When Did Players Lose The Skill of Shooting a Basketball?

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Vegwards

Vegwards

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Did anyone see Grayson Grove attempt to shoot a free throw against Farleigh Dickenson? He made Shaq look like Larry Bird. This is schizophrenic to me and I need help understanding.
  • How does a player make any team if he can't shoot the ball at all?
  • With the 3-point shot being the core of today's game, why don't coaches teach proper shooting technique?
  • Doesn't the player himself have any ambition to shoot the ball better?
  • When did things get so bad? When did coaches completely abandon teaching this skill?
 

Vegwards said:
Did anyone see Grayson Grove attempt to shoot a free throw against Farleigh Dickenson? He made Shaq look like Larry Bird. This is schizophrenic to me and I need help understanding.
  • How does a player make any team if he can't shoot the ball at all?
  • With the 3-point shot being the core of today's game, why don't coaches teach proper shooting technique?
  • Doesn't the player himself have any ambition to shoot the ball better?
  • When did things get so bad? When did coaches completely abandon teaching this skill?
Click to expand...
Grove wasn't this bad in high school. It's almost like a golfer getting a case of the "yips" when putting. I suspect it's a psychological thing. I believe the team has a shrink on contract so it might be good for Grayson and Reynolds to lie on the couch or study some ink blots to get some help.
 

One of the affects of playing years of AAU ball.

Edit: This a general statement, as I don’t know how Grove was developed.
 

maybe if they only practiced free throws at Williams and not the practice facility they would do better,
 

Im going to assume he shot better than 15% from the line in HS. Some of this is the speed and effort you have to play with constantly at this level and being able to gather yourself to shoot the FT (conditioning and recovery). some is mental streak. some is just variance of shooting 13 FTs total in 12 games with 4 of them being in rapid succession against Indiana when he was sprinting up and down the court about 6 times in 1 min

I'd imagine some of this is that we've moved into a mindset of iso ball and shooting deeper shots to get 3 points, so the mid game massively goes down in value and is coached away from (ie its the worst shot in basketball from a value standpoint).

Add on top that athletes have gotten so much better in terms of speed, lateral quickness, etc. that your stationary 3 pt splasher has really gone out of the game as they can't get open or can't defend on the other end. I don't think its that shooting has gotten "bad", but its changed significantly in terms of how they're going about getting those shots and kids are rotating coaches so early and frequently, no one has them long enough to teach them the core stuff unless you have an early coach to do so (like kids are getting in AAU and travel ball as 9 year olds where they don't have the strength for proper form and it just feeds forward from there on)
 


Cyril Martynov of FDU: hold my beer.

I remarked to my seat mate last night that, if you can't make a free throw, should you even be driving a car? What occupation even is there where you don't need to have some rudimentary motor skill? These two guys are miles away from being able to juggle chainsaws.
 


Reynold reminds me a bit of a Tubby Smith guard. Big, strong, athletic, should be playing strong safety, not point guard at this level.
 

Vegwards said:
Did anyone see Grayson Grove attempt to shoot a free throw against Farleigh Dickenson? He made Shaq look like Larry Bird. This is schizophrenic to me and I need help understanding.
  • How does a player make any team if he can't shoot the ball at all?
  • With the 3-point shot being the core of today's game, why don't coaches teach proper shooting technique?
  • Doesn't the player himself have any ambition to shoot the ball better?
  • When did things get so bad? When did coaches completely abandon teaching this skill?
Click to expand...
With Grayson IDK he was a good three point shooter in high school and shot 80 percent from the line. In theory the distance from the charity stripe to the hoop stays the same, as far as shooting metrics it's obviously a faster game as you move up from northern MN HS basketball to the big ten, better defenses, an actual shot clock etc
 



Well, that was a depressing task. I looked at team FT% over the past 20 years, and it does not paint a pretty picture. I was hoping there was some correlation between FT% before athletes village opened (January 2019) vs. today, meaning there may be a fix, or explanation...but no. From season starting years 2006 - 2019 the FT% average was 69.4% vs 2020 - Today at 68.5%. Over the past 20 seasons, counting this partial year as one of the seasons, we've only shot over 70% 8 times.

Our high water mark of 74% in 2013 would have us tied at #89 in D1 this year.

Season Starting YearFT%
2025
66.7%​
2024
66.4%​
2023
69.3%​
2022
61.9%​
2021
71.8%​
2020
74.1%​
2019
69.1%​
2018
67.9%​
2017
70.4%​
2016
70.7%​
2015
70.7%​
2014
67.2%​
2013
74.0%​
2012
68.5%​
2011
69.4%​
2010
66.0%​
2009
70.4%​
2008
71.5%​
2007
67.3%​
2006
68.3%​
Avg.
69.1%​
 

Unregistered User said:
Well, that was a depressing task. I looked at team FT% over the past 20 years, and it does not paint a pretty picture. I was hoping there was some correlation between FT% before athletes village opened (January 2019) vs. today, meaning there may be a fix, or explanation...but no. From season starting years 2006 - 2019 the FT% average was 69.4% vs 2020 - Today at 68.5%. Over the past 20 seasons, counting this partial year as one of the seasons, we've only shot over 70% 8 times.

Our high water mark of 74% in 2013 would have us tied at #89 in D1 this year.

Season Starting YearFT%
2025
66.7%​
2024
66.4%​
2023
69.3%​
2022
61.9%​
2021
71.8%​
2020
74.1%​
2019
69.1%​
2018
67.9%​
2017
70.4%​
2016
70.7%​
2015
70.7%​
2014
67.2%​
2013
74.0%​
2012
68.5%​
2011
69.4%​
2010
66.0%​
2009
70.4%​
2008
71.5%​
2007
67.3%​
2006
68.3%​
Avg.
69.1%​
Click to expand...
The history of Gopher free throw shooting perfectly explained.
 


Across the NCAA, FT shooting has actually gotten consistently better, not worse. The last 4 years have been putrid for the Gophers, but otherwise there aren't many outliers from the national average.

SeasonNational Average FT%
2025-26~71.4%*
2024-2571.8%
2023-2471.5%
2022-2371.2%
2021-2270.6%
2020-2170.2%
2019-2070.8%
2018-1971.0%
2017-1871.3%
2016-1770.4%
2015-1669.8%
2014-1569.5%
2013-1469.3%
2012-1369.1%
2011-1269.0%
2010-1169.2%
2009-1068.9%
2008-0968.7%
2007-0868.7%
2006-0768.6%
2005-0669.0%
2004-0568.9%
2003-0468.7%
2002-0368.9%
2001-0269.0%
2000-0168.8%
*Current season average as of December 30, 2025.

Key Insights
  • Steady Improvement: Accuracy has risen steadily since a low of 67.1% in 1994, exceeding 70% consistently since around the 2016-17 season.
  • Coaching Impact: The consistent improvement in free throw accuracy is often attributed to the "steady hand of coaching" and better player conditioning.
  • Volume Trend: Despite the increase in percentage, the actual number of free throw attempts per game has decreased since the early 2000s, from an average of 22.4 in 2001 to under 20 in recent years.
 
Last edited:




Roland Brooks said:
Grove at the line… looks like it is mental.. his mechanics look like a mess… maybe they tried to tweak his shot… when I watched him in high school I thought he could become a decent pick and pop big… something looks off..
Click to expand...
Agree with Roland. My son played against Grayson in high school and Grayson shot well from 3 and the line. He doesn't look anything like that person for the Gophers. It's possible he was coached up by Ben last year on free throws.... Ha!
 

Vegwards said:
Did anyone see Grayson Grove attempt to shoot a free throw against Farleigh Dickenson? He made Shaq look like Larry Bird. This is schizophrenic to me and I need help understanding.
  • How does a player make any team if he can't shoot the ball at all?
  • With the 3-point shot being the core of today's game, why don't coaches teach proper shooting technique?
  • Doesn't the player himself have any ambition to shoot the ball better?
  • When did things get so bad? When did coaches completely abandon teaching this skill?
Click to expand...

Generally speaking, overall shooting (including FTs) has quite literally never been better at the college and NBA levels than the past five years.
 

SCSU Guy said:
Agree with Roland. My son played against Grayson in high school and Grayson shot well from 3 and the line. He doesn't look anything like that person for the Gophers. It's possible he was coached up by Ben last year on free throws.... Ha!
Click to expand...
This is strikingly weird.
 

Unregistered User said:
Well, that was a depressing task. I looked at team FT% over the past 20 years, and it does not paint a pretty picture. I was hoping there was some correlation between FT% before athletes village opened (January 2019) vs. today, meaning there may be a fix, or explanation...but no. From season starting years 2006 - 2019 the FT% average was 69.4% vs 2020 - Today at 68.5%. Over the past 20 seasons, counting this partial year as one of the seasons, we've only shot over 70% 8 times.

Our high water mark of 74% in 2013 would have us tied at #89 in D1 this year.

Season Starting YearFT%
2025
66.7%​
2024
66.4%​
2023
69.3%​
2022
61.9%​
2021
71.8%​
2020
74.1%​
2019
69.1%​
2018
67.9%​
2017
70.4%​
2016
70.7%​
2015
70.7%​
2014
67.2%​
2013
74.0%​
2012
68.5%​
2011
69.4%​
2010
66.0%​
2009
70.4%​
2008
71.5%​
2007
67.3%​
2006
68.3%​
Avg.
69.1%​
Click to expand...
It would be interesting to see our home/away splits on free throw shooting. My working theory is that there are ghosts in the barn causing us to miss. I also wonder if opposing teams run into the same struggles at the Barn or if they shoot ~ their averages at the Barn.
 

Beerculees said:
It would be interesting to see our home/away splits on free throw shooting. My working theory is that there are ghosts in the barn causing us to miss. I also wonder if opposing teams run into the same struggles at the Barn or if they shoot ~ their averages at the Barn.
Click to expand...
Soooo...one of my seat mates snagged passes for us to hang out in the club room at one of the games last month. We filled a few cardboard boats with snacks and sat down at one of the high-top tables. At one point, one of the boats started moving on its own--rotating by itself. We all noticed it and looked at each other like :oops: . I put my arms around it to impede whatever air movement might be causing it to do that, but it kept doing it. There really was no significant air movement in that room.
 


GophersInIowa said:
When they stopped using the bank board.
Click to expand...
I watched the replay of the game 3 1975 NBA finals last night, played at the old Cow Palace in San Francisco. Clem Haskins was playing for the Washington Bullets against Rick Berry and the Golden State Warriors. The shooting was about the same as today. Although Berry and another teammate shot granny style freethrows and every shot was a perfect swish. Clem looked good in limited play. I think his knees were already bothering him (he retired after the 76 season due to knee problems). Best part of the game: No fake noise from the PA system.
 


Bad Gopher said:
Soooo...one of my seat mates snagged passes for us to hang out in the club room at one of the games last month. We filled a few cardboard boats with snacks and sat down at one of the high-top tables. At one point, one of the boats started moving on its own--rotating by itself. We all noticed it and looked at each other like :oops: . I put my arms around it to impede whatever air movement might be causing it to do that, but it kept doing it. There really was no significant air movement in that room.
Click to expand...
Alright I did a quick look at this year and last years stats.

2025: 67.7% Overall
Home: 69.9%
Away: 62.5%
Neutral: 64%
Away/Neutral: 63.55%
Really not a big enough sample size since we have played two away games and 3 neutral games.
2024: 66.4% Overall
Home: 64.35%
Away: 73.08%
Neutral: 60.38%
Away/Neutral: 69.86%

Tough to take much away from this. This does not take into account who is taking the foul shot which could be a big factor in the %s.
 

Beerculees said:
It would be interesting to see our home/away splits on free throw shooting. My working theory is that there are ghosts in the barn causing us to miss. I also wonder if opposing teams run into the same struggles at the Barn or if they shoot ~ their averages at the Barn.
Click to expand...
The only exorcism requires the hanging of certain banners.
 

Guys develop and hit the weight room hard. Some lose their form and touch. If you don’t play in games for a year and are so focused on building the body I can see losing your shot for big guys. He will improve.
 

Roland Brooks said:
Grove at the line… looks like it is mental.. his mechanics look like a mess… maybe they tried to tweak his shot… when I watched him in high school I thought he could become a decent pick and pop big… something looks off..
Click to expand...
Yep, he doesn't look like he's shooting, it looks like he's thinking about how to shoot.
 

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