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

[NewsCopy]

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.

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[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?

[Tripple Threat]

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?

[cajunfan79]

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

[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.

[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.

[Turbine]

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

[duggie85]

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.

[duggie85]

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

[RedBug58]

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.

[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?

[MetryCajun]

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.

[Turbine]

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.

[MetryCajun]

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.

[NOCajun]

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.