Udoka Free Throw Solutions - Photo Added
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The worst part about the whole thing is when doke takes his practice form shot…it’s not bad. He follows a lot of the rules. But like my golf game, I’ll get 100 tips of advice, watch hours of videos, have a perfect swing in practice…hell, I’ll even hit good at the range…then showtime happens and “Bloop”. My ball is scuba steve and Im already down a couple of bucks.
Is underhanded the right way…not sure. Underhanded is incredibly difficult. I tried it just at the local gym a couple of times just to see what it was like. I couldnt get it. Granted, using me as a basketball experimental control is not wise as I’m no d1 player…probably not even a d-61 player if that even existed.
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The photo makes clear that someone is using microwave mind control technology to disrupt Udoka’s brain function in a way that leaves him to manifest a palsy in his shooting arm during FTs.
The question is will the government shut down reduce the frequency of the microwave mind control interventions, because all non essential mind control staff are on unpaid leave?
(Note: all fiction and /s. No malice.)
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Doke is doing what most humans do when under stress, reverting to his confort zone which I am sure drives the coaching staff crazy.
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Thanks a million for creating this thread!
I wanted to do it… but figured I had already been such a nag in here.
Eventually, we are going to pay a price for Doke’s FTs. My guess, if nothing changes it will happen in March.
Tournament teams are not going to give away games. It’s the end of the season when you lose… who wants to lose in March? No one. In fact, if we don’t face several “poke a Doke” situations I will be shocked. I will then realize just how bad many D1 coaches are.
What happens if Doke remains at 40-ish percent going into March and then we face “poke a Doke?”
Most likely, Self will let it go for a while. He’ll want to see if Doke can hit enough FTs. If Doke can’t, and we start giving away a lead, or worse, if a team is ahead of us and started this to put the “icing on the cake” then Self is forced to bench Doke down the stretch.
What we are realizing now is just how important Doke’s minutes are to our success. He continually improves and we depend on him more and more. I don’t realistically see it that Silvio is going to change that fact dramatically in the next couple months.
And who is to say that an opposing team won’t try “poke a Doke” in the middle of game? Even in the first half?
Let’s say Kansas goes on a 12-0 run and up by 16 with 6 minutes left in the first half. Why wouldn’t our opposition try it then? In the least, it changes the flow of the game, which will most likely kill our momentum.
So what is the magic % number Doke must get to so we can avoid “poke a Doke?”
I’m thinking he needs to reach the low 60s. Even then… just because Doke puts up 64% for the final month or so, who is to say he can do that in front of the big lights in March? It’s worth a try for a struggling team… definitely!
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I have a hunch the staff is pretty much having to triage Doke’s FT shooting for now.
They have quite a lot of coaching-up on their plates right now. Consider:
~teaching a high schooler how to eat right, find the Union, and drive carefully, all the while learning the offense, and how to help defend.
~finishing working out the kinks in the new Malik Monsters in his parallel universe offense.
~daily applications of facial hair grower on Lightfoot.
~helping LaCobra find a new weave for each game.
~convincing Svi that he can both dunk and defend, while still shooting 48% from trifectaville.
~getting around the clock hydro therapy for Mr. 40 minutes–Devonte Graham.
~teaching Garrett that shooting requires both confidence and mechanics.
~getting Cunliffe and thrice weekly appointment with a dermatologist to have his wild hairs removed by March.
~sweeping out and repainting Billy Prestons locker with all the Samsonite scratches.
~making sure the cornucopia of transfers waiting to play next year are avoiding personal scrapes on weekends.
And so on.
There is probably a team Outlook Calendar and Doke is probably scheduled for Free Throw Work Shop February 1 through the 8th.
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Have the coaches told him he should keep his eyes open while shooting?
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Gunman said:
Have the coaches told him he should keep his eyes open while shooting?
Why would he want to see this?
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@drgnslayr If I’m an opposing coach, and I see how well Kansas finishes games – even if I’m up 4 with say three minutes to play – perhaps I just foul Udoka on every KU possession. That is better odds than seeing if DG, Svi and company are going to beat me. Because they most likely will.
Foul the opposition on purpose with the lead. Is that a crazy strategy? If Baylor had done that starting at the 2:30 mark, you think they win?
@mayjay @approxinfinity Thanks for the help getting the pic posted.
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I see lots of post indicating how and how often the coaching staff should be working withe Doke on his FTs.
Honest question: Do you really think the staff has not been working withe Doke on the FT issue? Do you really think it is that incompetent that would say forget FTs let’s work on something else? Do you really think you know more than they do when it comes to Doke’s issues at the FT line? do you really think they don’t see the poke-a-Doke looming ahead as a serious strategy by opposing teams?
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@HighEliteMajor Shhhhhhhh, maybe you should delete that post just in case
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@StLJhawk PHOF!
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@JayHawkFanToo I personally do not think the Staff works on Doke’s Free Throw form.
I think it would be a waste of time. Even if Doke had perfect form, do we actually think he could shoot free throws at 60%? Shaq only broke 60% once his entire career.
Even if teams started using the strategy to “Poke-a-Doke,” I would welcome it. College teams do not have the same depth NBA teams do. Nor do they get the extra 6th foul. Long story short, it doesn’t make sense to do it in college. At least not at the level of Hack-A-Shaq.
So, wouldn’t we be served better to improve Doke’s hook shot from 60% to 75%? Or work on his drop step to his right shoulder and go from 0% to 50% on those field goal attempts?
Or, better yet, improve his rebounding percentage from 17% to 22%?
Those would be far more valuable than the possible .2 points per game more we would gain from Doke MAYBE shooting free throws better.
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KU may have to close games with an offense for defense switch, using Mitch on O and Doke on D. Mitch isn’t a great FT shooter, but he can hit them. He’s not as good as his 82% this year, but he could probably settle in around 70% or so. That’s good enough to close out games.
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I say Poke-a-Doke at your own peril!
Putting Doke on the line repeatedly for the remainder of the season will give him the extra FT practice he’s clearly not getting outside of a game setting, which will undoubtedly improve his conversion rate. It could be just the strategy we need to cut down the nets in April.
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“Foul the opposition on purpose with the lead. Is that a crazy strategy? If Baylor had done that starting at the 2:30 mark, you think they win?”
Sure seems crazy… doesn’t it? Imagine a coach with a lead suddenly kicking in a very different strategy. Almost unheard of. That coach would face huge criticism if it backfires… but would also be praised if it works.
What chance do you think we have of facing “poke a Doke” moving forward? I find it highly likely… maybe 80% or higher.
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JayHawkFanToo said:
Honest question: Do you really think the staff has not been working withe Doke on the FT issue? Do you really think it is that incompetent that would say forget FTs let’s work on something else? Do you really think you know more than they do when it comes to Doke’s issues at the FT line? do you really think they don’t see the poke-a-Doke looming ahead as a serious strategy by opposing teams?
I think most of your questions have already been answered from previous years. This isn’t the first Jayhawk to struggle at the line.
My memory sucks… but if I recall correctly, Self has shocked us before with his comments on practicing FTs. Previously, he basically detached himself from that area. He sort of skirted the issue by not addressing what is practice protocol.
It would be great if someone in here can dig up old Self comments on this. I’m having a hard time remembering what player or players it was addressing.
I know Self is careful about NOT trying to make mechanical changes on players’ stroke during the season. I definitely recall him talking about this in the past. I don’t understand why that should matter concerning Doke. He hasn’t taken a single straight-up jump shot on the goal all year. Adjusting his shot form on FTs shouldn’t impact his baby hook, dunk or layup form. In fact, it may help him get started on his mid-range game… something he will need to develop for the league.
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Very compelling post… Bravo!
I’m not sure we can just nest Doke in a straight comparison to Shaq. Every player is different from each other.
From what I have seen of Doke, I think he has outrageous upside just from watching how fast his game has come along. You can almost watch every game’s performance from him and compare to his game before it and you can make a good guess of what he worked on in between. I don’t think I can recall a single player, ever, who has made these leaps of gains so quickly. JoJo was amazing to watch, but he had so much of a lead on Doke when he started at Kansas.
I still don’t think most people give Doke the credit he deserves for how fast he has developed his game. Just consider the physical side. He has gone through a complete body transformation, replacing baby fat with muscle. And now… if you really want to see something freaky… go back and watch his first games this year and compare to now. His stamina has come an amazing distance! This is definitely the biggest area where Doke can make gains to help us. If you notice… when he gets tired he is more likely to screw up on bad fouls and his game goes soft. Note that part of the stamina issue relates directly to genetics. His lung size, oxygen retention, and other factors are largely decided through genetics. It takes a remarkable amount of work to be able to battle through genetic bumps in the road.
I’m outrageously anxious now to see just how far he comes along this year. Let me put it to you like this… imagine Doke’s stat sheet DOUBLING between now and the beginning of April! Yep… I said “April!”
So… through my optimistic eyes focused on Doke, I will be shocked if he can’t learn how to shoot a decent % from the line. He just hasn’t settled on ONE FORM and then start building on that. With the practice (and some success in games) his confidence will grow from the line and he’ll probably jump 10% by just being more confident. You can clearly see how he lacks confidence at the line. His facial expression looks like he’s having a tooth pulled at the dentist. (lol)
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You make excellent points that go to the meat of what I asked. I have seen Doke shoot FTs during warmups and he uses a decent form which would appear to indicate the staff has worked with him, but once the game starts, he reverts to that god awful and flawed form of his.
There are several areas where Doke’s game can be improved and I am sure the staff has looked at the return on investment and determined it is much higher improving other parts of his game. At this point, I would be happy if he could improve his rebounding; I watched the TCU - WVU game and made me wish we could rebound as well as those teams do.
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@drgnslayr From what I can remember Self has said stuff like players work on their free throws on their own time and we don’t want to mess with mechanics mid season. In fact I can’t remember a single player drastically adjusting their form in their time at KU. (Sorry Garrett, you probably are what you are as a shooter)
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@benshawks08 T’Rob is about the only guy I can think of that really, really improved his form and shot.
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@Kcmatt7 I can remember several guys improving their shot (RussRob, Releford, heck even Miles his senior year) but most of them had solid mechanics to start. TRob is a good example, I just personally cannot remember much about his form when he got here.
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Another example of a player that changed his shooting form is TT, between his junior and senior year. He went down to Houston and worked with John Lucas on his shot form and other details of his game, like finishing at the rim.
TTs stats climbed dramatically in his senior year.
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@HighEliteMajor so irritated right now. You?
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@approxinfinity Now that a team has really employed the strategy, we will now take it more seriously.
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Was Lightfoot playing so poorly that leaving Doke in was our best option? I actually thought Mitch played well.
The real question I guess, can De Sousa develop enough by mid-March to be a guy Bill trusts at the end of the game? Because Bill clearly doesn’t trust Lightfoot.
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@Kcmatt7 Mitch should’ve been put in late no question, but he gives up offensive rebounds like it’s candy on Halloween.
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@Kcmatt7 - -Again I ask - -Why couldn’t self have put Cunliffe in? - -go ahead play 5 small - -ya probably give up two possibly on the other end maybe -but I know they sure the hell wouldn’t be hackin away - Put Cunliffe in - -put Mitch in - -This is on Self
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This from last year: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article120294748.html
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It’s going to be like this the rest of the way. - -I mean there were some other reasons - -like Graham shooting like crap - -Vick not showing - -BUT this is Self
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I can’t believe what I just watched…
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@kjayhawks Well, to be fair, nobody but Doke rebounds well. Vick is the biggest disappointment I think I’ve ever seen in my years of watching KU.
Not the lockdown defender he was supposed to be. And definitely not as good of a rebounder as a guy that is 6’5 and as athletic as he is should be.
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Most profound statement of the decade Self " - -this loss is on me – -I screwed it up " - -OMG are you sure
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@Kcmatt7 Mitch was playing very well. Self did a great job getting the ball to Doke to start the half, sparking our run. But Mitch was a great alternative tonight and that should have been the move. And regarding Doke rebounding well, that’s relative. Doke is not the “go get it”, high energy, I would die for a rebound kind of guy.
@approxinfinity So with that link, you’re suggesting that Self and his staff have had well over a year to work with Udoka on his free throw shooting, knowing how bad he is? And that he shot under 40% from the line last season? And that Udoka actually injured his left wrist last season, so there is no reason why Udoka shouldn’t have been working on proper form from the line while he had all that free time healing? Interesting.
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@HighEliteMajor Yup!
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@HighEliteMajor If you look at past KU teams, they have a guy that rebounds (percentage-wsie) about as well as Doke. Realistically, slightly better. But, what this team lacks more than a good primary rebounder is a decent secondary rebounder. Self has had teams that gain a potential 15 point advantage per game from rebounding. This team gains less than 2 POTENTIAL points over their opponents from rebounding.
But that isn’t really the argument right now. At least Bill knows that he can’t let Poke-a-Doke just happen. Doke also will probably feel so bad about this loss that he will work on free throws for the rest of the season and potentially shoot well enough to end Poke-A-Doke.
Long-term, this loss could be a good thing. Only time will tell.
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@HighEliteMajor How can you, who lives God only knows where, understand these things and the coaches that are with him every single day can’t figure it out?
He looks like a goose with a broken wing - there is No way a shot would ever go in - unless it bounces off somebody’s head.
His free throw shooting is abominable. The fact that somebody hasn’t fixed it by now is worse. He has figured out how to dunk and hook - that’s all he needs to know there. Spend 8 hours a day shooting GD free throws.
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Watched the ESPN highlights of the game just now. not a single mention of Doke’s free throw woes. Let’s just pretend it never happened and there is no problem we need to fix.
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@approxinfinity That’s all they’re talking about now.
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@nuleafjhawk I just need an explanation. I need to hear coach Self say, “Look, it’s an Africa thing. When he left, he promised his townfolk that he would never change his free throw shooting to honor all of them, each time he plays.” Other than that, I’m lost.
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Mitch was having a real good game, only Newman and Svi had a better PER, only 2 players Mitch and Garret had a positive +/-. De Sousa, on the other hand had a miserable outing, 1 minute, 3 turnovers and 1 foul.
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Awesome! Btw, Kruger was reading your posts obviously. How prescient.
HighEliteMajor said:
@nuleafjhawk I just need an explanation. I need to hear coach Self say, “Look, it’s an Africa thing. When he left, he promised his townfolk that he would never change his free throw shooting to honor all of them, each time he plays.” Other than that, I’m lost.
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@approxinfinity they (ESPN) too caught up in Trae worship. They missed the story of the game in Self’s flub at the end from about 2-3 min left.
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@JayHawkFanToo DeSousa’s +/- has got to be horrid. I’d guess (without actually checking) -8 KSU +2 WVU, -4 Baylor, -2 OU. I hope I’m wrong, but that seems about right. He goes in the lead disappears, but it’s not all his fault. This team scores in spurts then sputters.
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@HighEliteMajor Any chance his wrist injury has affected his ability to hold his arm, wrist and hand vertically? I injured my wrist ligaments literally 42 years ago, and even though I got 99% recovered, that 1% limits a few motions. The free throw motion happens to be one, but oddly, holding my elbow out makes it easier. Not as far as Dok, to do mine without pain is more of a 45 degree angle.
If so, Self would not want to reveal it to preserve Dok’s pro prospects, or maybe Dok has never revealed it to the staff. And, perish the thought, other teams might foul on purpose knowing he could not make FTs.
Just speculating. It is just very weird to have pain from an injury that occurred after my freshman year. And his was a lot more recent.
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@mayjay thats entirely possible. If that were the case, I would like to think Self would be smart enough to not put Dok in those kinds of situations. He must have a hidden agenda for doing what he did because even people who dont know much or care at all about basketball knew what the proper move was.
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@HawkChamp Self gave his explanation…He believed you should leave your best players in. Also, he believed that Doke could hit half of those FTs…if so, it might have been a different game. He admitted that it turned out to be a bad decision. I don’t think there was a hidden Agenda.
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@HighEliteMajor hit this topic 100% correct. That Udoka photo of his retarded FT form, is just horrific. Literally, I’ve never seen such bad form on any level of bball, even down to jr high level. Its just moronic that a storied program’s alumni & fans, and its $52mil HOF coach have to waste time cussing & discussing Udoka FT form.
Every future KU opponent just took note of how & when Lon Kruger did what he did…
Scout on KU 2017-18: Defend the 3, no sagging…and Hack-a-Doke.
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Hawk8086 said:
@HawkChamp Self gave his explanation…He believed you should leave your best players in. Also, he believed that Doke could hit half of those FTs…if so, it might have been a different game. He admitted that it turned out to be a bad decision. I don’t think there was a hidden Agenda.
The thing that leaves me questioning a hidden agenda is it just wasnt one time, but OU kept fouling. This happened from the four minute mark onward, yet no adjustment from Self. I mean, the four times Dok went to the line were a turnover because we didn’t even get a shot off. Not acceptable.
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@mayjay @HawkChamp His wrist injury was to his left wrist. A point I made last night was that given all of his time off last season with the injury, that functional right wrist would have been quite able to practice and perfect free throw shooting technique.
