Shaq hired Eddie as his personal free throw coach a few years ago and he still sucks at the line. Maybe some people simply can't be taught to become good free throw shooters.
These are Division 1 college players. Most have been shooting hoops since they could walk. The distance from the line to the basket hasn't changed. Stand at the line, throw the ball to the basket. You don't need to bring in an Australian has been (or more correctly never was) to teach these guys to make free throws. Against Tennessee they were nearly perfect. Did Brady un-coach them since then? Get real, TE.
Just so you guys know, he is an excellent teacher that does free throw and shooting clinics all over the world and definately would help if we brought him in. Unfortunately it is illegal.
Free throw shooting is nothing more than concentration and learning to repeat the same sequence over and over. Larry Bird was one of the all time great free throw shooters. I saw a game on TV one time when Bird went to the line with the Celtics down by a point with less than 1 second on the clock in a road game. As Bird stepped to the line to shoot a fan seated in the end zone unfurled a large poster of a naked woman. Bird paused his shooting to stare at the poster and then calmly drained both free throws for the win. Another time I saw Bird at the line with the Celtics down by one. He needed to make 1 for the tie and two for the win and he missed them both. I don't know what free throw shooting world record Palubinskas holds but there was some guy, I think his last name was Martin who had made over 2300 consecutive free throws. Of course that wasn't in a game situation. The NBA record is over 90 in a row achieved during several games both at home and on the road. LSU's Chris Jackson set the record a few years back but I don't know if it has been broken since them. The record holder before CJ was Calvin Murphy who had made something like 88 or 89 in a row playing for the Houston Rockets. The game that CJ played when he was sure to break Murphy's record if he didn't miss was a Nuggets road game in Houston. In a display of incredible poor sportsmanship Murphy was in the stands doing everything he could to distract CJ whenever he went to the line. It didn't work.
You ask any major college coach in the country and you will find that each one will tell you that basic fundamentals are completely lacking in college players today. The basics of shooting, dribbling, rebounding etc are not being taught to the level that they used to in the high school level. I have spoken to a coach that was frustrated that a player couldn't even do a reverse layup. How many highlights do you see on ESPN complimenting a nice pass or something to do with fundamentals... You see dunk after dunk.. That is what kids think they need to be able to do to succeed in the NBA. That is why you see at least 2 players on each NBA team that are international players. Only one team doesn't have at least that many. I hear the reason time and time again is they are fundamentally much more sound than their american college counterparts. I hate to say that shooting is a lost art in the game of basketball. I for one would love to see it come back.
