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Free but no bargain: Good free-throw shooters are made, not born
By RIAL CUMMINGS of the Missoulian
Mandy Morales is UM's best free-throw shooter.
Mother knows best. And we're not talking about the benefits of chicken soup, or the importance of checking for holes in your undies.
“When I was little, Mom told me that good basketball players make their free throws,” said Mandy Morales, whose mother, Val Selman, was a pretty fair player herself at Montana State-Billings. “She said it was something to concentrate on, to work on. You draw the foul and make them pay.”
Luckily for the Montana Lady Griz, Morales didn't roll her eyes - she took the advice to heart. Accurate free-throw shooters aren't born, they're made, through dedicated, often solitary, practice. That's why you could find Morales in a gym last summer, day after day, paying the price.
Today, the sophomore All-America candidate is one of the best free-throw shooters on one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the country. Not coincidentally, the Lady Griz are 23-2 and on track for another Big Sky Conference championship.
Free throws don't guarantee victories, of course. Five of the nation's top 15 women's free-throw teams have losing records. But they've added up nicely for the the Lady Griz, who rank 11th at 76.4 percent. That's on pace to break the school single-season record (.755) they set last season, which in turn erased the previous mark (.752) set two years ago.
Seven of UM's nine regulars shoot 70 percent or better at the line. The Lady Griz have converted 117 more free throws than their opponents, a key reason they're averaging 78.9 points - fourth in the country and the highest mark in Coach Robin Selvig's 29-year tenure.
“It's going to win you some games you might otherwise lose,” said Selvig, who was a 70-percent free-throw shooter in his Griz playing days in the early 1970s. “We don't normally shoot that many free throws in practice, but we do try to stick kids on the line with something riding on it.”
The Lady Griz must make five or six free throws in a row at the end of practice before they can leave the court. That's a lark for Morales (.860) and Johanna Closson (.850), who rank second and third in the Big Sky, respectively. The same goes for Sonya Rogers (.865), who would rank second in the league, but is five free throws short of the qualifying standard.
It's more of a challenge for, say, Britney Lohman (.606) or Sara Gale (.462).
“My first few years, I'd be the last one out there every time,” said Gale with a laugh. “That's a pretty lonely feeling.”
It's become passe for fans to mourn the erosion of basketball fundamentals.
The mid-range jumper has gone the way of the Dodo, and no one can hit a free throw anymore, right? Wrong. According to the NCAA, men's free-throw accuracy climbed from an average of 59.8 percent in 1948 to 69.1 percent two decades later - and has remained constant ever since, residing in a narrow band between 67.1 and 69.7 percent.
College women have been roughly the same, shooting at least 68 percent every season since 2000, including an all-time high of 69.0 percent in 2003.
The fundamentals of free-throw shooting never change: a balanced stance with the feet shoulder-width apart; good knee bend and use of the legs, not just the arms; a fluid motion and release while keeping the shooting forearm straight; the proper follow through.
“We don't have any secrets,” Selvig said. “It's whatever works. If someone has really poor mechanics, we'll work to improve them. But sometimes, if you make a big deal of it you make it worse.
“A lot of it is confidence. And if your best shooters are the ones getting to the line, that doesn't hurt.”
Exhibit A would be Morales.
As the point guard, Morales has the ball a lot. The 5-foot-9 sophomore from Billings is also a penetrator and strong post-up player, which is why she's attempted 171 free throws, the second most in the Big Sky. She's already made 147, shattering the school record of 135 set by Shannon Cate in 1991.
The routines vary, but all good free-throw shooters try to stay constant. Morales backspins the ball in her hands, bounces it three times, then shoots. Closson takes the same amount of dribbles, but throws in a preliminary deep knee bend and has a higher release. Rogers also goes with three dribbles, while Tamara Guardipee (.757), who has raised her percentage 10 points over last season, prefers two.
“The main thing for me is to stay relaxed,” said Closson, a junior whose has converted 84 percent during her career. “I try to relax my whole body, let my shoulders relax, keep it steady and follow through.”
Although she shot 80 percent last season, Morales changed her routine over the summer, moving a bit farther back from the line and adding the three dribbles. As a freshman, she would simply take the ball from the official and shoot.
“I used to just approach it as a regular shot, but I think dribbling helps me get settled and focus,” said Morales, who made 63-of-65 free throws in a six-game stretch this season, including 39 in a row. “Moving back from the line was a case of being stronger. I lifted a lot last summer, and I noticed I was missing off the back rim.”
Aficionados have long admired the tight rotation of Morales' shot. She says she tries to make sure the ball comes off her forefinger - she calls it her “pointer” finger - on her follow through.
And why three dribbles?
“It just feels right - it matches my (uniform) number,” she said with a smile.
Meanwhile, on the men's side, the strange case of Andrew Strait continues.
The 6-8 junior earned All-Big Sky honors last season, when he schooled NBA-bound Nick Fazekas in the Grizzlies' NCAA tournament win over Nevada. Blessed with agility, strength and good hands, he's among the national leaders in field-goal accuracy with a career mark of 60.6 percent.
But there's one place Strait is crooked: the line. He's made just 175-of-314 free throws (.557) at Montana. He swished 60.7 percent last season, but has dipped to 52.7 percent this winter.
More mystifying is that Strait knocked down free throws at a 70-percent clip during his high school days in Yakima, Wash. True, he weighs roughly 40 pounds more than he did then, but Strait downplays that as a factor. He worked on centering himself at the foul line last year and incorporating his legs into his shot. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
“There was a time when I tried a lot of different things and got a lot of different advice, but if you look in high school, I shot fine,” Strait said. “When I miss, it's usually either long or short, and that's better than missing left or right. I'm at a point now where I think my mechanics are fine, it's just going up there and having a consistent form and knee bend - just shooting with confidence.”
The tough thing about free-throw shooting is you can't grit your teeth and expect to improve.
“You get up there in a game and you want to make them so bad that I think that plays into it,” Strait said.
The Griz are fifth in the Big Sky at 67.5 percent, nine ticks worse than the Lady Griz but average for a men's college team. First-year coach Wayne Tinkle's methods sound similar to Selvig; he often tries to create situations where a miss means extra line drills or some other penalty.
Tinkle said the mental approach can be important even before a player steps to the line.
“When I became a more physical player and a smarter player, I knew the benefit,” said Tinkle, a roughly 69-percent free-throw shooter during his Griz career in 1985-89. “You're breaking down the defense, you're attacking. When you have that sort of mentality, then when you go to the line, you almost feel like you've done your job so you can just relax and knock down the free throws.
“I had a teammate years ago who called free throws ‘free money.' He'd say, go get your free money.”
This hasn't been a good free-throw season in the Class AA high-school ranks, where the Billings West boys lead the way at 65 percent, and seven of the 13 teams are shooting 61 percent or less.
It has been a stellar year for Missoula Big Sky's McHale Anderson, a 6-4 senior who ranks second in the state at 84.9 percent. Anderson struggled mightily as a junior, starting off the season 8-of-20 and winding up around 55 percent. This year he's shortened his routine.
“If it's quick - you just catch it, dribble three times and shoot - you don't have much time to think or jinx yourself,” said Anderson, who cashed 10-of-11 free throws last Friday against Kalispell.
To hear Anderson describe it, he took a Zen approach; he calmed down.
“We get in trouble because we think about it so much,” he said. “They're free throws. They're free, right? It's all a mindset. If you think you're going to make it, it's going in.”
Technique, coaching, belief ... they're all important. But if all else fails, there's one more place to turn.
Ann Lake, one of finest players in Lady Griz history, attempted a school-record 681 free throws in 1990-94. She made just 51.2 percent of them, which is one reason Selvig has such beautiful, snowy hair.
“One game I think Ann had missed eight in a row,” Selvig recalled. “So she's fouled, and stepping up to the line again. I turned to the players and said, ‘Everybody pray.' And she makes it. I guess it took an appeal to a higher power.”
Hey, whatever works.
By RIAL CUMMINGS of the Missoulian
Mandy Morales is UM's best free-throw shooter.
Mother knows best. And we're not talking about the benefits of chicken soup, or the importance of checking for holes in your undies.
“When I was little, Mom told me that good basketball players make their free throws,” said Mandy Morales, whose mother, Val Selman, was a pretty fair player herself at Montana State-Billings. “She said it was something to concentrate on, to work on. You draw the foul and make them pay.”
Luckily for the Montana Lady Griz, Morales didn't roll her eyes - she took the advice to heart. Accurate free-throw shooters aren't born, they're made, through dedicated, often solitary, practice. That's why you could find Morales in a gym last summer, day after day, paying the price.
Today, the sophomore All-America candidate is one of the best free-throw shooters on one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the country. Not coincidentally, the Lady Griz are 23-2 and on track for another Big Sky Conference championship.
Free throws don't guarantee victories, of course. Five of the nation's top 15 women's free-throw teams have losing records. But they've added up nicely for the the Lady Griz, who rank 11th at 76.4 percent. That's on pace to break the school single-season record (.755) they set last season, which in turn erased the previous mark (.752) set two years ago.
Seven of UM's nine regulars shoot 70 percent or better at the line. The Lady Griz have converted 117 more free throws than their opponents, a key reason they're averaging 78.9 points - fourth in the country and the highest mark in Coach Robin Selvig's 29-year tenure.
“It's going to win you some games you might otherwise lose,” said Selvig, who was a 70-percent free-throw shooter in his Griz playing days in the early 1970s. “We don't normally shoot that many free throws in practice, but we do try to stick kids on the line with something riding on it.”
The Lady Griz must make five or six free throws in a row at the end of practice before they can leave the court. That's a lark for Morales (.860) and Johanna Closson (.850), who rank second and third in the Big Sky, respectively. The same goes for Sonya Rogers (.865), who would rank second in the league, but is five free throws short of the qualifying standard.
It's more of a challenge for, say, Britney Lohman (.606) or Sara Gale (.462).
“My first few years, I'd be the last one out there every time,” said Gale with a laugh. “That's a pretty lonely feeling.”
It's become passe for fans to mourn the erosion of basketball fundamentals.
The mid-range jumper has gone the way of the Dodo, and no one can hit a free throw anymore, right? Wrong. According to the NCAA, men's free-throw accuracy climbed from an average of 59.8 percent in 1948 to 69.1 percent two decades later - and has remained constant ever since, residing in a narrow band between 67.1 and 69.7 percent.
College women have been roughly the same, shooting at least 68 percent every season since 2000, including an all-time high of 69.0 percent in 2003.
The fundamentals of free-throw shooting never change: a balanced stance with the feet shoulder-width apart; good knee bend and use of the legs, not just the arms; a fluid motion and release while keeping the shooting forearm straight; the proper follow through.
“We don't have any secrets,” Selvig said. “It's whatever works. If someone has really poor mechanics, we'll work to improve them. But sometimes, if you make a big deal of it you make it worse.
“A lot of it is confidence. And if your best shooters are the ones getting to the line, that doesn't hurt.”
Exhibit A would be Morales.
As the point guard, Morales has the ball a lot. The 5-foot-9 sophomore from Billings is also a penetrator and strong post-up player, which is why she's attempted 171 free throws, the second most in the Big Sky. She's already made 147, shattering the school record of 135 set by Shannon Cate in 1991.
The routines vary, but all good free-throw shooters try to stay constant. Morales backspins the ball in her hands, bounces it three times, then shoots. Closson takes the same amount of dribbles, but throws in a preliminary deep knee bend and has a higher release. Rogers also goes with three dribbles, while Tamara Guardipee (.757), who has raised her percentage 10 points over last season, prefers two.
“The main thing for me is to stay relaxed,” said Closson, a junior whose has converted 84 percent during her career. “I try to relax my whole body, let my shoulders relax, keep it steady and follow through.”
Although she shot 80 percent last season, Morales changed her routine over the summer, moving a bit farther back from the line and adding the three dribbles. As a freshman, she would simply take the ball from the official and shoot.
“I used to just approach it as a regular shot, but I think dribbling helps me get settled and focus,” said Morales, who made 63-of-65 free throws in a six-game stretch this season, including 39 in a row. “Moving back from the line was a case of being stronger. I lifted a lot last summer, and I noticed I was missing off the back rim.”
Aficionados have long admired the tight rotation of Morales' shot. She says she tries to make sure the ball comes off her forefinger - she calls it her “pointer” finger - on her follow through.
And why three dribbles?
“It just feels right - it matches my (uniform) number,” she said with a smile.
Meanwhile, on the men's side, the strange case of Andrew Strait continues.
The 6-8 junior earned All-Big Sky honors last season, when he schooled NBA-bound Nick Fazekas in the Grizzlies' NCAA tournament win over Nevada. Blessed with agility, strength and good hands, he's among the national leaders in field-goal accuracy with a career mark of 60.6 percent.
But there's one place Strait is crooked: the line. He's made just 175-of-314 free throws (.557) at Montana. He swished 60.7 percent last season, but has dipped to 52.7 percent this winter.
More mystifying is that Strait knocked down free throws at a 70-percent clip during his high school days in Yakima, Wash. True, he weighs roughly 40 pounds more than he did then, but Strait downplays that as a factor. He worked on centering himself at the foul line last year and incorporating his legs into his shot. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
“There was a time when I tried a lot of different things and got a lot of different advice, but if you look in high school, I shot fine,” Strait said. “When I miss, it's usually either long or short, and that's better than missing left or right. I'm at a point now where I think my mechanics are fine, it's just going up there and having a consistent form and knee bend - just shooting with confidence.”
The tough thing about free-throw shooting is you can't grit your teeth and expect to improve.
“You get up there in a game and you want to make them so bad that I think that plays into it,” Strait said.
The Griz are fifth in the Big Sky at 67.5 percent, nine ticks worse than the Lady Griz but average for a men's college team. First-year coach Wayne Tinkle's methods sound similar to Selvig; he often tries to create situations where a miss means extra line drills or some other penalty.
Tinkle said the mental approach can be important even before a player steps to the line.
“When I became a more physical player and a smarter player, I knew the benefit,” said Tinkle, a roughly 69-percent free-throw shooter during his Griz career in 1985-89. “You're breaking down the defense, you're attacking. When you have that sort of mentality, then when you go to the line, you almost feel like you've done your job so you can just relax and knock down the free throws.
“I had a teammate years ago who called free throws ‘free money.' He'd say, go get your free money.”
This hasn't been a good free-throw season in the Class AA high-school ranks, where the Billings West boys lead the way at 65 percent, and seven of the 13 teams are shooting 61 percent or less.
It has been a stellar year for Missoula Big Sky's McHale Anderson, a 6-4 senior who ranks second in the state at 84.9 percent. Anderson struggled mightily as a junior, starting off the season 8-of-20 and winding up around 55 percent. This year he's shortened his routine.
“If it's quick - you just catch it, dribble three times and shoot - you don't have much time to think or jinx yourself,” said Anderson, who cashed 10-of-11 free throws last Friday against Kalispell.
To hear Anderson describe it, he took a Zen approach; he calmed down.
“We get in trouble because we think about it so much,” he said. “They're free throws. They're free, right? It's all a mindset. If you think you're going to make it, it's going in.”
Technique, coaching, belief ... they're all important. But if all else fails, there's one more place to turn.
Ann Lake, one of finest players in Lady Griz history, attempted a school-record 681 free throws in 1990-94. She made just 51.2 percent of them, which is one reason Selvig has such beautiful, snowy hair.
“One game I think Ann had missed eight in a row,” Selvig recalled. “So she's fouled, and stepping up to the line again. I turned to the players and said, ‘Everybody pray.' And she makes it. I guess it took an appeal to a higher power.”
Hey, whatever works.
