Foul shots shouldn’t be so hard

It is, on the surface, a simple basketball exercise.

Step up to a line 15 feet away from the basket, and shoot an unguarded set shot with seemingly all the preparation time in the world – or at least 10 seconds.

I say set shot, but truly it can be shot in any manner. Rick Barry, an NBA star of the 1960s and 1970s, used an underhand style to become one of the best-ever at this phase of the game.

But clearly shooting free throws is not as simple as it seems, because at the high school level and beyond it is a source of great frustration in many games as an opportunity not taken.

There are exceptions.

Not so long ago, former Lake Region of Naples star Matt Hancock became one of the top scorers in state history while playing at Colby College in Waterville. His secret? When his jump shot wasn’t falling, he worked his way to the basket, drew contact, and made foul shots.

The 1990 national NCAA Division III player of the year and two-time All-American finished his career with 2,678 points – with 762 coming from the free-throw line at a better than 80 percent success rate.

More recently, Lee Academy’s Tom Bird was good enough to make 24-of-24 during a game at Katahdin of Stacyville last year to write his name into the national high school record book.

And last Friday night, Hampden Academy was able to enhance its Class A playoff position with a 49-47 victory over Mt. Blue of Farmington, in no small part because the Broncos made 11 of their 12 free-throw attempts.

Hampden has shot a solid 72 percent from the line this winter, but rather than 11-of-12 the norm for a team at the high school level statewide is more like 12-of-23 or 17-of-31. And such stats don’t even include the back ends of 1-and-1s not attempted because the front ends were missed.

Years of personal observation suggest free-throw accuracy is growing more inaccurate every year.

Possible reasons are numerous, but one that quickly comes to mind involves not the actual shooting of the free throw during the game, but the time spent – or not spent – out of the limelight in individual skill development.

So much of basketball these days is geared toward games. Either during the winter or the off-season, practice time – particularly the impromptu practice of shooting alone at a backyard hoop or those two-on-two pickup games in the upstairs of a barn or a local outdoor court that were a rite of yesteryear – has been replaced by organized game after organized game.

Granted, with so many entertainment options these days, who’s to say kids who spent free time shooting around a generation ago would sacrifice time on the Internet to go out and shoot around today?

But to shoot well, a player has to practice shooting, and that may get lost amid the quest to play as many games as possible or in organized practice time geared primarily toward team defense.

What is certain is that when tournament time rolls around here in just a few weeks, games will be won and lost at the buzzer – but a deeper investigation will reveal that such drama could have been avoided just by making just a few more free throws earlier in the contest.

They are free throws, after all, but to miss them can be costly.

Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or at eclark@bangordailynews.net.