“We’ve got to make some free throws,” Cronin said. “It’s really hurt us in numerous games this year.”
The Bearcats might have won at least three games – against Gonzaga, Xavier and Marquette – if they had been more proficient from the line. That’s the difference between their current 15-11 overall record and an 18-8 mark.
But almost every team in the Big East can point to a few games that could have gone either way. Good teams execute when the game is on the line. Mediocre teams scratch their heads to try to figure out what went wrong.
“Free throws are something you’ve got get in the gym and work on,” said UC guard Larry Davis. “We’ve been working on it. We just have to stick with it.”
Shooting a bunch of free throws at practice, though, doesn’t necessarily translate into the ability to make them when a game is on the line and the crowd is screaming.
The mind can do strange things to a player in those situations.
“Sometimes you get caught thinking at the free throw line that these are big free throws and I need to make them, instead of just focusing on making them,” said junior forward Rashad Bishop.
If Cronin and his staff had one a solution to the problem, they surely would have implemented it by now. It’s not like they haven’t been trying.
“There’s 8 million theories on that,” Cronin said. “Shoot more. Shoot less. Talk about it. Don’t talk about it. You’ve got to work on them obviously. You’ve got to believe in form and follow through and technique. As far as the mental part of it, guys have got to understand that it’s important to go up there with confidence that you can knock it in.”
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100222/SPT0101/302220101/1064/Free+throw+woes+hurting+UC
The Bearcats might have won at least three games – against Gonzaga, Xavier and Marquette – if they had been more proficient from the line. That’s the difference between their current 15-11 overall record and an 18-8 mark.
But almost every team in the Big East can point to a few games that could have gone either way. Good teams execute when the game is on the line. Mediocre teams scratch their heads to try to figure out what went wrong.
“Free throws are something you’ve got get in the gym and work on,” said UC guard Larry Davis. “We’ve been working on it. We just have to stick with it.”
Shooting a bunch of free throws at practice, though, doesn’t necessarily translate into the ability to make them when a game is on the line and the crowd is screaming.
The mind can do strange things to a player in those situations.
“Sometimes you get caught thinking at the free throw line that these are big free throws and I need to make them, instead of just focusing on making them,” said junior forward Rashad Bishop.
If Cronin and his staff had one a solution to the problem, they surely would have implemented it by now. It’s not like they haven’t been trying.
“There’s 8 million theories on that,” Cronin said. “Shoot more. Shoot less. Talk about it. Don’t talk about it. You’ve got to work on them obviously. You’ve got to believe in form and follow through and technique. As far as the mental part of it, guys have got to understand that it’s important to go up there with confidence that you can knock it in.”
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100222/SPT0101/302220101/1064/Free+throw+woes+hurting+UC
