It would seem to be easiest thing in basketball. You stand at a line 15 feet from the basket, and without anyone guarding you, shoot a “free throw.”

Anyone who has attended a high school basketball game in recent years knows the free throw isn’t so free these days. In fact, it has become more and more common to see numbers such as 14-of-32, 8-of-20 or 12-of-26 from the line. It makes one wonder what the kids work on these days.

If it was only the boys that were shooting so poorly I might attribute it to spending too much time working on a slam dunk. But girls are shooting just as poorly and sometimes worse. It’s enough to drive a sports writer crazy so I can only imagine what the coaches are thinking after the game.

It would be easy for me to blame the poor free throw shooting on the 3-point shot. And, I might be correct to do so. But the fact is I don’t know why free throw shooting has become a lost art.

In this day when high school teams are often equal in both talent and coaching, a little thing like free throws can determine the outcome of a game. However, it is the lack of ability to hit free throws that are turning games instead.

Any thoughts on what has caused the problem and any possible solutions? 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.