End of the road: UL falls to Rice in CollegeInsider.com tournament

UL coach Bob Marlin said his team spent 20 minutes on free throws in practice Tuesday in preparation for the Cajuns' opening-round game against the Rice Owls in the CollegeInsider.com tournament. "We were 100 percent in our shooting drill," Marlin said.

The rest of the story

2 points/questions:

1) Practicing free throws in the Crackerbox is like not practicing at all.

2) Were the FT shooting drills AFTER running the stadium steps?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Turbine

2 points/questions:

1) Practicing free throws in the Crackerbox is like not practicing at all.

2) Were the FT shooting drills AFTER running the stadium steps?

---

:ms03:

It really hurts us that we can't practice like we want in our own facility.

I don't buy the theory that not practicing in the Cajundome is the reason for our FT woes.

I guaranteed you all of the big schools who play in big arenas practice in the same environment that our team practices in. And they somehow manage to make their free throws.

The only school I can say practices in its arena is UTSA. They did it whenever possible to get comfortable with the depth changes shooting in a larger building.

What does Brad Boyd say? He could say if it was a positive option or not.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by duggie85

I don't buy the theory that not practicing in the Cajundome is the reason for our FT woes.

I guaranteed you all of the big schools who play in big arenas practice in the same environment that our team practices in. And they somehow manage to make their free throws.

---

There is no other practice gym in America where the wall behind the goal is so close to the free throw line.

Visual depth perception is almost everything. Muscle perception when you are dead tired is the rest.

jmo

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tripple Threat

The only school I can say practices in its arena is UTSA. They did it whenever possible to get comfortable with the depth changes shooting in a larger building.

What does Brad Boyd say? He could say if it was a positive option or not.

---

I def. think practicing in the Cajundome would help. But the fact is we don't and other schools don't either. Yet they still find a way to make them and we don't.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Turbine

There is no other practice gym in America where the wall behind the goal is so close to the free throw line.

Visual depth perception is almost everything. Muscle perception when you are dead tired is the rest.

jmo

---

This was the first school I looked up. Looks pretty similar to me:

http://www.lsusports.net/PhotoAlbum....&PALBID=380248

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tripple Threat

The only school I can say practices in its arena is UTSA. They did it whenever possible to get comfortable with the depth changes shooting in a larger building.

What does Brad Boyd say? He could say if it was a positive option or not.

---

I got picked at half time years ago to shoot a free throw, 3 pt, etc. When I got out there with the ball and looked at the goal I remember thinking "holy krap" that dang thing is just floating out there in space. But hey, Rice did make their free throws.

noticed last night that half the team does not look at the goal when they are shooting free throws. they look down while they dribble then pull their head up when they shoot. shooting free throws, it helps alot if you look at the goal while dribbling, breathe and then shoot. how can you visualize shots going in if you are staring at the floor?

Good shooters make FT in all gyms. Chris Paul would walk into the Cajundome and drain just as many as he does at our practice facility or his practice facility. If the Cajundome is such a hinderance for our players maybe we should schedule as few games as possible their.

I would bet any amount of money that the Cajundome was responsible for zero of our losses and that our FT shooting is about the same home or road. In fact, I know we had some awful FT shooting percentages at Duquesne, Ole Miss and WKU just to name a few. Bottom line, our players need to hit the gym hard this offseason. Here are some more facts...Our five best FT shooters will not be on the team next year. Not one of the returning players is better than 66%. Without some serious hard work, we could see regression in the team FT percentage next year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by duggie85

This was the first school I looked up. Looks pretty similar to me:

http://www.lsusports.net/PhotoAlbum....&PALBID=380248

---

The basketball portion of the UL IPF was built shorter than a regulation bakstetball court. The court had to be cut so as to fit, making the walls (the backdrop) closer to the free throw line than they could ever see in real action.

On the season FT shooting
LSU shot .691
UL shot .631

They suffer from the same effect.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crazycajun

noticed last night that half the team does not look at the goal when they are shooting free throws. they look down while they dribble then pull their head up when they shoot. shooting free throws, it helps alot if you look at the goal while dribbling, breathe and then shoot. how can you visualize shots going in if you are staring at the floor?

---

I agree. I just started doing the same thing and it does help.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cajunfan79

It really hurts us that we can't practice like we want in our own facility.

---

That's because it's NOT "our" (as in UL's) facility...

Maybe we should put mirrors all along on the walls behind the goals, that shouldn't make things easier and can't hurt!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NOCajun

That's because it's NOT "our" (as in UL's) facility...

---

But it is, with management rights relegated.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Turbine

But it is, with management rights relegated.

---

false, city owns the building, univ owns the land

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dms4720

false, city owns the building, univ owns the land

---

I disagree.

UL owns the land and the Cajun Dome. The City operates it and has all the rights because they agreed to provide an operating subsidy. I think it is currently a half a million dollars a year.

In the relinquishment of rights, UL gets so many days of use a year for free. . . .

Not enough if you ask me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Turbine

The basketball portion of the UL IPF was built shorter than a regulation bakstetball court. The court had to be cut so as to fit, making the walls (the backdrop) closer to the free throw line than they could ever see in real action.

On the season FT shooting
LSU shot .691
UL shot .631

They suffer from the same effect.

---

Obviously can't argue with the percentages. BUT, You said no one else had a facility like us where the walls are close to the goal. Not true.

That was the only school I looked up and it was very close to our practice facility. I'm willing to bet there are numerous schools who practice in gyms similar to us that play in larger arenas and shoot better FT's than us.

I played in the Cajundome 3 times in high school, and everyone on our team found that shooting was easier there than the matchbox gyms we were used to playing in once we had a shoot around. I would venture to say that college players that play the majority of their games in an arena would be able to adjust if a bunch of high school players can adjust and actually shoot better.

I have been hearing about not being able to shoot in the dome for years, im tired of it!!!! How many games did we play in the dome this year? Well rice played ONE game in the dome. they made free throws and open shots. Some of our players have played in the dome for 2 years(30) games and still cant make shots!!!!!

It's not the practice facility, before we had that we practiced in Bourgois, we seemed to shoot just fine then. I really think they are not great shooters to begin with, the free throw problem was in their heads. Also, I think the brand of basketball has some to do with it. They play so hard, such tough defense that it's hard to shoot when you are that exhausted and winded.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crazycajun

It's not the practice facility, before we had that we practiced in Bourgois, we seemed to shoot just fine then. I really think they are not great shooters to begin with, the free throw problem was in their heads. Also, I think the brand of basketball has some to do with it. They play so hard, such tough defense that it's hard to shoot when you are that exhausted and winded.

---

I agree with the style of play and stamina, it has an effect.

By the way at Bourgois there is more distance behind the goal.

Bottom line: UL needs shooters. I'm just looking at every little nuance.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crazycajun

It's not the practice facility, before we had that we practiced in Bourgois, we seemed to shoot just fine then. I really think they are not great shooters to begin with, the free throw problem was in their heads. Also, I think the brand of basketball has some to do with it. They play so hard, such tough defense that it's hard to shoot when you are that exhausted and winded.

---

When you have players who simply can't shoot free throws or simple jump shots, it doesn't matter where you play or practice. We need to recruit shooters and players with fundamental basketball skills. I am so sick of always having "athletic" players who can run, jump and dunk but can't shoot a free throw or a 10 ft. jump shot and can't seem to run what Coach wants them to. Maybe some of these guys should spend more time honing their skills than adding even more tats to their already tatoo-infested bodies which, personally, is one of the things that turns me off in today's basketball world.