Follow-Up #1: No style points for bricked free throws

Two things to follow up on: Chris Douglas-Roberts and company's free throw shooting and Calipari's coddling his players. Both things that cost Memphis a championship. And now to write about the former item in this first follow-up.

This is how I described DR's free throw shooting, "Every time Douglas-Roberts goes to the line he whacks his shooting arm with his off arm in between dribbles. All this while leaning his body away from the basket in an unorthodox alignment that decreases any natural symmetry. With that style, he might as well be on a boat trying to skip rocks into the Pacific Ocean."

Sounds like sensational journalism if I did not know any better. Yet my solution was simple: "I would tell Douglas-Roberts to knock it off if he cannot shoot at least 85 percent from the free-throw line."

In my years as a teacher, I have found that even the worst behaved students know how to act. The trap that many teachers fall into is assuming that they are being oppressors and not instructors. Appeasement in turn leads to lesser output, no matter what level an individual or team is at.

This concept came to light when the championship game verse Kansas was on the line and Douglas-Roberts went to the line. No longer was his body averted as if his legs were on hydraulics. There were no disruptive hits to his arm. Just a nearly straight-up shot with complete concentration.

This is proof that this kid knew he could shoot better with fundamentals. But to be fundamentally flawed is hip, and Calipari did not want to be the one getting in Douglas-Roberts ear, telling him what he was doing was unacceptable.

Of course reality hit Douglas-Roberts that even a championship was more to hang his hat on than a quirky free-throw style. Douglas-Roberts hit both his free-throws with a more fundamental shot.

But it would be too little too late for Memphis as their prideful contempt against improving free-throw shooting would lead to missing 4 out of 5 down the stretch, as the more fundamentally team-oriented Kansas would go on to win a game they otherwise had no business winning against a team with that much talent.

Yes, no style points for bricked free throws and in most cases no jewelry either! That would go to the team that shot 93 percent from the free throw line and not 63 percent. Because THEY ALL COUNT, Mr. Calipari and Kansas made them when they counted.