Woodbury's progress as a senior

[BasketballMan]

I don't care who you are, 35% or 52% or anything close to those kind of free throw %s are going to kill you towards the end of a game. Does anybody remember hack-a-Shaq? In many instances, his incredibly poor free throw shooting forced him to not be on the floor towards the end of a game.

 

[SteveGarvey]

If he's gone from 35% to 52% between his junior and senior years in high school, it's realistic to think he can get the % up to 60% by next year and maybe 65% in his following years-acceptable for a big man.

 

[jackl]

If he's gone from 35% to 52% between his junior and senior years in high school, it's realistic to think he can get the % up to 60% by next year and maybe 65% in his following years-acceptable for a big man.

Maybe. FWIW,here are his 4 years of high school ft shooting:

fr- 52% -33 attempts
so-55% -162 att.
jr -34% - 120 att.
sr-52% - 44 att.

 

[DuffMan]

3 pt shooting, perimeter d, cross over dribble are all less important than ft shooting. To characterize ft shooting as unimportant shows a healthy amount of ignorance.

 

[ShemHawk]

Again, I don't think the OP was saying it's unimportant but rather that (to rephrase) that of all the skills you would expect from a traditional 5, FT shooting is at or near the bottom of the list. Pick which is more important: rebounding or FTs? post defense or FTs? post scoring or FTs? post passing or FTs? help side shot blocking or FTs?

 

[herbyhawk]

post scoring and ft's go hand in hand if teams know he is a bad ft shooter it is easier to give a foul than let him score at will inside
its like the old saying goes "make him earn it at the ft line"
sometime and alot of times, a made ft is the difference in winning or losing

 

[SteveGarvey]

Maybe. FWIW,here are his 4 years of high school ft shooting:

fr- 52% -33 attempts
so-55% -162 att.
jr -34% - 120 att.
sr-52% - 44 att.

Wonder what his problem was his junior year? Girl problems that year?

 

[hawkfan33]

3 pt shooting, perimeter d, cross over dribble are all less important than ft shooting. To characterize ft shooting as unimportant shows a healthy amount of ignorance.

Duffman showing his lack of basketball knowledge once again. If you can't defend, you can't win. On the other hand there have been plenty of poor free throw shooting teams (Memphis '08 as one the most recent examples) who have won plenty of games.

 

[herbyhawk]

in close games you see alot of FT's and teams do foul off the ball,
simple holding calls can be made without the intentional foul call
again nobody is expecting 80% ft shooting
most would be happy with 65-70%
beside you don't dread Arhie or Brommer going to the FT line
never mind their lack of other skills, i don't see anybody excited to see either at the ft line

 

[Tmoney12]

3 pt shooting, perimeter d, cross over dribble are all less important than ft shooting. To characterize ft shooting as unimportant shows a healthy amount of ignorance.

Duffman showing his lack of basketball knowledge once again. If you can't defend, you can't win. On the other hand there have been plenty of poor free throw shooting teams (Memphis '08 as one the most recent examples) who have won plenty of games.

Didnt choking at the line cost Memphis the biggest game of the year??

 

[hawkfan33]

Didnt choking at the line cost Memphis the biggest game of the year??

Yes, they had to settle for NCAA runners up after winning 37 games. If you have an example of a poor perimeter defensive team who was that successful I would love to hear it.

 

[frank]

Duffman showing his lack of basketball knowledge once again. If you can't defend, you can't win. On the other hand there have been plenty of poor free throw shooting teams (Memphis '08 as one the most recent examples) who have won plenty of games.

Isnt he talking about Woodbury? Perimeter defense for a 7 foot center isn't that important.

 

[Section136]

Duffman showing his lack of basketball knowledge once again. If you can't defend, you can't win. On the other hand there have been plenty of poor free throw shooting teams (Memphis '08 as one the most recent examples) who have won plenty of games.

Accusing a very well-respected poster of having a lack of basketball knowledge in the same post that you reference a basketball team that never existed is not good for your credibility.

Please ban yourself and save yourself future embarrassment.

NCAA Tells Memphis 2008 Was Just Like 1985: It Never Happened

 

[FCAS]

Like a couple of posters have already pointed out, you're very incorrect about FT's being the least important skill for a center. Tell that to Dwight Howard and the Magic, or Shaq.

Yeah, who'd want those guys?

When Dale Brown found out that Shaq was terrible from the line, he was probably wavering a little on whether or not to offer a scholarship.

 

[SwirlinLingerie]

I hope Woodbury makes an immediate impact, but the truth is that you are only as good as your backcourt in college basketball. Look at a weak Iowa team with Les Jepsen vs. a weak Iowa team with Andre Woolridge.

If Iowa gets back to the promised land next year, it will be because of some combination of Marble, Oglesby, Gessell, Clemmons and Ingram. And given his ball-handing and versatility, you can throw White in there as well.

 

[FCAS]

I hope Woodbury makes an immediate impact, but the truth is that you are only as good as your backcourt in college basketball. Look at a weak Iowa team with Les Jepsen vs. a weak Iowa team with Andre Woolridge.

If Iowa gets back to the promised land next year, it will be because of some combination of Marble, Oglesby, Gessell, Clemmons and Ingram. And given his ball-handing and versatility, you can throw White in there as well.

I agree with you in that college basketball is a guard oriented game. But if Woodbury can become a good defender, it will allow the Iowa guards to be much more aggressive on the perimeter defensively. Just look back to the Purdue game. When the Purdue guards were going to the hoop, Iowa had no one to at least alter their shots.

 

[MisterLucky]

Seth Gorney!?! Are you really comparing Gorney to Woodbury? Besides, Gorney was a horrible FT shooter until his junior year. May be just one of the reasons he saw such little playing time early in his career here. But I suspect there were other reasons as well.

 

[DuffMan]

3 pt shooting, perimeter d, cross over dribble are all less important than ft shooting. To characterize ft shooting as unimportant shows a healthy amount of ignorance.

Duffman showing his lack of basketball knowledge once again. If you can't defend, you can't win. On the other hand there have been plenty of poor free throw shooting teams (Memphis '08 as one the most recent examples) who have won plenty of games.

Didnt choking at the line cost Memphis the biggest game of the year??

ahahahahhahahahahahahh win

 

[LG210]

Free throws can seriously upgrade your effect on a game. If you shoot them well as a center, you can add several points per game to your scoring average, depending on circumstance. Further, you can cause defenders to play you more honestly, possibly reducing the number of no-call fouls committed against you.

You don't need to be a great free-throw shooter to be a dominant center, but if a center is a great free-throw shooter, he can up his game from "serviceable" to "good" or from "good" to "very good", etc.

 

[talkinhawks]

Hack-a-Shaq was used because it was Shaq and he was either going to get a dunk or shoot 2 free throws. If Woodbury has that much of an impact at the college level, I would be pleasantly surprised. Teams are going to play defense first before resorting to that method at the end of the game.

A division I b-ball player should be able to shoot over 60% from the line though, considering the amount of time you can put into practicing. I think Cole was a pretty poor foul shooter for the first 2-3 yrs but by his senior year he was pretty good.