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[IntuitiveGriz]

I was reading the stats on the Griz vs Sac State game and came across something that really stood out, and more importantly has really stood out over the last couple of years. The Grizzly mens free throw shooting has needed improvement every time I have ever looked after a game. Not that I look all that often, but without fail I swear it is a low percentage made everytime I look. Is this a theme with the mens team, or have I just been unlucky to have caught some bad games from the charity stripe?

2010 vs Sac State

The Grizzlies went 10-of-17 (58.8%) from the line.

The Hornets were 11-of-14 (78.6%) free throws.

 

[citygriz]

good teams consistently win three of four statistical categories: shooting percentage offense, shooting percentage defense, free throw percentage, rebounds.

shooting percentage offense: you'd like to shoot close to 50%. northern arizona has always recruited shooters, and great teams are usually noted for one or two deadeyes. i don't think montana has had a great pure shooter since david bell. i know staudacher is supposed to be, but he seems awfully streaky. imagine what we'd have if he could always get his shot, and were consistenly hot.

shooting percentage defense: back in our glory years, montana consistently showed up among the top teams in the nation in field goal percentage defense (40% or less), a tradition started by jud heathcote, and revived lately by tinkle and his staff. this is good.

free throw shooting. enough said. and this from a team that has one of our best foul shooters ever, a.j. imagine where we'd be without him.

rebounding: this really infuriates me. what montana has that no other big sky team can match is TWO quality seven footers. two, in a conference where teams seldom get quality big men, and you can generally get by with a 6'8" or 6'9" post player. and yet we got out-boarded by a much smaller sac state team. there's just no excuse for this. against both oregon and washington, qvale was the best big man on the court, period, but against sac state he got a total of five boards and ONE point! what's up with this?

 

[mtgrizrule]

good teams consistently win three of four statistical categories: shooting percentage offense, shooting percentage defense, free throw percentage, rebounds.

shooting percentage offense: you'd like to shoot close to 50%. northern arizona has always recruited shooters, and great teams are usually noted for one or two deadeyes. i don't think montana has had a great pure shooter since david bell. i know staudacher is supposed to be, but he seems awfully streaky. imagine what we'd have if he could always get his shot, and were consistenly hot.

shooting percentage defense: back in our glory years, montana consistently showed up among the top teams in the nation in field goal percentage defense (40% or less), a tradition started by jud heathcote, and revived lately by tinkle and his staff. this is good.

free throw shooting. enough said. and this from a team that has one of our best foul shooters ever, a.j. imagine where we'd be without him.

rebounding: this really infuriates me. what montana has that no other big sky team can match is TWO quality seven footers. two, in a conference where teams seldom get quality big men, and you can generally get by with a 6'8" or 6'9" post player. and yet we got out-boarded by a much smaller sac state team. there's just no excuse for this. against both oregon and washington, qvale was the best big man on the court, period, but against sac state he got a total of five boards and ONE point! what's up with this?

City, I agree with you, but I really am thinking GRIZ fans are hard on Staudacher. Stauds is and has been a much better shooter than Bell. Bell was more of a gunner that took a lot of shots, forced and unforced. His game had very little discipline.

Meanwhile with Staudacher, we are hard him for not shooting well. Ironically, he came into this year as a career 44.2% 3 point shooting percentage. On the other hand, Bell never eclipsed 40% either year with the GRIZ. Stauds is capable of being much more consistent, but hard to argue with his career percentage. I just think we expect him to be over 50% because how good his shot is. As for pure shooter, I would take Stauds over Bell any day of the week.

 

[grizonbob]

Interesting evaluations.

Tinkle has had success attracting talent. Where's he's fallen short is in devising schemes that take the best advantage of that talent, and in motivating that talent.

 

[grizonbob]

good teams consistently win three of four statistical categories: shooting percentage offense, shooting percentage defense, free throw percentage, rebounds.

shooting percentage offense: you'd like to shoot close to 50%. northern arizona has always recruited shooters, and great teams are usually noted for one or two deadeyes. i don't think montana has had a great pure shooter since david bell. i know staudacher is supposed to be, but he seems awfully streaky. imagine what we'd have if he could always get his shot, and were consistenly hot.

shooting percentage defense: back in our glory years, montana consistently showed up among the top teams in the nation in field goal percentage defense (40% or less), a tradition started by jud heathcote, and revived lately by tinkle and his staff. this is good.

free throw shooting. enough said. and this from a team that has one of our best foul shooters ever, a.j. imagine where we'd be without him.

rebounding: this really infuriates me. what montana has that no other big sky team can match is TWO quality seven footers. two, in a conference where teams seldom get quality big men, and you can generally get by with a 6'8" or 6'9" post player. and yet we got out-boarded by a much smaller sac state team. there's just no excuse for this. against both oregon and washington, qvale was the best big man on the court, period, but against sac state he got a total of five boards and ONE point! what's up with this?

City, I agree with you, but I really am thinking GRIZ fans are hard on Staudacher. Stauds is and has been a much better shooter than Bell. Bell was more of a gunner that took a lot of shots, forced and unforced. His game had very little discipline.

Meanwhile with Staudacher, we are hard him for not shooting well. Ironically, he came into this year as a career 44.2% 3 point shooting percentage. On the other hand, Bell never eclipsed 40% either year with the GRIZ. Stauds is capable of being much more consistent, but hard to argue with his career percentage. I just think we expect him to be over 50% because how good his shot is. As for pure shooter, I would take Stauds over Bell any day of the week.

In both his sophomore and junior seasons, Stauds was a 45 percent shooter from beyond the 3 point line. This year he's below 42 percent. At Sac St he was 2 of 9 overall.

Normally, you'd expect someone to improve a little bit with age and experience, especially with the addition of the inside threat of Qvale and Selvig, as you'd hope defenses would sag on them. But maybe there's someone else going on we're not aware of.

Admittedly, I haven't seen the Griz in person this year, but I might get to this weekend. If so, I'll keep an eye on Stauds to see if Tinkle is justified in keeping on the floor so much (realizing, of course, that one game doesn't really prove anything).

 

[mtgrizrule]

Something did happen, he got injured the 2nd half of last season, and caused some mechanical problems and loss in confidence. Prior to the injury, most all his jumpers were straight up and few feet forward. After the injury, he somehow began to fade to either side, and even a little back now and then. It messed up, I also think he started to push his shoot more, verses just letting it flow smoothly.

Seriously, when he is shooting balanced and almost straight up or forward, he hits his shots like we expect. When there is even a slight fade back or either side, his shots do not fall as consistently. He was taught to be a pure shooter, and somehow the purity of his shot is not there everytime like it was prior to his injury.

Call it minor, but the little things make a world of difference in shooting.

 

[grizonbob]

Something did happen, he got injured the 2nd half of last season, and caused some mechanical problems and loss in confidence. Prior to the injury, most all his jumpers were straight up and few feet forward. After the injury, he somehow began to fade to either side, and even a little back now and then. It messed up, I also think he started to push his shoot more, verses just letting it flow smoothly.

Seriously, when he is shooting balanced and almost straight up or forward, he hits his shots like we expect. When there is even a slight fade back or either side, his shots do not fall as consistently. He was taught to be a pure shooter, and somehow the purity of his shot is not there everytime like it was prior to his injury.

Call it minor, but the little things make a world of difference in shooting.

Thanks for the insight. I figured there had to be some reason that was happening. A good shooter usually doesn't start missing a lot of shots over a long period of time for no reason. And I think you are right, if a good shooter just gets a little out of his rhythm and starts missing, it can undermine his confidence and cause things to snowball. The question is: How much time do you give him to work through that? You might lose some games if you stick with him too much rather than going with other guys who are performing better.

 

[mtgrizrule]

It loooks to me the GRIZ are willing to get him open. He is getting plenty of looks the last 1/2 dozen games when he has been healthy. He had one game with the flu, which he should not have played. His shot is pretty close to being the way it was before injury last year. I think the Sac game was more of his shots just not falling, than anything wrong with his mechanics.