Fouls.

It's important to remember that you have 5 fouls in a game. If you can space out your 40 minutes and give 5 fouls during that time, you see an average of every 8 minutes you can foul. So plan is to use your fouls wisely. You want to keep people from making those easy points, so make your fouls count.

You want to find the balance between an intentional foul and a valid attempt to make them think about the pain the next time they try the same thing. Never knowingly do something that could injure the opponent, but try to get the full value for your foul. You want him to be distracted, whether he is in pain, or just out for vengeance. Either way, he will not be 100% focused, and you have won the mental game.

Don't waste the foul. A wasted foul means they got an opportunity to go to the line and shoot an uncontested shot, when they weren't already about to make a good play, i.e., an assist to an open player, or an open shot. A foul out front when they were just dribbling, for example, is a wasted foul.

You also waste your fouls if you have more than one or two left over at the end of the game. You do need to save some for overtime if the game is close, but you don't need to save them if your team is behind, and you've got to make a difference.

Unless the player is "in the zone" and has been popping 3-point shots all night, never foul outside the arc. Use distraction, instead.

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Confidence.

Confidence. The most important part of any sport, basketball in particular, is confidence. If you stand at the line, if you think you can get that ball in, it will go in. If you're not confident, it will not go in. Confidence somehow makes things work. There is a way to build confidence. It comes from doing your homework. listen

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Homework.

Homework. The homework that allows you to have confidence that what you're going to do will work is called practice. If you have practiced over and over and over under the same stressful conditions that you'll see in the game, you will succeed. Confidence comes from practice, practice, practice. Practice is just the art of instilling a habit. listen

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Paying the price.

Paying the price. A lot of times players have lots of ability, but they don't want to pay the price, in order to great. They are better than everybody else just because of their ability. But they are not great, because they don't pay the price. When I was scrimmaging with people, I would have to pay the price before I'd let myself get out and play, i.e., I would have to go run a mile. When I had run my mile and paid my price, then I was able to scrimmage. In the same way, long distance running is the price that good players have to pay in order to become great. Until you can run for one hour continuously, you are not ready to run for two halves of a basketball game. Are you willing to pay the price? listen

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Stop Hitting my Hands Part 2

Stop Hitting my Hands Part 2. So, say when you as a defender keep the other person from thinking about the goal, you've have succeeded; you have a victory over him in his thoughts and when you have a victory over his thoughts you have a victory over his body as well. "The hand is part of the ball," is what the rules say; therefore, hit him on the hands continuously when he has the ball. listen

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Stop hitting my hands....

"Stop hitting my hands." This is what one young man told me when in a pick-up game, "Stop hitting my hands; stop hitting my hands; you're hurting me." Well, what was he thinking about when we were playing basketball? He was thinking about his hands; he was thinking about the pain in his hands, which means he wasn't thinking about the goal; he wasn't thinking about what he was supposed to be doing. I had scored a victory. He then started trying to get even, by fouling me. In a real game, the referee would have intervened, and his anger would have gotten the best of him and gotten him fouled out. It's tougher in a pick-up game. :) listen

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When playing basketball...

When playing basketball one must be centered on the game of basketball. Nothing else should interfere. 100% basketball. When practicing, 100% basketball. Don't waste time complaining. Don't waste time telling the other people how bad they're doing. Ask yourself, "Will what I am doing at this moment help me reach the goal of being in the championship game?" If not, stop wasting your time. listen

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NCAA Championship lost at line

The physics of foul shooting was shown in the NCAA Tournament game, this year, and lack of applying the principles cost Memphis the game. Memphis' star put one foot on the line and another foot behind him. He had, therefore, no standard for perpendicularity and he couldn't shoot a high percentage. You've got to let go of bad habits before you leave high school if you want to have consistent free throws and if you want to win against SEC opponents in the SEC. listen

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Two toes on the foul line

The NCAA tournament game was lost because one player had never learned to put two toes on the foul line.

Instant Jott listen

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free throws

We are in the NCAA National Championship for 2008. I have been watching and seeing that these kids, just like those of my generation, do not know how to shoot free throws.

I am going to let you know the secret of teaching foul shooting.

Part I. Physics

Look at the places in the body, from the floor to the release point, where motion (variation) can take place:

1. toes/toe joints (up to 30 points)
2. ankles (2)
3. knees (2)
4. hips (3)
5. shoulder (1 or 2)
6. elbow (1 or 2)
7. wrist (1 or 2)
8. fingers/finger joints (15 to 30)

The main point, from the point of view of physics, is to reduce the variation at as many as possible of these joints. The problem with most players who have troubles with consistency in free throws is that they learned how to shoot before they were full-grown. In order for kids to get the ball above the basket, they have to use their legs. They just don't have the arm strength to do it any other way.

Unfortunately, old habits die hard. They go on to college (or even the pros) and still habitually use their legs to push the ball up and, as a result, add several points of variation to their free throws, yielding inconsistency.

My goal in re-training these athletes to be more consistent in free throws, is to get them to make every joint from the floor to the shoulder to be almost rigid. That means the joints from the shoulders to fingertips are the only moving parts in the basket-shooting machine. Everything else should be constant.

Part II. The mind.

Many athletes have some weird ideas about shooting free throws, bordering on superstition. Getting control of the mind is at least 80% of the battle to get consistency in free throws.

The first thing I do with an athlete who wants to improve his free throw percentage is to ask him or her to go to the line and take a shot, while I watch what they do. Most of them, knowing I am going to try to teach them what is wrong with their shot, will put all their concentration into it, and make it.

That is what I am hoping for. I say, "OK, you don't need a shot coach. Just do that same thing every time you stand at the line." I ask them to take another shot. Most seem to miss this one. Sometimes, they hit it, and I ask for another, and another, until they miss.

When they miss, I ask them what they did differently, that time.

They never know. But I do. You see, after years of observing young athletes shooting free throws, I am able to see what they do differently from one time to another.

They may breathe differently. They may bounce the ball a different number of times, or not bounce it at all. They may "dance" before they shoot, i.e., step from side to side, or bounce their weight from one leg to another. They may dip their knees or extend their toes. There are literally hundreds of things they can do differently from one time to the next.

It is true that if they do everything exactly the way they did it when it went in, it will go in, again.

There is a very small percentage chance that something else can affect their shot: the air conditioner may go on or off and change the wind resistance; a butterfly may flap its wings in Japan, and that gust of air can move molecules that move molecules that move molecules that ... move molecules that go through the open door to the gym and cause the shot to be blown off course. That is only a possibility, but it is why I do not think it is possible to shoot 100% free throw percentage. As a matter of fact, I only set the bar that I expect from my shooters to be 95%.

There are some things which are not under control of the shooter, but these are few in number, and include differences in the environment. For example, a different kind of backboard or goal than what one is accustomed to, a hostile crowd, etc., or other differences, can affect some shooters. But these things can be zoned out by concentration.

So getting the athlete to learn to concentrate and focus only on the goal and to control the physics of his or her shot, is the key to shooting three throws.